Sport and Meditation

by Sri Chinmoy

Sport has a secret. It can become an open door to your unimaginable inner potential. Meditation is an adventurous journey to your unlimited source. With a focused mind, calm emotions and the right attitude, the intensity, the flow and they joy experienced in sport can become meditation.

Although today's world-class athletes may have reached the current physical limits of the human body, the spiritual resources hidden deeper within still remain untapped.

In this remarkable book, spiritual teacher and athlete Sri Chinmoy reveals the inner aspect of sport —a dimension that everyone can add to his or her current physical and mental training.

It is this new dimension that enables us to enhance our physical performance, but also makes our satisfaction from sport deep and lasting.

Throughout this book, you will meet world champions such as Carl Lewis, Tatyana Lebedeva, Tegla Laroupe, Bill Pearl or Paul Tergat, sharing their own inner secrets and spiritual perspective on training and competition.

"Believe me, the joy that comes from 'going beyond' is the most incredible feeling in the world. I have felt it many times. And I have enjoyed watching other athletes experience it."

— Carl Lewis, 9-time Olympic Champion

Ultimately, the awakening of the 'inner athlete' in ourselves opens new perspectives in our life. At that time, we discover the wisdom in Sri Chinmoy's gently posed questions: Is crossing the finish line first really the highest goal? What about the ability to focus on transcending your own personal best, or to accept defeat with equanimity?

"In the heart of action is the silence of meditation

And in the heart of meditation is the dynamism of action."

—Sri Chinmoy

Sri Chinmoy was born in 1931 in East Bengal, India. He lived in New York, USA from 1964 until his passing in 2007. Through his own example, which included running, tennis and extraordinary weightlifting feats, he showed that inner peace and meditation are a secret key to physical prowess.

Genres: Meditation

196 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[ElmerFudd28 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb book with useful insights on how to focus the mind and meditate before competing. Recommend as it’s easy to follow and actionable steps.

[Thady · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great inspirational book from a master of spirituality and sport - especially running and weight-lifting. Full of advice on how to do all three better and more meaningfully. See my blog at wisethady.wordpress.com '1622 SPORT & MEDITATION', where i discuss the inspiration provided by the book. A future blog looking at the advice is boiling away at the moment. Happy reading, meditating and running

[Abhisar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like this Sri Chinmoy's book because it show a very different, unconventional 'spiritual' view on sport, training and performance in comparison with similar titles on the market limited to the boundaries of the conventional area of the sport psychology. I especially like the stories by or about the famous athletes such as Carl Lewis or Paul Tergat.

[Alejandro Díaz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Comienzo prometedor, pero la teoría y buenos conceptos se fueron diluyendo para dar paso a experiencias y logros personales.

[Johnny De Berggeit · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I understand the state of mind (positivity etc) but the role of meditation in this is still vague to me.

[Karteek · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is packed full of profound insights into the inner spiritual dimension of training for physical challenges. Whether it be mountain climbing, running marathons, long-distance swimming, cycling, weightlifting or in fact any kind of sporting activity, I think this collection from the writings of Sri Chinmoy will inspire you enormously. The book is full of comments from famous athletes as well as containing practical meditation and visualisation techniques to help unlock the wellspring of energy and strength that we all have deep within us.