Re the talk about Lee Westwood ‘almost’ winning a major in the Masters last Sunday, The Daily Telegraph have a few interesting points. Although, I will never agree with the way the media BASH our sportsmen constantly and NEVER give praise, they do give a great ‘backhanded compliment to Andy Murray, here’s some of the text:

” Lee Westwood will never be a genius like Seve Ballesteros, Tiger Woods, Mickelson or even big John Daly. Westwood will find his major buried in the ground. He just has to go out there and dig a little deeper. People used to view Ben Hogan as a mystical prophet from a far-off land. Once he said: “The secret is in the dirt.” That is where Nick Faldo found his six majors and that is where Westwood will find the final answer. It is out there in the dirt of the practice range. Each time Andy Murray gets close to a major title he goes away and increases his workload. Murray finished second in Australia, Westwood finished second in the Masters. While a few more people give up on them, they go away and work a little harder.

This is ALL that’s WRONG with british sport, instead of supporting our sportsmen and women, the Britsh media knock them when they’re down.

Much more on this here at Andy Murray Matters

Tiger Woods’ apology statement briefly referred to his Buddhist religion and in his apology video he also touched on his future plans, although at that time he did not say when he might return to golf.

We now know that he does plan to make a return to the public eye for the Augusta Masters in April 2010 and it will be a very intense time for Tiger and his famiy as the eyes of the world will be on him. We don’t know yet what the public reaction will be of course but we do know that emotions will be at an all time high.

Adopting a serious and somber tone, a contrite Tiger Woods apologized for his “irresponsible and selfish behavior” . There are people who feel that his body language showed that he was not sincere about his apology and that it was completely stage managed.

But there seems to be many MORE people who feel that his apology did come from his heart and that is took an immense amount of courage to come out and speak publicly about his behaviour over the past few years. He stated that he previously felt that he his rules were different to everyone else and that he was ‘entitled’ to behave in the way he did.

It was quite apparent that after the passing of his father Earl he certainly did lose his moral compass and with his promised intention to get back to his Buddhist roots one can only hope that he will get himself back on the right track for the sake of his family.

Being treated for sex addiction is not uncommon amongst celebrities who are so much in the public eye, Michael Douglas once had a similar problem, as did David Duchovny and surely with the strength of mind and character that Tiger Woods has, he will learn the necessary lessons and once more be the world class sportsmen that we admired so much.

There is an ongoing discussion on Tiger Woods apology video on The Apology Video.

Every golfer has heard the saying “It’s all in your mind” or “Golf is 90% mental” or “Golf is the most mentally demanding sport in the world.”

Yet most golfers do absolutely nothing to improve their golf mental skills! Not necessarily because they don’t want to, but sometimes golfers actually think the mental side of golf doesn’t matter to them and they couldn’t be more wrong!
It doesn’t take much to improve your golf mental game, you just need to be consistent with your thoughts and the best way to do this is to follow a golf mental game training program that will lead you through the mental training process the correct way.

Life coaching and success coaching

Coaching is a modern and quickly evolving method for facilitating others to improve, produce, learn different skills, find success success, reach aims and handle life change and individual challenges. Life coaching, or success coaching - different terms are used - is working for all situations, whether in success life, career, sales or corporate and business life. Life coaching, success coaching and like-minded coaching of these kinds are unique to traditional training.

Coaching draws out instead of putting in. It develops rather than imposes. It reflects rather than points. Effective coaching is a form of change facilitation - it enables people, rather than trains them. Coaching is responsive and adaptable - it allows for success transition on an successized basis.

Coaching forms no premisses - it’s non judgemental, nor is it prescriptive or instructional. Empathy is essential to the coaching process. Serious success coaching tries to help the other person’s apprehension of himself or herself. The individual notions and preferences and needs of the coach are immaterial - good coaching is about aiding other people to comprehend themselves, where they wish to be, and helping them to get there.

whole life insurance policy covers you for your entire life, not just for a specific period such as term insurance. Your death benefit and premium in most cases will remain the same. Whole life insurance also builds cash value, which is a return on a portion of your premiums that the insurance company invests. Your cash value is tax-deferred until you withdraw it and you can borrow against it.

With universal life insurance, you control the amount and frequency of payments. Looking towards the future? You have the option to increase the premium or make lump sum contributions, subject to limits as specified in the policy. The extra dollars grow tax-deferred, and may increase the cash and death benefit values. On the other hand, in a temporary cash crunch, you can pay less than the scheduled premium and let the policy’s accumulated cash value pay the remainder of the monthly charges.

Don’t Let Anyone Steal Your Dream!

Do you have any dream killers in your life? Dream killers are those people who discourage you when you are trying to change your life. It’s amazing how many people tell their friends and family that they cannot succeed. This is especially true when you are trying to do something "outside of the box" like making money online or starting your own business. Like managing your life using time management and goal setting techniques.

The main argument these dream killers have is that your goals are unrealistic. They will advise you to be more "practical", and pretend they are offering you sound advice.

Many of them believe they are doing a favor by discouraging you. They think they are helping you live a life in "your best interest". But really, they are encouraging you to a live a life without vision.

If you are really motivated toward success, doing anything less than your ambitious goals will be unfulfilling for you. You end up wondering what could have been. You continue to live your life for other people, instead of yourself.

Your friends and family who discourage you from trying something new are only giving you insight into what they would do in your position. They do not have the vision and the drive that you do. They are only reacting out of their own fear.

Other people take the path of least resistance, but that does not mean that you have to. Your goals are important to you for a reason. You will only be happy when you achieve them. Giving up on your goals because other people think they are unrealistic is no way to live your life.

How to you overcome the dream killers in your life? How do you achieve your objectives.

You may want to start with choosing who you spend your time with. If you want to be self-motivated, you’ve got to spend time with other people who are self-motivated. The same goes for the other aspects of success.

If the dream killers in your life are close relatives, and long time friends, try keeping your business goals to yourself for a while until you get going. By the time you’ve had a little success, they will probably be a lot more supportive and help you achieve effective time management.

Finally, the best way to overcome the dream killers in your life is to be confident in yourself and your goals. If you are truly confident in yourself and your ideas, then no one can stop you.

Keep your goals and dreams in front of you all the time. They will be your motivation, when some of your "well-meaning friend" try to discourage you.

Don’t let anyone steal YOUR DREAM!

There has always been a lot of controversy over natural healing and alternative medicines.  And while some of the criticisms are founded in actual concern for the patient – such as physicians being concerned that seriously ill people will not seek traditional medical help - other criticisms are not realistic.

Read on at  Rolfing and Yoga Controversy 

Steps to Achieving Your Goals

Many people have given up setting New Year’s resolutions because they are convinced that such resolutions don’t work. This may reflect a larger problem – not knowing how to set and reach goals. Achieving personal goals is one of the most important things in life. Just because you may have encountered some failures doesn’t mean that you should stop setting concrete goals.

To achieve objectives & goals and apply effective time management techniques, there are guidelines which can be followed. While following them doesn’t necessarily guarantee success, it is certainly preferable to giving up on goal setting. Like most things, there is no one single approach and different methods work for different people. Nevertheless, it is difficult to achieve any goals if they aren’t identified in the first place.

Many experts suggest writing down your goals as a means of activating your subconscious mind so that it can start the process of working towards it. It can help to be detailed at this stage. For example, a common goal is to get a new car. However, rather than just writing that you want a new car, it gives your mind clearer direction if you write down the make, model and color as well. In this way, you can visualize the goal. Let your mind see you driving around town in that car. You can involve all the senses in this exercise. Just imagine that new car smell as you first take ownership. It is a good idea to review your written goals periodically as situations change. It is not a failure to modify or forego a goal, but rather a recognition of altered circumstances.

Sharing your goals freely can be counter-productive as even well-meaning friends and relatives can instill negative attitudes and cause you to abandon your ambitions. In a similar fashion, it can be a good idea to set large, albeit realistic, goals. If you shoot for the moon and miss you’ll still be in the stars.

Finally, comes the most difficult part of achieving your goals – taking action! Almost everyone has goals for their life, even if only in their thoughts. What separates those who achieve them from those that don’t is not failure, but a capacity to focus and not give up. Most successful people have experienced many failures in life. Nevertheless, they reach their goals because they don’t let that stop them and continue to take action towards their goals. This can have the fortunate consequence of making decisions a lot easier. Every time you need to make a decision during the day, you only have to ask yourself this question, “Does this take me closer to, or further from my goal.”
Raymond Le Blanc

This is a great skill improving program!   

The Basketball IntelliGym™ is a computer program. It looks and plays like a video game, but it is actually a sophisticated training system.
The Basketball IntelliGym™ was tested on players of all levels and age groups. The results: “Playing” with The Basketball IntelliGym™ for just 30 minutes once or twice a week, for only a few weeks, will provide a substantial improvement in skills like real-time decision making, anticipation, concentration, attention-span, team-play, fast response time and court sense.

more info: Basketball IntelliGym™             related info: Lumosity

Class began and I asked the students how their journals were coming along and not a single one of them had written anything…most hadn’t even begun the journal. That really got me thinking about the integrity of the martial arts and the honor and discipline involved with being a martial artist. What has happened to these qualities? Read the full Martial Arts aticle here.

 High level athletes have advanced nutritional needs

Do you somehow feel that your sports is not enough or it doesn’t sustain you in your struggle to reach the next higher step in fitness? Chances are, your instinct is correct. It’s about time for advance sports nutrition. But before buying your advanced sports nutrition, there are few things to consider in assessing your readiness.

Level of recovery between games

First, several questions to ask yourself. Can you still feel the results you achieved during your off-season training? Do your muscles still feel as if you’re starting all over again whenever you attempt even a warm-up? Is the level of your motivation so diminished that simply stopping your exercise regimen seems to be the most logical thing to do?

Like to learn more about sports nutrition come and visit
 

The roots of Kung Fu are found in China and date well into the era of pre A.D. The ideology of Kung Fu is grounded in a well-rounded approach to life. This well-rounded approach includes the improvement of all phases of the individual as well as techniques that aid in self-preservation or the use of self-defense in combat. Therefore, Kung Fu blends the mental, emotional, spiritual and physical natures of an individual and understands that there are combatant forces within the person as well as those exerted on a person from outward forces…

Read more on kung-fu, and fitness here at Federal Way Martial Arts.

In order to understand what Shaolin Kempo Kung Fu is, it is important to understand the environment that bred this type of martial art.  The Shaolin temple was established during a period of time in China when individual regions were controlled and dominated by warlords.  In addition, law and order was based upon the survival of the fittest and as such the different areas were replete with killers and thieves.

Martial arts and Kung Fu is difficult and you may not get the hang of it on the first session or even the next few, but remember practice makes perfect and that is all you can do. Learn to also listen to your body and don’t push it more than you should, for example if you have shortness of breath, chest pains and/or severe pain in any part of your body stop exercising and immediately consult the instructor or a doctor.

Every parent would love to have the perfect child but sadly this is not the case. Many kids today are troubled and resent parental control. In today’s poor economy most parents work outside the home which gives the kids too much time to get into trouble. If you find yourself facing a situation that you can’t seem to deal with you might want to consider boot camp.

Boot camp and out of control kids have seemed to find favor with each other in recent years. Boot camps provide a structured environment where the kids are not allowed to do as they please. Some boot camp descriptions compare the camp to a military boot camp because of the rigorous schedule. Physical conditioning and discipline are usually a big part of boot camp protocol.

Being able to observe yourself from the outside to find flaws or thinking patterns that can be improved is important.  Remain positive and allow only one single line of thought to exist in your mind:  The shot you are currently faced with.  Visualize the shot perfectly from start to finish and disregard any doubts.  How to Learn Archery  The idea is to have fun and enjoy competitions while seriously giving a hundred percent effort.

Read more here at Information on Archery.

Many different areas that promote themselves as a camping ground, often don’t do much to enhance the area. They simply leave the land as is and let you take care of yourself. There aren’t people who live on the land in order to maintain it, and therefore, you should make sure you carry a cell phone with you, if at all possible, in case of an emergency.

Read the full article on Camping Ground

It was the year that Joe DiMaggio set his 56-game hitting streak, that Ted Williams batted .406, that the Dodgers and the Yankees battled each other in a classic World Seriesand that America went to war. In this look at what he calls “the best baseball season ever,” Robert Creamer skillfully intertwines all these epochal baseball happenings with an informal history of a pivotal period in American life,….read more at Baseball In 41 - The Best Baseball Season Ever

The most popular Pilates DVDs include basic mat workout, the every famous Winsor Pilates 20 minute workout, the Maximum Burn advanced series, advanced body slimming, and stretching.

These dvds cover the full pilates workouts providing a healthy body and mind.

Let’s face it, we live in a stress filled world, and even if we’re not feeling stressed ourselves, it’s all around us. At some time or another, we will succumb to it, and before it gets the best of us, we need to learn how to handle it. Stress can have many negative effects on the body, leaving us susceptible to all kinds of ailments and chronic disease, some deadly. Take panic or anxiety disorder for instance. One of the contributors to this common condition is excessive amounts of the hormone cortisol, produced by the body during a “fight or flight” mode, when you react strongly to a situation, either physically or emotionally.

Read about Relaxation Techniques here.

Most people start thinking about self defense after something either happens or almost happens to them.  The problem with that is that now their minds are not as open to all the other things one learns through the discipline of martial arts.  True it’s better than not taking it but it’s best if the student comes with a willingness to learn everything the art has to teach.  Respect, the first lesson we learn in a good martial arts school.  Then focus.  As well as how to breath and relax.  Just to name a few of the benefits you learn before you ever get to the punching and kicking.

Read the rest of Benefits of Martial Arts Training here.

There are millions of people addicted to golf. Why? Golf can be played on a beautiful course with as many people as you like, and in very pleasant weather. Golf if very gentle on your body, and is truly the sport of a lifetime.

Golf has many physical benefits and is a very efficient way to stay in shape, and has many physical benefits. With golf, you will get the most out of a round if you walk the course; this will also burn a number of calories and improve your cardiovascular health.

Carrying your clubs will strengthen your upper body and actually hitting the ball improves your hand to eye coordination.
Golf Training Blog

Without proper mental toughness conditioning a tennis player can go either way in any game depending on how they feel any given day. Playing without the discipline of mental toughness can cause players to crack under pressure and give up games they otherwise could win.