“Unshakeable belief… when things are tough.” Grateful to
@ZachHyman
and
@emilymkaplan
for this clip which aired on ESPN’s coverage of the Stanley Cup Finals this weekend. On to Game 2 tonight…
Seems like a good day to remind ourselves that belief starts inside. In this clip from the hit series Ted Lasso, he gives an inspirational talk about hope (what I call the H.O.F.). And getting out of our own way. And dealing with old wounds & emotions that hinder our performance.
An impressive clip from Michigan QB
@jjmccarthy09
an impressive young man. Here he talks about mental health, meditation, reacting vs. responding, allowing things to happen, depression, being yourself, positive energy & more. Full piece via
@UMichAthletics
Is Ted Lasso talking about being Unlocked (the name/concept of my upcoming new book)? In the most recent episode of Apple TV’s hit series, Ted gives an inspirational talk about belief coming from inside: “To believe in yourself; in one another. That’s fundamental to being alive.”
Here’s me with Dan Harris of
@10percent
. This week on his podcast, we talk about how we can all develop the skill of resilience through meditation. Check out our latest chat: Episode
#273
- A Master Class on Resilience.
#meditation
#resilience
#mindfulness
Merry Christmas to all of my family and friends and clients and community members around the world. I know this a very different holiday season for many, but it’s important to remember that we’re making choices now that will save lives & hopefully lead to a safer/healthier 2021!
In my chat w/
@tferriss
, we talked about the importance of getting comfortable being uncomfortable. It's what philosopher Soren Kirkegaard called “the alarming possibility of being able” & “the dizziness of freedom”. Here’s a great
@brainpicker
post about:
Honored and excited to share this, a brand new interview with Tim Ferriss (
@tferriss
), whose writing (5 NYT bestsellers), podcast (600 million+ episodes downloaded), and body of work has helped better the lives of so many people around the world.
A fantastic clip from tennis great Novak Djokovic
@DjokerNole
who talks about mental strength. He says it's not a gift, it’s something he’s worked at. 🙌🏾 And he talks about conscious breathing.🙏🏾 to my students for the h/t. Clip courtesy of
@60Minutes
.
Kobe talking about what living with a Mamba Mentality meant to him; it's a concept we discussed at times & one that parallels a state I call being “Unlocked.” Clip via
@Made2InspireYou
.
“It’s your job to try to perfect it and make it as beautiful a canvas as you can make it.”
“Our deepest calling is to grow into our own authentic self-hood, whether or not it conforms to some image of who we ought to be. As we do so, we will not only find the joy that every human being seeks, we will also find our path of authentic service in the world.” Parker Palmer
The importance of inner work to performance, c/o an inspirational clip of LeBron via Athlete Mentality Academy.
“The mind is like a muscle. The more you train it, the stronger it becomes. And while the greats master the body, the greatest master the mind.”
#performance
#lebron
Thanks to the folks at
@calm
for sharing this quote. It references what I like to call The Eye of the Hurricane. And responding vs. reacting. Both are crucial concepts in
#mindfulness
. “Respond from the center of the hurricane, rather than reacting from the chaos of the storm."
Hard to believe Kobe left us nearly two years ago. Here’s a great clip from
@thrive
on a crucial practice for him: "Bryant, who felt strongly that well-being is critical for peak performance, shares how prioritizing sleep and meditation benefited his game.”
A powerful quote from The Mindful Athlete that references a concept I call Eye of the Hurricane:"The more deeply connected we are to the vastness of our own still, quiet center, the less thrown off balance we are by whatever distractions & challenges come our way, big or small."
Lots of empathy/compassion for Naomi Osaka in Paris. Her vulnerability & courage in telling the world about her struggles w/anxiety & depression is impressive. Thanks for bringing greater awareness to mental health for people everywhere who struggle with those.
#StandWithNaomi
Thinking about/missing Kobe. “When I was working with the Lakers in 2000, I said to Kobe, ‘The best way to score is to try not to score.’ It means sometimes you gotta let go & just focus on WHAT you’re doing & not on HOW you’re doing. He let go & scored like 16 pts in the 1st Q.
Before Lebron, Kobe or MJ, “Dr J
@JuliusErving
was the guy all the kids wanted to be! I’m fortunate to have met J at UMass, where he was my college roommate (& a positive influence). Here’s a pic from 5 years ago today, when I was a guest on his podcast at
@nba
All Star Weekend.
Arrived in Tahiti yesterday to spend the week creating some powerful new content that I’m excited to tell you about down the line. It’s beautiful here! And even in paradise, every day brings the opportunity to practice mindfulness & use the tools and practices I talk about. 🙏🏾
A powerful quote from psychologist Albert Bandura that touches on a key pillar of my own work: “In order to succeed, people need a sense of self-efficacy, to struggle together with resilience to meet the inevitable obstacles and inequities of life.” Image: c/o:
@riyanportuguez
Excited to share this:
@LewisHowes
just published a chat we had recently on his excellent “School of Greatness” podcast! I’d love for you to check out: "6 Steps You Must Take To Confront Your Fears & Visualize Success”. To listen:
Today, I’m celebrating 40 years of sobriety. I’m truly grateful for all the people who have supported me through the years in that journey. 🙏🏾 In this clip from a new “At Home with George”, recorded today, I reflect on a few things that helped me get and stay sober.
#recovery
Excited to share a BRAND new conversation w/my friend
@danbharris
for
@10percent
Happier that just dropped! It’s a pleasure to have these conversations with Dan. We go deep as always & this time talk about my new book
#unlocked
, what that means & more!
Excited to be participating in this free session for the global mindfulness summit put on by
@Wisdom2conf
that runs August 20-26. I’ll be joined by my friends
@PhilJackson11
(legendary basketball coach) &
@jonkabatzinn
(pioneering mindfulness teacher).
My latest chat w/
@10percent
has just been released!🙏🏾"Today we’ve got the perfect guest to kick off our
#HopeIsASkill
series.
@gtmumford
talks about his own tumultuous path towards hope, how it relates to the Buddhist idea of right action & the Four A’s.
From The Mindful Athlete: “One of the problems with practicing meditation & cultivating mindfulness is that you can’t see or measure them. People say, ‘Oh, this doesn’t work; I don’t see immediate results,’ or ’This is internal soft, woo-woo stuff.’ But it’s like planting seeds.”
One of the most important concepts I teach is the idea of the Eye of the Hurricane and responding from that place of calm vs. reacting from the chaos of the storm. Here’s a one-minute “EOTH Fundamentals” video that explains more.
#eyeofthehurricane
#GeorgeMumford
Excited to be back in Los Angeles for a bit to work on a few different things. I’m taping a big video podcast today that I’ll share details about soon! I have a lot of good memories from working here through the years.
#podcasttaping
#ontheroadwithgeorge
#losangeles
The importance of the inner game via The Mindful Athlete: “There is no separating who we are when we play sports from who we are in the world at large. When you are flowing & clear in your physical practice, there’s a synergetic clarity that flows into other areas of your life.”
A powerful lesson from Yoda which I talked about in my book. He’s essentially saying Luke needs to commit. You either move forward w/intention or you don’t. There’s no in-between. You keep your intentions good & strong. That is Right Effort- even if you fail.
#maythe4thbewithyou
Just a reminder that you can also find me on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube (home of my weekly At Home with George series). Plus I’ll be on TikTok soon! Links to each on my LinkTree:
A CBS announcer talking about Marquette doing in-game breathing exercises in their game yesterday. Great to see team utilizing inner game concepts & tools. 🙌🏾
@CoachShakaSmart
&
@GregGraber
! And a great year for your team despite the loss. Keep doing what you’re doing!
“A step in the wrong direction is better than staying on the spot all our life. Once you’re moving forward you can correct your course as you go. Your automatic guidance system cannot guide you when you’re standing still.” Maxwell Maltz
Graphic:
@Quotefancy
#MaxwellMaltz
My sister passed away last week — the second sibling I’ve lost in 2 years — so on my latest “At Home with George”, I discuss loss, what I’m going through, and how what I call "The Guiding Principles of Being" can help anyone dealing with challenging times.
I’m on the road again today, which brought to mind my last trip, a visit to LA a couple weeks ago. I’m a Boston guy, but back in the early Aughts, I used to work with the Lakers. So I thought it would be fun to grab this photo in front of their practice facility. Good memories...
Throwback Thursday: my answer to a
@danbharris
question about how we deal with negative stories we tell ourselves. The clip is from a panel at last May’s
@MilkenInstitute
Global Conference “The Art of Living Well: A Conversation on Mindfulness & Self-Care”
How do you describe being your best?
That’s one of my favorite questions I’ve been asked on a podcast and now the video version of my entire conversation (“Embrace Your Greatness”) with
@michaelgervais
for his Finding Mastery podcast is up here:
Honored to be quoted in a
@nytimes
feature this weekend about bringing meditation and mindfulness into your movement and finding flow: “Be Here Now: How to Exercise Mindfully”:
Excited to share this powerful convo I had w/
@michaelgervais
on his Finding Mastery podcast. We did a deep dive into the dynamics of successful teams, the formula for “unlocking” your potential, how dark moments can lead to our greatest revelations & more!
Grateful to be mentioned in this
@SInow
piece on
@PelicansNBA
wing
@Treymurphyiii
, their first round draft pick. He mentions reading The Mindful Athlete, the importance of his mental game & studying sports psychology in college. Have a great rookie season!
I’ve been thinking lately about how important the concepts of mindfulness and breathing & other tools for dealing with stress are to our youth, especial in these uncertain times. Here’s a good memory from 2018 when I spent a day with the students at
@kingschoolct
in Connecticut.
What a coooool guest this week on the
#Unbreakable
podcast. This man George Mumford has taught mindfulness to the likes of Jordan, Shaq, Kobe and now this
@nhl
season was brought in by the
@edmontonoilers
and hailed for helping teach them on their way to this
#stanleycup
run.
Great to see the video version of my chat w/
@LewisHowes
on “School of Greatness” is up. We had powerful conversation about fear; mindset & performance; The Five Superpowers; my lessons from working with Kobe, MJ & other top performers; and so much more! 🙏🏾
In my latest “At Home with George”, I talk about a powerful process I call “The Four A’s”: Awareness, Acceptance, Action & Assessment and how I used them during a recent trip to the airport. And the saying “know the truth & the truth shall make you free."
We wrapped the project I was working on in Tahiti & Moorea and I’m back in the States, spending some time today thinking about how my experience there in paradise changed me. I’m going to record a new segment tonight for my YouTube channel: how can you bring paradise home w/you?
#ThrowbackThursday
In 2016, I was honored to be on the cover of Mindful Magazine. The feature covered my personal backstory, The Mindful Athlete, a few core principles that I teach & some concepts that I would flesh out years later in my new book Unlocked.
In my chat on the
@tferriss
podcast, he asked me about why Phil Jackson invited me to work w/the Bulls after their first tree-peat. Michael Jordan had unexpectedly retired & the team was in crisis mode. How did that tie-in with my substance abuse/recovery?
I’m heartened to read the many tributes being written about the beloved teacher and Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, who passed away on Friday. There are so many things I could say about Thay & his work. He inspired me & had a huge impact on my teachings. More:
“When someone is giving you a smile, they’re giving you the H.O.F… hope, optimism, and faith.” George Mumford
Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to all of you!
Just take the next step. When I work with athletes, I remind them to just “make the next play”. To not get caught up in worrying about the future (doing it all at once) or dwelling on the past (the mistakes they might have made). Just breathe and do what you know how to do.
In his book Man’s Search for Meaning,neurologist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl wrote: “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”
Dr. J (
@juliuserving
) was my college roommate at UMass. He was a kind, generous & supremely talented guy who was always in flow. So I’m happy when others celebrate his legacy/influence, like this great new Icons Club podcast from
@ringer
&
@spotifypodcasts
"When we are no longer able to change a situation… we are challenged to change ourselves." Viktor Frankl- neurologist, psychiatrist, philosopher, author, and Holocaust survivor.
Image c/o:
@lycameron
🙏🏾
#ViktorFrankl
#changeourselves
#GeorgeMumford
VERY excited to announce that my new mindfulness series, Paradise Within, created for
@iFit
& filmed in Tahiti, is now available! You can watch it on any iFit personal training device including
@NordicTrack
@ProFormFitness
&
@FreemotionFit
Check it out:
Great to see this post today from
@tricyclemag
w/my friends
@JackKornfield
&
@TaraBrach
about their new 2-year Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program for
@soundstrue
. I’m excited to be participating as a guest lecturer during the program.
Happy Mother’s Day today to all mothers everywhere! I hope you’ve had a blessed day. My latest "At Home With George” episode on YouTube is "Mother’s Day is Early This Year and Right on Time”. My hope for this segment is to honor my mother and all mothers.
A great post from Buddhist teacher &
@Spirit_Rock
founder
@JackKornfield
’s IG feed: We may think other people “have it all together.” But as Zen Master Ryokan writes: "Last year a foolish monk. This year, no change." Cartoon: Sara Zimmerman
#zen
#spiritualjourney
#mindfulness
A great day, hosting the first ever in-person gathering of The Mindful Athlete Course! More pics coming, but here was most of our crew today. I’m grateful for everyone who came!
Quotes about The Inner Game: William James, one of the fathers of modern psychology said: “The greatest revolution of our generation is the discovery that human beings by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.”
#innergame
Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is considered the “godfather” of Flow (or “The Zone”), the ultimate experience of optimal performance in sports and life. It’s a concept I get asked about a lot.
Are there times in your life you feel in
#flow
? What are you doing to get there?
Were you inspired by the Paris Olympics? I loved seeing all the athletes who focused on mental health, meditation, visualization & embracing “getting comfortable being uncomfortable.” Here’s a few riffs on mindset paired with some fave Olympic clips c/o NBC Sports. Music:
@envato
Saturday was my birthday. It was a big number, so I’ve thought about what I could say about it and the most important thing is that I have more energy & enthusiasm than ever before. The secret? It’s being fully engaged, in this moment. Today is all you have, so focus on the now!
6 Days now until my new book “Unlocked: Embrace Your Greatness, Find the Flow, Discover Success” goes on-sale via
@HarperOneBooks
. To celebrate, each day I’ll be posting something about the book. Today, a short clip of me unboxing my first actual copies!
Lots of new followers here this week, so I want to welcome you! And to answer a question about my work I get asked a lot. The subtitle of The Mindful Athlete is “Secrets to Pure Performance”, but what does that mean? Is the book/my work only for athletes?
Psychologist William James once said, “You’re not what you think you are, but what you think, you are!” It’s a similar concept to the Emerson quote I recently posted here.
What does that mean to you?
Big contrats to the great
@StephenCurry30
, now the all-time NBA 3-point king! Steph has always understood the importance of the inner game: he's a proponent of
#mindfulness
&
#meditates
regularly. This 2019 clip from
@warriors
covers what it means to them:
Celebrating Earth Day 2021 and the importance of protecting, restoring, and preserving our Mother. I always feel connected to the Earth when I’m at the ocean and I try to get there whenever I can. 🙏🏾
#earthday
#earthday2021
#celebrateearthday
#protectourmother
Thich Nhat Hanh to Kobe & The Importance of Practice: in a new “At Home with George”, I talk about the impact of Thich Nhat Hanh, the beloved Buddhist teacher who just passed away & the connection between Thay, myself & the late Kobe Bryant. And practice!
In my latest “At Home with George” short, I talk about the crucial idea of slowing things down when we’re tired or things get too hectic. And I revisit the theme of finding pockets of stillness. Watch:
"Notice that the stiffest tree is most easily cracked, while the bamboo or willow survives by bending with the wind.” Wisdom from Bruce Lee, who was a superhero to me; it’s one of several Lee quotes that I used in my book.
Image: c/o
@inspirecast
#brucelee
#bruceleequotes
“No struggle, no swag.” Just a reminder to anyone out there who’s struggling in any area of life. Stop & listen; surrender to being with what is. And ask yourself, “What is the lesson for me to learn here?” Mistakes or “failure" are feedback for learning & can be an opportunity.
One of my favorite quotes, my from friend
@jonkabatzinn
in his book "Mindfulness for Beginners: Reclaiming the Present Moment-And Your Life” is: “As long as you are breathing there is more right with you than wrong with you, no matter what is wrong.” Photo c/o of
@heartmindkids
.
"Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.” Winston Churchill. Over fifty years ago, Churchill came up with a definition that remains one of the most ingenious. Here’s more info via
@Inc
:
Image via
@Goal_Cast
#churchill
A powerful quote today from Viktor Frankl, author of “Man’s Search for Meaning”: “When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”
What Happens When We Judge? In this clip from a new "At Home With George” short, I talk about judging and its detrimental effect on our happiness & relationships. This was inspired by the book “Assume the Best!”, based on the teachings on Neville Goddard.
Missing the CONNECTION to others that might not be available now? What do you do? Try connecting back to yourself. To your power source, your knowing, your truth. I do that by coming back to the breath, focusing on self-care (visiting the beach), asking myself “Who am I being?”
Get comfortable being uncomfortable! In Playing the Inner Game, my new youth course, one of the key concepts that I teach is this idea around performance (however you define that) and achieving what you want:
In today’s call for my online community's Six-Week Study Group, we were discussing the concept of reacting vs, responding after being emotionally triggered. And I was reminded of a Zen saying, "If you open your mouth, you are wrong.” The pause is where the freedom lies...🌊
#zen
This chat between
@tferriss
and
@gtmumford
is exactly what the world needs to hear. Let this inspire your greatness & always ask:
“How do we live in the solution & not the problem?” - George Mumford
I often talk about the concept of “Saying Yes To Life." It’s something that psychologist/Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl wrote about in “Yes to Life: In Spite of Everything”
“How we deal with difficulties truly shows who we are, and that too can enable us to live meaningfully.”