“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.”
Alright, so you probably already know that meditation is good for you, and you sometimes say “I should probably do it,” but you don’t get around to it.
Whatever your excuses, you need to meditate. All of the science that has come out showing the benefits of meditation just can’t be procrastinated on anymore.
I’ve been saying this for years. I’ve read the research, I’ve tried it myself, and I’ve felt the difference. But most people still treat meditation like it’s some woo-woo thing that monks do on mountaintops. They don’t associate it with PERFORMANCE. They don’t associate it with winning.
That’s exactly where George Mumford comes in. And trust me — this book will change how you think about the connection between your mind and your results.
Meditation at the Championship Level
With The Mindful Athlete, we learn how the top-level championship players in various sports use meditation to overcome stress during the game, after the game, and within their own ego. The author taught the Chicago Bulls basketball team to meditate during their three-year championship wins (when Michael Jordan was still playing). He also took thousands of other high-level sports players into their top-level game.
Let that sink in for a second. Michael Jordan — arguably the greatest basketball player of all time — and his entire team were using mindfulness as a competitive edge. This wasn’t some side hobby. It was PART OF THE SYSTEM. Phil Jackson brought Mumford in because he understood that physical talent alone doesn’t win championships. The mental game does.
Honestly, if you want to be good at anything now, meditation is a must. Meditation allows you to get a clear picture of your own emotions as they happen. It allows you to step outside of your ego, your fears, your addictions, your vices, your anger, and really understand what is going on inside you. “Boredom, anger, sadness, or fear are not ‘yours,’ not personal. They are conditions of the mind. They come and go. Nothing that comes and goes is you.”
The Author’s Story
The author himself is a Black male, raised in a very dangerous area of the United States, who had dreams of playing in the NBA. He was a top-level athlete in high school, but eventually injured both of his legs and could no longer play going into college. Instead, he entered a mind-numbing job in finance and became addicted to heroin — one of the worst drugs to be addicted to.
Through meditation, he was able to control the addictive emotions and eventually overcome them. This, of course, takes months and years of practice. Through meditation, you are able to overcome the “monkey mind”: a Buddhist term that refers to a mind that is agitated, restless, confused, or hard to control.
What I found powerful about Mumford’s story is that he doesn’t sugarcoat it. He went from the highest highs as a promising athlete to the absolute lowest lows of addiction and despair. And the tool that pulled him out wasn’t willpower. It wasn’t positive thinking. It was the simple, brutally difficult practice of sitting still and observing his own mind. There’s something humbling about that — the idea that the most powerful thing you can do is literally NOTHING. Just sit. Just breathe. Just observe.
The Space Between
One of the concepts that really stuck with me is what Mumford calls the “space between stimulus and response.” That’s the quote at the top of this review, and it’s the foundation of everything he teaches.
Think about it — how many times have you reacted to something in the heat of the moment and regretted it immediately? Someone cuts you off in traffic. A client sends a nasty email. Your business partner makes a dumb decision. Your monkey-brain fires up instantly, and before you know it, you’ve said or done something you can’t take back.
Mumford’s argument is that meditation trains you to WIDEN that space. The stimulus still comes — the anger, the frustration, the fear — but you learn to observe it instead of becoming it. You respond instead of react. And in high-pressure situations, whether you’re on a basketball court or running a business, that split-second difference is EVERYTHING.
A Simple Exercise
Finally, a simple exercise: “Before you exercise or do your physical activity, take five minutes to be still and practice being conscious of the space between stimulus and response. Stop what you are doing, and return to your breath. Stay in the calm center. Respond from the center of the hurricane, rather than reacting from the chaos of the storm.”
“As you learn to listen to yourself and practice, you will find you can listen better to others, whether it’s your boss, your child, or your teammate. When you really listen to a person, without judging or interrupting, it may feel as though you’re hearing them for the first time.”
I actually started doing this — five minutes of stillness before my workouts. It sounds ridiculously simple, but it made a noticeable difference in how present I felt during the rest of the session. Less distracted, less rushed, more locked in. If it works for NBA champions, I figure it’s worth five minutes of my time.
Final Thoughts
This book is an amazing fusion between eastern meditation practices and western sports psychology. I highly recommend this to anyone wanting to get to their top-level inner game.
Where Mumford really shines is in making meditation feel PRACTICAL. This isn’t a book about enlightenment or escaping reality. It’s about performing better in the real world — in sports, in business, in relationships, in life. He takes something that many people dismiss as soft and shows you that it’s actually the hardest and most rewarding work you can do.
If you’ve been putting off meditation, this might be the book that finally pushes you over the edge. No more excuses.
5/5
Thanks for reading.
— Leonidas
