Does the psychologist practice what he teaches?

I wonder if the psychologists who teach breathing, relaxation techniques, meditation, or mindfulness to athletes also practice these on a daily basis and if so, for how long.

We are talking about teaching self-regulation and concentration processes. Personally, I am convinced that one becomes an expert in these areas not only because one knows their effectiveness and how to teach them, the expert is one who has years of personal daily experience. Athletes often say:

• “I learned how to relax but I didn’t understand what I needed it for.”
• “These concentration exercises are boring and then they are not for me.”
• “I breathe, but then I still make mistakes.”
• “I was easily distracted, it was just frustrating.”

Certainly these considerations are determined by the type of motivation of the athlete, his or her interest in the psychological aspects of his or her sport and competitions, and his or her willingness to train in a different way than usual.

Regardless of the athlete, only those who practice these self-regulation techniques on a daily basis know the obstacles our mind creates for us every day not to do. Teaching these techniques requires the psychologist to have experienced these difficulties and overcome them. If I relax and then when I am self I get angry because someone cut me off; that means I still don’t know how to put into practice the teaching provided by relaxation. So I’m like that athlete, who has learned how to relax but can’t apply it yet apply it in competition. Another example, if I too have not faced the difficulty of finding a time of day to practice these exercises because I am busy with different activities how can I teach it to an athlete.

In other words, all these techniques teach us a rule based on learning self-control: to achieve it you have to train yourself daily to solve problems. If as a psychologist I did not want to make time for myself, I will never be credible in the eyes of the athletes to whom I offer this path.