The Channel story

The first time, athletes hear the integral version of the story of the Channels, is carefully planned to produce the greatest impact on them. The idea is to have them “experience” what it means to change channel by going from a high energy activity to a complete state of relaxation.

On the day of the story, when the swimmers arrive, they are instructed that they will do a short intense dryland followed by running games (or any other high energy activity that they will fully engage in) and that when the games would be over, they would have to lay down and start relaxing the way they have learned to. Instructions are clear that the time between the end of the game and full relaxation is critical.

During their relaxation I observe to see the moment their awareness turns inward. Once it is clear that every child has “changed channel”, I ask them to slowly sit up and prepare to hear the story of the channels.

“Before I can start telling you the story, I have to ask you a few questions about what we’ve done so far today. I want you to close your eyes now and compare, to find similarities and differences, between the way you were in your head during the games and the way you were in your head during the relaxation.”

I give them time to give this some thought while observing their faces and body language. Once I see they have gained some insights, I ask them if anyone would like to share what they had noticed.

“It was like night and day, during the game it was busy and then I almost fell asleep!”
“It was like super-fast in my head during the game and then super slow in the relaxation.”

“Our brain does not always work in the same way all the time. The way it works can change as you just experienced. When you were playing the games, your brain was working differently than when you were relaxing and also differently than the way it is working, right now!”

It’s always funny to see their faces when they realize it’s true.

Our Brains are like Radios

“A great way to illustrate this is to imagine our brains as radios. The stations reflect the specific way in which the brain works on that station.”

I continue explaining that just like the type of music played on each station is different, so too is the way the brain works when changing stations.

“So, when you were playing, your brains were on a different channel than when you were relaxing. Like being on a Techno channel and suddenly switching to something super mellow.”

I then share some of my own experience: “One time I was shopping for a jacket and I went to the mall. There were a lot of people that day and I was so fascinated observing everyone while walking between shops, that I would almost forget why I was at the mall. However, once I was in a shop, my mind was sharp as a razor evaluating the cost, fit and look of jackets to find the best deal possible for me. The channels were so different that it stood out to me as it did to you today.”

To continue deepening their understanding that the brain doesn’t always works the same all the time I ask them more questions: “When you’re hungry, does your brain work the same way as when you are sad? What about when you are jealous, is it the same in your head as when you are happy? All of these are different channels that our brain can tune into. Give me examples of channels you know.” I ask, encouraging them to raise their hands.

It usually doesn’t take long to see that they understand the concept.

“Alright, now that you’re clear of what I mean by channel, close your eyes and replay your day in your head, going back in time until you woke up this morning. See if you can count the different channels your brain has been on today. If you find this too challenging for today, just check when it went from a positive channel to a negative channel.”

I give them a few minutes to ponder on this. And invite the kids to share their findings.

“Now that you understand how the channels work, think about this: a firefighter is at a huge fire and he or she is at the end of the ladder trying to reach the hand of someone almost falling off the building on fire. The situation is critical. Now imagine that the firefighter is on the “LOVE” channel, how would that affect his/her chances at saving the person? And after, ask yourself what would be the best channel for the firefighter to be on to have the best odds at saving the person?”

They understand very quickly that the channel our brain is on, affects the way we behave and that certain channels are good for certain things and not others.

The Racing Channel

“For athletes competing, there is also an optimal channel, one that allows them to perform at the top of their ability and preparation. That channel is called the “RACING CHANNEL”.

I then explain to them that to understand what I mean by Racing Channel, they can simply recall their best race ever, the one they felt the proudest of themselves, the race that gave them the most satisfaction and fun, regardless of the result. I go on to tell them that in this race, it is safe to say, that if they were not on their Racing Channel, they must have been really near it.

“It’s like when you are trying to find a station and you’re not sure of the number, when you get near the station, you can hear it, but it’s fuzzy and as you get closer, you hear it better, until when you’re exactly on the channel, it comes out perfectly clear.”

This concludes the first part of the story. For the athletes to be ready for the next part, they first must gain in experience and develop further their ability to notice their changes in channels to become aware that each channel has a different type of internal dialogue. To assist them in that pursuit, whenever the coach notices a swimmer switching channel, he/she points it out to the swimmers.

During this period the swimmers are asked daily, in one way or another, to recall the sentences they hear while performing a set or race and to voice them out loud so that they can be analyzed for their implications.

Some athletes experience difficulties at voicing these sentences out loud because they judge them and wish they had not had these “thoughts”. Once these athletes understand that it doesn’t make us bad to get fooled by our little Devil, they come around very quickly.

Although this is done continuously from the moment the swimmer is in the presence of the coach, it is at the swim meets that this kind of work has the most impact on the athlete. Kids often tune in several different channels during their races and that makes it simple to point them out to them.

Parents and coaches alike have all experienced a time when the moment they cheered for a kid that seemed to have forgotten it was a race, that kid “woke up” and sped up like crazy! This is a classic channel change and a great opportunity to help a swimmer become aware of the difference in their heads between the two channels.

The race feedback is critical to helping the athletes delve inside of themselves to notice how the mental affects what they do in their races. During these feedbacks, I often ask the swimmers:

The Channel map

After several months, and many swim meets, swimmers become better at comparing their races with their best race ever and are quick to find out differences in terms of channels they were on. It eventually becomes clear to them that going on their Racing Channel isn’t as simple as turning a dial. When they’ve reached this point, adding the “Channel Map” concept will make a lot of sense to them.

“It seems to me that you’ll need some kind of Channel map to find your way to your Racing Channel. Right now, it’s like you’re trying to watch satellite TV without a TV guide or channel numbers. There’s a channel you really liked, but you can’t seem to find it again.”

I explain that life has been set up in such a way that no one can give us that map simply because to know of a channel it needs to be experienced. Therefore, we all have to make our own map.

“To build your map, all you got is a piece of white paper and a marker. The channel you know and want to find again is your Racing Channel, so put a dot in the middle of the page and label it: “Racing Channel”.

Continuing I say: “with the fair assumption that your best race ever was on, or very near, your racing channel, you can use it as a point of reference to add dots to your map. For example, you were on the “Nothing to lose” channel in your race earlier, that channel isn’t too far from your Racing Channel, so you would put a dot fairly close to your Racing Channel. And at the last meet, when you were on the “Poor Me Channel”, that dot would go kind of far from the Racing Channel as they’re so different.”

As they add more dots to their maps, their ability to control their mental state develops and eventually leads them to be able to have consistency in their performances.

One tool I promote strongly with the swimmers is keeping a log book. The log book isn’t just for writing what one did in practice. It is also to write one’s splits, feelings and reflections after practices and races. Journaling really speeds things up in understanding one’s map. I encourage all athletes to use this tool in their journey.