The author of 106 goals with the Argentine National Team expresses: “I learned that it is not only about winning and that the path traveled also leaves you with many life lessons. Wanting to achieve it and trying may happen or not, but we must never give up on our dreams” (Adidas Football, 2023).
Like this, there are several inspiring phrases that Messi knew how to pronounce. His unprecedented soccer skills come hand in hand with epic empathy and sympathy as well.
A new horizon is expanding and in addition to comments related to the round berretín, it is also now leading our personal development:
“I’m going to ask you to close your eyes and
breathe deeply and slowly
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inhale deeply through your nose and
I felt how the air is filling you
lungs then exhale
gently through the mouth (…)”
Thus begins the guided meditation led by the Captain. In a Zen key, Lionel Andrés Messi Cuccittini guides a millennial exercise with his gentle voice and Rosario idioms that provide warmth, giving it that warm feeling of home.
This is a video available on the platform with images that inspire harmony accompanied by the figure of 10.
“(…) Imagine that you are standing
in the center of a beautiful football stadium,
The stands are full of passionate fans
But in this moment
all your attention is on the field.
I felt the grass under my feet, cool and soft.
What color has? Is there dew on it?”
This realization was led by Francisco Parata, technology communicator and technological entrepreneur. Francisco explains that “in the video that the media posted, for example, I converted a PDF into a summary and then converted it to audio, with Messi’s voice. Endless is a tool that I am developing with my team. It allows you to convert anything into anything else, simply and without the need for technical knowledge” (personal communication, October 13, 2023). The idea arose when he had to read a text by the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure. Then it occurred to him to give color to the matter, resorting to Artificial Intelligence. This is how the magic came about: AI by the hand and voiceover of an eight-time Ballon d’Or winner.
This exercise is an example of mindfulness practices. Mindfulness can be cultivated through both “formal” and “informal” mindfulness practice. Although there are no widely accepted definitions of formal and informal practice, the formal practice Mindfulness occurs when practitioners specifically set aside time to engage in mindfulness meditation practices, such as body scanning, mindful movement, and sitting meditation, zazen (Deshimaru, 2010). The informal practice Mindfulness involves integration into existing routines through participation in moments of everyday activities (Deshimaru, 1999), whether mindful eating or mindful washing dishes, the premise is one thing at a time.
In psychotherapy, mindfulness is part of components of treatment protocols, for example in DBT. Dialectical behavior therapyDialectical Behavior Therapy – (Eeles and Walker, 2022) and is sometimes used in a modular way, as a complementary skill that enhances an ongoing approach so it is important for professionals to understand some of the unique factors associated with carrying out mindfulness-based interventions (Kabat-Zinn, 2003).
Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR; Kabat-Zinn 2004) and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT; Segal et al. 2013) are the most widely available standardized mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs). . Both involve 8 weekly sessions and recommend 1 daily home practice consisting of formal and informal mindfulness practice for approximately 45 minutes per day. Some studies reported significant associations between the amount of formal home practice and symptom reduction or other outcomes (Crane et al. 2014 ; Hawley et al. 2014 ).
In the child and adolescent clinic linked to neurodevelopment, there is an intervention based on family mindfulness (in English mindfulness-based intervention: MBI) for childhood attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder – ADHD – (Siebelink et. al., 2021) which aims at child self-control, parenting and parental mental health. While its effectiveness is still unclear, positive short- and long-term effects were found on parental mental health outcomes, parental self-compassion, and mindful parenting.
Similar is the case of mindfulness training as a considerable alternative to medication in the treatment of childhood ADHD, with preliminary efficacy of training for children and adolescents with ADHD (Meppelink et. al., 2016).
There is also a version for schools since by their very nature, they align with a wide range of basic educational objectives. Drawing from investigation (Sciutto, 2021) of the effects of an 8-week (16 sessions) school-based mindfulness program for young children in 8 classrooms (2-year-old room) using a quasi-delayed intervention control group design -experimental, it was concluded that the mindfulness program was associated with significant improvements in scores regarding externalizing and prosocial behaviors. Program outcomes were not associated with child sex or race/ethnicity, but did vary by grade. Descriptive analyzes suggest that results tended to be more positive in classrooms with higher levels of teacher and student engagement.
“Meditation is one of the greatest arts in life – perhaps the greatest – and we cannot learn it from anyone. That’s its beauty. It has no technique and, therefore, it has no authority. When you learn about yourself, when you watch how he walks, how he eats, what he says, the chatter, the hatred, the jealousy; If he is attentive to all that within himself, without any preference or judgment, it is part of meditation. Therefore, meditation can take place when we are sitting on a bus or walking through forests full of lights and shadows, or when we listen to the singing of birds or contemplate the face of our lover or our child” (Krishnamurti, 2013) ”.
References
- Adidas Football. (2023). High in the sky . Youtube.
- Birtwell, K., Williams, K., van Marwijk, H. et al. An Exploration of Formal and Informal Mindfulness Practice and Associations with Wellbeing. Mindfulness 10, 89–99 (2019).
- Crane, C., Crane, R.S., Eames, C., Fennell, M.V., Silverton, S., Williams, J.G., & Barnhofer, T. (2014). The effects of amount of home meditation practice in mindfulness based cognitive therapy on risk of relapse to depression in the Staying Well after Depression Trial. Behavior Research and Therapy, 6317–6324.
- Deshimaru, T. (1982). The Practice of Concentration. Theorem.
- Deshimaru, T. (2010). True Zen: Introduction to Shobogenzo. Kairos.
- Eeles J, Walker DM. Mindfulness as taught in Dialectical Behavior Therapy: A scoping review. Clin Psychol Psychother. 2022 Nov;29(6):1843-1853. doi: 10.1002/cpp.2764. Epub 2022 Jul 8. PMID: 35726695; PMCID: PMC10084181.
- Hawley, L.L., Schwartz, D., Bieling, P.J., Irving, J., Corcoran, K., Farb, N.S., et al. (2014). Mindfulness practice, rumination and clinical outcome in mindfulness-based treatment. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 38(1), 1–9. .
- Kabat-Zinn, J., & Chapman-Waldrop, A. (1988). Compliance with an outpatient stress reduction program: rates and predictors of program completion. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 11, 333–352.
- Kabat-Zinn, J. (2003). Mindfulness-based interventions in context: Past, present, and future. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 10(2), 144–156
- Krishnamurti, J., & Nollet, H. (2013). The Mind in Meditation. Kairos Editorial.
- . (2023, September 22). Meditation guided by Lionel Andrés Messi against anxiety and stress . Youtube.
- Meppelink R, de Bruin EI, Bögels SM. Meditation or Medication? Mindfulness training versus medication in the treatment of childhood ADHD: a randomized controlled trial. BMC Psychiatry. 2016 Jul 26;16:267. doi:10.1186/s12888-016-0978-3. PMID: 27460004; PMCID: PMC4962453.
- Sciutto MJ, Veres DA, Marinstein TL, Bailey BF, Cehelyk SK. Effects of a School-Based Mindfulness Program for Young Children. J Child Fam Stud. 2021;30(6):1516-1527. doi:10.1007/s10826-021-01955-x. Epub 2021 Apr 15. PMID: 33875914; PMCID: PMC8046640.
- Segal, ZV, Williams, JMG, & Teasdale, JD (2013). Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for depression (2nd ed.). New York: Guilford Press.
- Siebelink NM, Bögels SM, Speckens AEM, Dammers JT, Wolfers T, Buitelaar JK, Greven CU. A randomized controlled trial (MindChamp) of a mindfulness-based intervention for children with ADHD and their parents. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2022 Feb;63(2):165-177. doi: 10.1111/jcpp.13430. Epub 2021 May 24. PMID: 34030214; PMCID: PMC9292876.