Athlete Strategies: Staying Focus and Monitoring Feelings

Meditation is a crucial part of the yoga practice. According to a preliminary study by Lazar S. et al (2005), the practice of meditation results to an increased cortical thickness of the brain. This part of the brain constitutes many complex functions that are highly affected with age related mental decline because the cerebral cortex of the brain thins with age. In this study, 20 adults practicing a type of Buddhist meditation were compared to 15 other adults who did not experience meditation or yoga. To assess the results on the meditating group after the test period, magnetic resonance imaging was used to examine the differences in their cerebral cortexes.

The facilitators of the study found out that the cortical regions of the meditating group were comparably thicker than that of the control group’s. Among the meditating group’s participants, the most impressive results were that of the older participants; the cortical thickness was more prominent. The result of the study implies a correlation of practicing meditation and a possibility of an offset in age-related cortical thinning. The result is that there are many tests for EQ. In order to focus, one can look only at the tests that relate EQ to performance, so that one can understand what the relationship is between one’s EQ and his performance. In order to do this well, tthere are three different tests: the Emotional Intelligence Appraisal, the MSCEIT, and the Genos EI. By looking at the methods of questions and scoring, the qualitative research used will also show how quantitative tests look at EQ and performance.

American psychologists Peter Salovey and John Mayer, who together introduced the concept in 1990, define emotional intelligence as the ability to perceive, understand, express, and regulate emotions. Emotionally intelligent people can use their emotions to guide thoughts and behavior and can accurately read others’ emotions. Since EQ is so subjective, it’s really hard to know what a test tells us about it. Does a number really mean anything when it comes to EQ? All of the tests show that people with higher EQ scores perform better at their jobs, showing high productivity and lots of friendliness with their team. By being better employees, those with high EQ prove that having high EQ is important after all. Therefore, the higher the employees’ EQ, the more likely they will achieve high levels of athletes performance; the lower the EQ, the lower the chance of good athletes performance. These tests prove this by showing that some people have higher EQs based on the test, and then employers can see that those with high EQ perform better.