Get Pumped and Stay Focused for Competition

taekwondo sparring round

Tournaments, like all athletic events, are chaotic, buzzing hives of competition, anticipation, and pressure to succeed. Even as a parent just watching I sometimes feel completely exhausted by the time my boy’s entering his ring to finally strut his stuff. He’s good at shutting the nervousness off once he’s in the ring, but waiting to compete is a challenge. My husband has a harder time once he’s in the ring than he does waiting to compete. He needs help putting his mind, body, and spirit into the moment and letting himself excel.

To help both of them, I’ve used essential oils suspended in either a spray or as an oil blend. Both the spray and the oil work and travel well. It all comes down to how you prefer to use them. For competition day, I recommend using a blend of spearmint, rosemary, and ginger essential oils. Spearmint helps energize the body, thus preparing you for action. Rosemary stills and clarifies the mind while relaxing the nerves. Ginger grounds your energy while stoking your fire. Together, they can give your performance a boost. A single spritz or drop applied a little before your event starts can sharpen your mind, settle your nerves, and activate your body’s energy just as you need it.

Spearmint, rosemary, and ginger have given me the edge in other competitive situations, too. In college, I used them while I studied and just before taking major tests in some of my classes. Inevitably, I found the classes for which I’d used this essential oil blend were easier, I had better retention of the material months later, and I’d scored better on my tests. In more recent years, I’ve used spearmint, rosemary, and ginger to glide smoothly through stressful events, like the fair I attended with The Practical Herbalist team last summer. My boy, too, has used it to help calm himself before giving his first presentation—an hour or so before setting off for the presentation, he asked me for the blend. He dabbed a drop on each of his wrists, on top of each of his feet, and rubbed one at the base of his neck in front and in back. He spread the drops about, so it was probably about three drops total. It doesn’t take much to feel the effects. His presentation was a great success and he at least looked pretty cool and collected for a shy ten year-old.

Try this:

Suspend a few drops each of this Calm and Focused Essential Oil Blend of spearmint, rosemary, and ginger essential oils in a spritzer of isopropyl alcohol or witch hazel. Keep the spritzer in your workout bag, locker, or purse for use before and during tests and competitions or other stressful events.

Or

Suspend a few drops of this Calm and Focused Essential Oil Blend of spearmint, rosemary, and ginger essential oils in a small bottle of almond oil. Keep this blend in a bottle in your workout bag, locker, purse, or at home or work for use on your pulse points when you’re preparing for or participating in a test or competition.

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