John Farley Spotlight: Reversal of Aging: The Tennis Player and Transcendental Meditation

A New View of a Player’s Career

There is in the women’s professional tennis world a collective consciousness that creates the concept of a career that begins in the late teens and usually ends by the age of 30 or so. That concept has been created because the experience up to this time is that by 30, for most, the body has pretty much had it. After an immeasurable number of miles running east and west from tramline to tramline, north and south - baseline net baseline, on slippery grass, clammy clay, or shin-numbing hard courts, putting the body through contortions a circus performer could only envy, and enduring losses that sometimes rip the heart out, the body and the psychology clock out and look for maybe a nice comfortable chair for a new career in broadcasting or to finishing that on-line degree program started somewhere along the way.

What I just described to you is just a concept. That concept can be rendered obsolete by the incorporation of the technology of Transcendental Meditation into the world of women’s professional tennis. This technology can create a paradigmatic shift in how the career of a tennis player is conceptualized, how it is viewed, and it can do this because research is showing that with the practice of the technology of Transcendental Meditation there is a slowing down of biological aging compared to the players’ chronological aging, and as the practice continues the research is showing there is an actual reversal in the aging process. Biological age is an indication of an individual’s overall state of health compared to the norm in the general population.

According to Dr. Robert Schneider, M.D., an NIH-funded-researcher, commenting on research published in the International Journal of Neuroscience on Transcendental Meditation and aging,”...the practice of the Transcendental Meditation technique has this distinctive effect in reversing the neuro-physiological and physiological basis of the aging process - resulting in a slowing and even a reversal of the aging process as well as enhanced longevity.”

In the seminal research on Transcendental Meditation and aging cited above the researchers, using a standardized biological age index, found that long-term meditators (over 5 years) had an average biological age 12 years younger than their chronological age. For shorter-term meditators, the difference between biological and chronological age was 5 years. Other research over the years evaluated the effect of Transcendental Meditation on numerous physiological, mind-body coordination, and psychological parameters and found in each case a younger biological age in the group practicing Transcendental Meditation.

Evaluating the Parameters - A Younger Biological Age

Now let’s put this into a practical perspective. The parameters looked at in this body of research are numerous, but I’ve categorized those I felt would be of most interest to the professional tennis player according to: Those that go down with age (get worse), like cardiovascular efficiency for example, but go up with TM (get better), indicating a younger biological age OR Those that go up with age (get worse), like reaction time for example, but go down with TM (get better), indicating a younger biological age.

Parameters that go down with age (get worse) but go up with TM (get better), indicating a younger biological age:

• Cardiovascular Efficiency
• Cerebral Blood Flow
• Vital Capacity
• Visual Perception
• Field Independence
• Neuromuscular Co-ordination
• Perceptual-Motor Performance 
• Fluid Intelligence
• Creativity
• Cognitive Flexibility
• Self-Evaluation of Health and Well-Being

Parameters that go up with age (get worse) but go down with TM (get better), indicating a younger biological age:

• Reflex Response: Reflex Latency
• Reflex Response: Recovery Time
• Reaction Time: Complex
• Susceptibility to Stress
• Anxiety

To make all this compellingly relevant I have defined below each parameter and explained in what way or ways the betterment of each parameter is significant to a player’s performance on court. Some of it is obvious, common sense, but some of it is enlightening:


The Parameters that go down with age (get worse) but go up with TM (get better), indicating a younger biological age::

Parameter: Cardiovascular Efficiency
Parameter Description:  Cardiovascular efficiency is the efficiency with which the cardiovascular system can deliver and distribute blood and oxygen to the tissues of the body and the brain. It is a measure of the performance capacity of the circulatory system.
Significance to Player Performance: Greater cardiovascular efficiency means more energy is getting to the tissues of the player’s body and brain resulting in greater endurance and a more consistent performance, especially in three-set matches, but generally over the course of the entire 10-month tennis tour. Cardiovascular Efficiency decreases with age but increases with Transcendental Meditation.

Parameter: Cerebral Blood Flow
Parameter Description: Cerebral blood flow is the blood supply to the brain and the level of this blood supply is very much tied to cardiovascular efficiency. The greater the cardiovascular efficiency the greater the blood flow to the brain, which supplies the brain with oxygen, glucose, and other nutrients it needs to function properly. Research on world-class athletes practicing Transcendental Meditation shows that, even during their performance, they have higher levels of hemoglobin, a protein responsible for transporting oxygen in the blood.
Significance to Player Performance: A strong, consistent blood flow to the brain simply means clearer thinking, which translates into a more efficient, more economical performance on court. During a player’s performance on court, different parts of the brain are used depending upon the demands on the player at any given moment. With a higher level of cardiovascular efficiency and, therefore, with a more optimum cerebral blood flow, the blood will go to these different parts of the brain as needed. The player will feel as if she is doing less but accomplishing more. Cerebral Blood Flow decreases with age but increases with Transcendental Meditation.

Parameter: Vital Capacity
Parameter Description: Vital Capacity is defined as the greatest volume of air that can be expelled from the lungs after taking the deepest possible breath and is a measure of the strength of the muscles that control the respiratory system. Naturally, the more air, the more oxygen is available to the cells. Cellular metabolism or respiration with oxygen is called aerobic - without it, it is called anaerobic.
Significance to Player Performance:

1. Cramping: Under extreme exertion as in a tennis match and without sufficient vital capacity, which means there is an insufficient supply of oxygen getting to the cells of the body, the player’s system goes into a state of anaerobic metabolism, producing increasing amounts of lactic acid which often lead to cramping. At this point the player is usually forced to retire from the match or continues under extreme duress. Vital Capacity decreases with age but increases with Transcendental Meditation.

2. Endurance: An increased vital capacity implies that the player will be able to inhale more oxygen, and increased hemoglobin in the blood implies that she will in turn be able to absorb more of this inhaled oxygen into her blood. These two factors reinforce each other to produce substantially increased oxygen levels in the blood. As extended physical activity is limited by the ability of the tennis player’s system to provide oxygen to the muscles and other body tissues, the increased vital capacity and hemoglobin levels resulting from the practice of TM directly increase the player’s endurance. Vital Capacity decreases with age but increases with Transcendental Meditation.


Parameter: Visual Perception
Parameter Description: This is not a tough one. Visual perception, on the physical level, is simply the ability to see your environment more clearly.
Significance to Player Performance: Obviously, when you can see better, you can respond better to the demands coming at you from the other side of the net. With clearer perception, the brain receives the accurate information it needs to fulfill your intentions, which are to win the point, the game, the set, and the match. Visual perception gets worse with age but gets better with Transcendental Meditation.

Parameter: Field Independence
Parameter Description: Field independence is a style of functioning of the psychophysiology whereby, from a more stable internal frame of reference, broad comprehension is able to be maintained during intense focus.
Significance to Player Performance:  Players exhibiting higher levels of field independence are able to stay focused even amidst the many possible distractions of a court or stadium environment. Also, owing to the more stable internal frame of reference, the player will feel more grounded in herself, with a greater ability to assimilate and structure experience in a positive way. All of this means more success and happiness, both on and off the court. The ability to maintain Field Independence goes down with age but increases with Transcendental Meditation.

Parameter: Neuromuscular Coordination
Parameter Description: Neuromuscular Coordination, also known as “muscle memory,” is the ability of the nervous system to efficiently recruit a muscle or a group of muscles in order to perform a specific task unconsciously.
Significance to Player Performance: As a professional tennis player you depend upon your neurophysiology to respond spontaneously to your intentions on court. Over many years and countless practice sessions and matches, you’ve cultured your neurophysiology and honed your skills to the point where, in the midst of action on court, you don’t have to think too much about how to serve, hit a cross-court backhand or a forehand down the line. This muscle memory or Neuromuscular Coordination decreases with age but increases with Transcendental Meditation.

Parameter: Perceptual Motor Performance
Parameter Description:  Perceptual Motor Performance pertains to the skill involving the interaction and integration of perceptual processes and voluntary physical movement. It is the coordination of a sensory or cognitive process and motor activity and can be conceptualized as a process of perceiving, selecting, and realizing possibilities for action    
Significance to Player Performance: This is the guts of proficiency on court for every tennis player. As a professional athlete, the tennis player must have both her perceptual and physical machinery cultured to the point where the coordination developed between the two over many years of playing can be optimum. For the tennis player, whose goal it is to move on court with the elegance of perfect motion, it is the purpose of the development of all the other parameters described here to support a high level of perceptual motor performance. Perceptual Motor Performance gets worse with age but increases with Transcendental Meditation.

Parameter: Fluid Intelligence
Parameter Description:  Fluid Intelligence is the general ability to think abstractly, to solve new problems, use logic in new situations, to reason, identify patterns, and discern relationships. It is flexible and adaptable, a level of intelligence that you may use slightly differently each time you’re in a new situation.
Significance to Player Performance: Every player goes into a match with a game plan, but often, even within the first few games, it becomes obvious that game plan has to change. A high level of fluid intelligence gives the player the ability to identify patterns in her opponent’s play, and on the spot, spontaneously in the flow of the match, devise a new plan to solve the problems those patterns of play may be creating for her game. This ability to adapt to changing conditions and create novel, strategic responses within the context of the dynamics of the flow of the match is crucial to the success of every player. This comes from fluid intelligence. Fluid Intelligence decreases with age but increases with Transcendental Meditation.

Parameter: Creativity
Parameter Description: Creativity, which is very much tied to fluid intelligence, is simply the act of turning new and imaginative ideas into reality. Creativity is characterized by the ability to perceive the world in new ways, to make connections between seemingly unrelated phenomena, and to generate solutions.
Significance to Player Performance: As a player you know the experience of seeming to get stuck in one style of play that may get less and less resilient over time resulting in less success on court. With a higher level of creativity you begin to impart spontaneously a more imaginative style in your play, giving your opponent a different look that may baffle her to defeat. Creativity decreases with age but increases with Transcendental Meditation.

Parameter: Cognitive Flexibility
Parameter Description: Cognitive Flexibility can be described from slightly different but important points of view. Firstly, it is a component of executive functioning, higher order cognition involving the ability to control one’s thinking. It is the ability, based upon some need, to switch one’s thinking in order to overcome habitual responses and respond freshly and effectively to new situations. It is also the ability to suppress some environmental stimuli to focus on more important aspects within that environment. And, very importantly, it has been defined as having the understanding and awareness of all possible options and alternatives simultaneously within any situation.
Significance to Player Performance: Along with fluid intelligence, cognitive flexibility gives the player the ability to see a need for change in the middle of a game or a set, have within her awareness all possible options and then identify spontaneously from those options what that change should be, and switch tactics on the fly. Also with a higher level of cognitive flexibility, every player can maintain a higher level of focus and concentration because her brain can more efficiently sort out what is useful and what is not to her play at any moment on court. Cognitive Flexibility decreases with age but increases with Transcendental Meditation. (These qualities of fluid intelligence, creativity, and cognitive flexibility, in part, combine to create within the player’s awareness a wholeness of operation that is the basis of the “in-the-zone” experience.)

Parameter: Self-Evaluation of Health and Well-Being
Parameter Description: The parameter is self-explanatory. It is simply how individuals perceive themselves - their own health and well being. The research shows a direct relationship between a positive self-evaluation and greater confidence.
Significance to Player Performance: Every player knows that the more confident she is about herself generally and her game, the better the results. Commitment to shots, the successful deployment of tactics and game plan, and, importantly, maintaining that psychological edge on her opponent all have their basis in a high level of confidence. Self-Evaluation of Health and Well-Being decreases with age but grows stronger with Transcendental Meditation.


The Parameters that go up with age (get worse) but go down with TM (get better), indicating a younger biological age:

Parameter: Reflex Response - Reflex Latency
Parameter Description: A reflex is an involuntary and nearly instantaneous movement in response to a stimulus that does not receive or need conscious thought. Reflex latency is simply how quickly one can respond to a stimulus.
Significance to Player Performance: As a player in a match you are required to respond hundreds of times to balls coming at you from the other side of the net. In some cases there is no time to think. A good example of this is when you are in some rapid-fire volleying, back and forth at the net, or shots coming back at you so quickly and with so much pace, you can only respond, no time to think. Reflex Latency gets slower with age but improves with Transcendental Meditation.

Parameter: Reflex Response - Recovery Time
Parameter Description: Reflex Recovery Time is a measure of how quickly one can get set or reset for the next stimulus.
Significance to Player Performance: After returning a shot in a rally for example, the neurophysiology has to reset itself to receive the next shot. The faster the recovery time the more ready the player will be to handle the next shot. This resetting is automatic, without conscious thought. This is an extremely important area of functioning for the tennis player whose neurophysiology has to reset itself many times to prepare the player to receive the opponent’s next shot. Often the opponent’s goal is to return the shot quickly to take “time away.” The faster the recovery time the less successful this tactic of your opponent will be. Reflex Response - Recovery Time gets slower with age but gets faster with Transcendental Meditation.

Parameter: Reaction Time: Complex
Parameter Description: Before describing Complex Reaction Time I want to make a distinction between reflexes and reactions. Reflexes, as described above, are involuntary or unintentional (and not subject to conscious control in most cases). Reactions, on the other hand, are voluntary responses. Reaction time, generally, is the amount of time required for an individual to perceive and respond to a sensory stimulus, and in the case of complex reaction time, we’re talking about multiple stimuli requiring different responses, and it is within this dynamic context tennis players play the game. Complex reaction time is the ability to detect, process, and respond to stimuli, and logically good reaction time is associated with having good reflexes. To have good reaction time, it is also necessary to be focused, an ability that comes from a higher level of field independence and cognitive flexibility as described earlier.
Significance to Player Performance: The player, standing at her baseline after returning a shot with a fair pace but only a few feet beyond the service line to her right-handed opponent’s deuce court, not knowing for sure what’s going to come back to her but without a doubt a shot within a finite realm of possibilities that she may be somewhat familiar with from playing this opponent before, must be ready to react to a cross-court forehand, a slice deep into her ad court, maybe a drop shot just clearing the net in her deuce court, a cross-court slice, a forehand down the line, or a flat shot deep in the center of the court, each requiring a different response or shot. The faster the player can react the more likely she is to win the point on her return or, at least, set up the point for the win. Complex Reaction Time gets worse with age but gets faster with Transcendental Meditation

Parameter: Susceptibility to Stress
Parameter Description: Susceptibility to stress is essentially an individual’s vulnerability to future stress intake. The more stressed and, therefore, the less resilient their nervous system, the more likely they will perceive experience in a less healthy, less innocent, more stressful way.
Significance to Player Performance: If a player is less susceptible to stress, her nervous system will function better under the dynamic conditions of a match with greater vitality, faster reaction times, and faster recovery. Susceptibility to Stress increases with age but decreases with Transcendental Meditation.

Parameter: Anxiety
Parameter Description: Anxiety, generally, is a feeling of worry or nervousness, often about an imminent event. More clinically, anxiety is a disorder characterized by a state of excessive uneasiness and apprehension.
Significance to Player Performance:  Research indicates that anxiety has a significant effect on perceptual motor performance. Through its effect on attention, anxiety affects the degree to which a player’s movement can be controlled. If the attention is drawn inward towards “task-irrelevant” stimuli under anxiety, less attention is available for the player’s shot execution and overall play. After all, perceptual-motor performance requires an appropriate adjustment of the player’s movements on the basis of available perceptual information. This implies that as a result of anxiety, a player’s movements may become less accurate, and since anxiety causes the attention to be drawn inwards, it may lead to the player’s attempting to explicitly control or monitor her movements. For the professional tennis player this disrupts the automatic execution of play, lessening the possibility of the “in-the-zone” experience, seriously harming overall performance and chances for success. Anxiety increases with age but decreases with Transcendental Meditation.


According to research in an article in Wired, a monthly American magazine owned by Conde Nast that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, “... there reaches an age - a physiological tipping point - when athletes start to experience an irreversible downturn in their abilities. Generally speaking, athletes start to see physical declines at age 26, give or take.” Now, with the technology of Transcendental Meditation, this physical decline at that age can be averted. Once you begin and continue the practice of Transcendental Meditation, as a player-meditator, then, moving your way through the tournaments of the tennis tour each year, your neurophysiology will continuously be functioning on a younger and younger biological level, with each of the parameters evaluated above displaying a commensurately younger level of performance. We could say,”36 (or older) has become the new 26, Roger Federer and the Williams sisters notwithstanding.”

Conclusion - A Sharper Game and a Longer Career

With the technology of Transcendental Meditation in her bag, as they say, each day that player will  be culturing a physiology, a level of perceptual motor performance that is operating continuously from a younger biological age, making her game sharper with each match and with each tournament and, at the same time, establishing the basis for a longer and possibly less injury-prone career. The ability of a player to bring this dynamic to her game and to her career as a whole, to create the physiological condition for playing longer at a high level, is a most profound breakthrough in Sports Science.

The seemingly prevailing concept that a player is destined to physical decline in her abilities at around 26 with a career pretty much finished by 30 is obsolete. The new conceptual paradigm of a longer, healthier, and more successful career is not just on the horizon, it is available now with the incorporation of the technology of Transcendental Meditation into the total game plan of every player, of every coach, and into the programs of every tennis association and every tennis academy around the world. In the future, it will be the player-meditator who will prevail.



Anyway, that’s how I see it.

APPENDIX

Notes from the Author:

1. In the seminal research cited above, the three parameters used to determine biological age were: blood pressure, near-point vision, and auditory discrimination.

2. The research on Transcendental Meditation and aging is extensive and comprehensive. Here is a link summarizing some of the research referred to in the text:  Results of Some Research Studies on Transcendental Meditation and Aging

3. I have written four other blog posts on Tennis and Transcendental Meditation laying out the benefits of the practice for the tennis player from four different angles of consideration. Here are links to those blog posts:

• Tennis, Peak Performance, and Transcendental Meditation
• Combating the Toll of the Tennis Tour - A Performance Enhancing Technology (PET)
• Fitness from the Inside through Transcendental Meditation
• Why Every WTA Touring Player Should Learn Transcendental Meditation