Sean Brawley has dedicated the past 25 years to helping people from all walks of life elevate their performance and unlock their potential. As a facilitator and coach, he has custom designed highly unique, experiential programs for many well-known organizations such as GE, ITT, the New York Yankees, San Diego Padres, Seattle Mariners and the U.S. Tennis Association. Sean was also the primary mental coach for the USC football team for 9 years and helped Pete Carroll and the Trojans win 2 national championships.
In the beginning, Sean talks about a powerful new HBO documentary called The Weight of Gold. Sean says it really pulled back the veil and shows how much internal pressure that elite athletes are under. Even though on the surface it seems as though they have everything under control, the fact is that many of these athletes are really struggling with their inner demons. For Sean, this is a powerful & timely message because during COVID, lots of people are suffering, not just elite athletes.
About four years ago, Sean had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s greatest tennis players, such as Roger Federer and Venus Williams. He noticed that each one had a “breakthrough experience” at some point in their tennis career; however, many of them also had a “breakdown experience” that showed up a short time after the breakthrough.
Professional tennis player Madison Keys revealed that she got injured at the height of her tennis career. During this time off from playing, she realized how much pressure she was putting on herself, and she got back in touch with what was most important – her friends and family. She also rekindled her love for the game: “I rediscovered the joy of hitting a tennis ball.”
Sean talks about cultivating the courage to engage our feelings and even to be vulnerable. He says it all goes back to learning how to bring “loving presence” to what’s arising in the moment.
Sean talks about the process of staying present with difficult or even unwanted emotion. It begins by bringing awareness to that emotion. Instead of rejecting it, we simply sit with it and allow it to arise. In time, we may be able to even learn to welcome, embrace and even bring love to it; but these are steps in a process, and they don’t happen all at once.
Sean has spent years practicing co-presencing. He finds it to be even more powerful than meditation. Co-presencing is practicing with other people to be present in the NOW, in the face of difficult situations and feelings.
You can learn more about Sean and his work right here: https://seanbrawley.com/home/
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