The blizzard came in hard. Gale force winds, record snow, power flickering through the night. There was nothing to do but settle in. People read. Made things. Looked inward. Waited. Then it passed — the way storms always do, though we forget that while we’re in them. The sun came out warm and strong. Snow…
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Dedicated to two of my closest friends and teammates: Chris “Flash” Burner who passed away on Tuesday, and Billy Canavan, who left us on the same day, 2 years ago. That’s me in the middle, flanked by Billy Canavan #11 and Mike Morris #13 There is something happening in my body right now that happens…
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Someone you love sends a photo. They’re somewhere you can’t be, at the edge of something big, ready to go. And just like that — across any distance, in the best possible moment — you’re right there with them. This is what connection does. It collapses space. It ignores time zones and mountain ranges and…
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Welcome to Practice Notes If you’ve been reading The Practice, you know I believe that how we show up — in the small moments as much as the big ones — is everything. This is a smaller space. Field notes more than essays. Short reflections drawn from the teachers that have shaped me most. Sport,…
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“The flower is made of non-flower elements.” — Thich Nhat Hanh Outside, the first real blizzard in a few years is settling over southeastern Massachusetts. The wind has been howling since dawn. The lights are flickering. The yard’s buried beneath drifting snow. I’m not going anywhere. I’ve been thinking about harmony today — about what…
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Last night, Ilia Malinin stepped onto the ice as the heavy favorite. The most technically gifted skater in the field. The “Quad God.” The expectations were enormous. And then the moment didn’t go his way. It always amazes me how surprised we seem to be when someone falters under enormous pressure — as if being…
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“Lion at Rest” Your mind’s primary objective is to keep you from being eaten by a lion. Consider the implications of this for your life. That wiring made perfect sense once. But in modern life — and especially in sport — the “lion” rarely looks like a predator. It looks like a crowd, a scoreboard,…
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Yesterday, my book The Why of Sports: Finding Meaning, Presence, and Purpose in the Game and Beyond was published. The ideas come from my life as the son of a coach, then as an athlete, coach, parent, and mindfulness teacher. The book consists of 61 short chapters, each 1-2 pages long, written in an informal,…
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Credit: David Cannon Allsport via Getty Images I happened to be writing a short section “Competition” as part of a book I’m working on, when I started reading about the horrible fan behavior at the Ryder Cup. As a lifelong participant, coach and fan, sports has given me so much. In many ways, it has…
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Been a while since I’ve posted. Please pardon the rust! One of the first things I do in the morning after brewing coffee is to check my weather app. I use WeatherBug, whose tag line is “know before” which I find compelling and ironic. I’ll check the hourly forecast and adjust accordingly. Raincoat? Shorts or…
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