Thaddeus Youth is a 13 year NBA veteran who played for five teams, including the 76ers, Timberwolves and Nets. He was also voted team captain by the Bulls in 2019.

Young is an entrepreneur, philanthropist and off-court. Reform Ventures, LLC, which is a private investment fund, has allowed him to invest in real estate and start up companies. He has been active in his community, playing for various youth foundations. In Memphis, Tenn., Reform Sports and the Young for Youth Foundation have provided resources for young athletes who want to be pros.

Thaddeus spoke to Aida Johnson-Rapp, Fitness Expert about mindfulness practices he employs off the court.

Aida Johnson-Rapp AJR: I was motivated to start a meditation practice, and to become a certified yoga and meditation instructor by the challenge of managing people. It’s difficult to manage people when you have a lot of personalities. You need to understand yourself and how others would react. Meditation has been proven to help you do this better.

Thaddeus Youth (TY) I think so. It’s like being able to use your patience to handle certain situations even when you don’t have patience. One thing I do is to remain in total silence. Hearing too many different sounds can cloud your judgment and affect the way you think. If I have between 30 and 40 different situations, it can cloud my judgment. Sometimes I try to sit in silence in my car or in a quiet room so that I can think through everything. Focus on this and figure out the next move, plan or step forward. This will allow me to move forward with what I’m currently thinking about and make a decision.

Meditation can help you manage your egos and other personalities. It is important to communicate and converse with all these egos in a different way. For example, I might be able to go to one person, have a heated conversation, and then be fine afterwards. It is possible that I will not be able to go to the next person to have a heated conversation with him, and it won’t end the same. He might need to be able to communicate with me with some calmness. It’s essential to understand how to manage your egos, communicate with people in different ways and to be able to get through to them. This will allow us all to work together to get the day through. This type of talk can take a toll on your ability to adapt to new situations every day. To play a great sport, you have to adapt to the people around you.

AJR How did you find that way of grounding yourself and finding peace and comfort in your mind? Did you learn about it on the internet, or from apps (meditation), or were you able to do it yourself?

TY I am a laid back person and have never needed company to help me get through difficult situations. People need to be surrounded by people to maintain stability, but I’m not one of them. It was easy for me to fall into these states as I was very independent and didn’t spend much time with other people. A basketball player typically has four to five people around them every day. I was a quiet person and did my research on health. Anxiety was something that a close relative of mine had to deal with, and that made me think about health. It’s hard to help someone who has been through this. It was important to me to understand their thinking processes so I began to dig into it to find out more. Then I noticed more and more athletes becoming more aware of their mental health. I didn’t want my son to become anxious or have to deal daily with stress. So I researched the topic and tried to help him/her through his/her healing. I have a young son, and I wanted him to understand that it was okay. To talk about your fears and to feel a certain way, but not allow it to take over. To be able to coach my child and continue my support of my family members, I had to learn how to deal with those fears.

AJR: That’s great. What did you learn? Are there any mindfulness leaders you love?

TY I didn’t start out by researching everything about mental health, mental diseases, and such like. Then I began to read excerpts, small clips and other information and dive into the meaning of a lot of these terms.

AJR. George Mumford is a mindfulness teacher and one of the books I’d read years ago. His clients included the Chicago Bulls. He helped Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan as well as other NBA players with anxiety, tensions, and stress. His book, The Mindful Athlete Secrets to Pure Performance is very helpful. It talks about being in the zone, being in flow, and how to do that.

TY I’m not familiar with this book, but I plan to read more of these books. Reading and searching was what I did to increase my mental capacity. Basketball has been my favorite sport. Basketball has never given me anxiety. Sometimes you have big games, and that’s when it started to affect my mental health. It was only a few years ago that I began to struggle with my mental health. Everything seemed like a downward spiral, because the team wasn’t winning. I was not being heard as an elder statesman of the team, and there was conflict over minutes of play and such. I was in a position where it was affecting my mental health, and almost made me consider quitting the club. It was a terrible first year with the Bulls.

TY The unfamiliarity and newness of the situation was both [challenging]. I was a resident of Indiana for many years and knew everyone there so it was difficult to adjust to a new team and a new city. It didn’t work out for basketball, so other things started to go wrong. It started to have a ripple effect on me and began to cause problems. It taught me that I was a tough person. I needed to learn to cope with adversity. Although I have dealt with adversity of all kinds, it was never like the 13 th season. I was the oldest guy on the team and it was still up in the air where the team’s direction was concerned. There are so many young players coming in who are great at basketball. I wonder if they will push me out of this league. I was always on one side and the other. You have to be that veteran, that leader and the guy who helps groom the younger men when you cross over to the older side. This puts you in a position where you need to make adjustments.

What did you do in times of stress?

TY I began to regain my confidence. I’ve always been someone who could talk to me.

Do you think that’s positive self-talk?

TY Yes. I would give myself positive self-talk such as: “You can do it,” “You know that you’re stronger than this,” “Go to where you were born to do it,” or “Go back to how you were raised.” These words are very important to every player on the roster, and everyone who has made it to this level in the NBA. Because guys like me used all that to get here, a few of these words are important to everyone. You will understand why you got there when you refer to these words. They can keep you there.

AJR: Anyone can have negative self-talk, even someone who works a 9-to-5 job. Mindfulness is all about positive self-talk.

TY There are people who believe in positive self-talk but don’t really believe in it. It’s difficult for them to overcome the obstacles or get past the hump. It is something I believe in. That’s what I believe has allowed me to get back to a point where I’m happy playing basketball again and happy with my full-time job.

Are you able to use positive self-talk while playing in a game?

TY Yes. I use all of that stuff. I find a way to overcome a bad day by pushing myself to the limit and believing that the things I do that day will make me better the next day.

You seem to be trying to keep your eyes on the present.

TY I try to be present and not dwell on past events. People who dwell on the past will continue to be pushed down by their [stuff] own.

You are right, and you’re getting worse.

TY: That’s exactly what they do. Instead of just getting up, taking a shower, and then moving on, they reach that point. For me, it is either living in the present or focusing on the future. I will be able to see the future and make the best of the present by living in the moment.

AJR. You seem like a great role model to many players. Are you convinced that being mindful, spending quality time with yourself, and positive self-talk have helped you become a better athlete?

TY I’ve been blessed enough to have all the teams I play for love me. They love having me around and love keeping me there. And they hate to let me go. I’ve been blessed to have many young players who like me. Many older men don’t like young players because they don’t feel they know how to play or are worried about losing their jobs. While I feel comfortable in my skin, that is not true for everyone. Being comfortable with myself as a person helps me to connect with the younger players and people I meet every day. I don’t put down people, even if they are being brought in to replace someone else or to show their potential. Because basketball is not a team sport, I am able to be comfortable with myself. The team must win the game, not one person. It is important that everyone on the team agrees and we are all connected. We will have more bad seasons if we don’t connect.

AJR: When was this attitude first adopted? Do you recall when you started to put emphasis on positive self-talk and keeping in touch with your team? Do you believe you have been living with this mindset for a long time?

TY It all began for me in high school. I was blessed to have a coach who taught me formations, coordination, and [working together]. As good as I was in highschool, I realized that I couldn’t succeed without the men I was playing with. Those games required us to all trust one another. It would be great if I could score 50 points. But, is that best for our team? No. It was then that I realized how important a team can be. If everyone is not on the same page, success will not come. We are not all together and we don’t hold each other responsible.

In the spirit of accountability, how often are you able to practice mindfulness such as journaling, meditation or yoga?

TY [This is my routine] as I get ready for the upcoming season. Breakfast, breakfast, then a workout. Then, drive to the next session. You can leave that workout behind and come home to spend some time with your family. After that, I may work on my other businesses, receive updates from my employees and get information about my businesses. After I’m done with my day, it is time to spend some time with my family before going to bed. My mindfulness practice begins when I get into the shower around 10-11 a.m. It’s easier during the season because I have dedicated naptime for gamedays. This is two to three hours where no one bothers. I just turn on the meditation music, and then I lay down and take in everything.

AJR: Music with a frequency of 432 hz is considered to be the most relaxing for the human ear. It can be used for relaxation and calmness. Many streaming music services offer playlists with songs that are specifically selected for the 432 hz frequency range. This is just an FYI, since meditation music can be played at night. Meditation seems to be a popular method for mindfulness.

TY You can either do that or complete silence. Yoga is fun, but it hurts. Being a basketball player, my body is very stiff, so mindfulness makes me feel less pain.

Do you have any thoughts or ideas about mindfulness practices?

TY The best thing about mindfulness is the ability to put yourself in a box. This means that you can manage your own mind, and restore or regenerate yourself or re-energize yourself simply by lying down or thinking positive thoughts. It’s the best part about it. It’s possible to be mentally exhausted all day, and then take an extra hour to relax. It’s similar to getting a massage. You may feel sore but can use these practices to heal your body.

AJR: You can do it all yourself. This is the beauty of mindfulness: to have that level of consciousness to be able to re energize, reflect and recharge. Many people don’t realize the many benefits of mindfulness. Do you ever recommend this to your teammates as a role model or captain?

TY I try to be as helpful as possible, but each person has their own ways of dealing with situations. I don’t try to make other people feel bad about what I do. I am mindful that people have different ways of dealing with adversity. To be able to help others, I try to learn from them.

AJR: How do you manage negative comments, feedback, and questions from the media as a team captain? This topic is dominating the news at the moment.

TY It becomes repetitive to be asked the same questions repeatedly. It is important to learn how to handle the media, deflect negative comments and turn them into positives. When we lose, I will admit it and let them know what the team and individual players did well. It’s better to focus on the positives than dwelling on the negatives. Even if one of the guys didn’t have a great game, or didn’t score many points, he might still have contributed to our defense with a few rebounds, steals, and other help. Even though he wasn’t the most skilled player, he might have given us an opportunity to win the game at the end. I try to understand people and what they bring to the table. Then, I put it out there. I’m always focused on keeping things positive.

This post was written by Darryl Johnson, Co-Owner of Apex performance. At Apex performance we are a community of highly trained experts looking to provide performance enhancement and a permanent lifestyle change for our clients in a fun and interactive environment. Members can take advantage of one of the gyms in Tampa, small group classes and specialized courses for a wide variety of athletics, sports training and body goals!