Faith Meets Science: Discovering the Intersection of Sport Psychology and Scripture

Dr. Amber Selking: 00:00:38

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to building championship mindsets, the podcast. This is your host, Doctor Amber Selking. Where we are in. Drum roll, please. Season 15. I am so excited to bring this season to you.

And it is going to be entitled Sports Psych and Scripture.

My faith is really important to me, and it informs a lot of the ways I think and a lot of how I understand the field and the science of sports psychology.

And so over the years, I've just had a lot of people ask me questions about that, of like, hey, man, tell me more about, you know, the principles and the theories and the science that you know and understand and where you find that from a faith lens and how do those things intersect. And so, listen, here's the thing. I recognize that all of our listeners aren't of the christian faith, which is my background.

And so, listen, I don't want this season to be polarizing to anyone or for you to just turn this off and think this isn't for you. Because again, this is about sports psychology and how we understand the power of the mind to change who we are and how we show up.

I think it's cool that there is an added layer that we can really understand this from a different perspective.

And what I found over my, over a decade of practicing in the field of sports psych is that a lot of times what we find is that people that have a faith context, whatever that might be, when they realize that some science supports that, then they're able to actually lean into their faith more deeply or be able to have more critical conversations with people through the lens of science that they might not have otherwise had.

And then conversely, people that might have more of a bend toward scientific, you know, theoretical practices, but think faith is kind of separate and fluffy and not tangible and real. It adds a new dimension to understand faith and that from another angle as well. And that's my intent.

And my hope with this season of the podcast is that for those of you that have a christian faith, that you'd really love to know and see the intersections of where sports psychology, theories, practices, principles, science align with the scripture, that, that can really bolster your christian faith.

For those of you that might not have a faith or a different one, then I would just encourage you to lean into this and just open your mind and see how different fields really are connected and, and then extrapolate that thinking to everything that you do.

How can you think differently about the ways you operate in the world and who you are and how you show up and, and start to connect dots in broader ways that allow you to show up to the world in a more meaningful and robust manner that allows you to actually reach more people. So, again, I am excited to go on this journey with you and to dive in to really see and understand.

Where does sports psychology intersect with scripture. And today I actually want to start with a fundamental element and scientific principle called neuroplasticity.

Because this understanding of the brain and how it functions from a ability to grow and change standpoint underlies everything else that we're going to talk about moving forward in sports psychology. So neuroplasticity basically just tells us that the brain is plastic, right?

It's malleable, it can grow and change based on the neuro activity that's going on in the brain, aka your thoughts, right? And so where we find that in scripture is romans twelve two. It says that we can be transformed by the renewing of our mind.

The whole verse says, do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is, his good, pleasing and perfect will. So let's unpack both of these things.

First of all, neuroplasticity. Today, it's widely known that the brain can grow and change based on how you think.

In fact, it wasn't until the: 1970

So actually, this principle is first discovered in the 17 hundreds by an italian anatomist, Michele Vincenzo Malaccarne. And he was doing an experiment with animals where he had two, two groups of animals, right? The controlled group and the test group.

And then the control group, they didn't train them, but the test group, they, they trained the animals. And then when the animals passed away, I don't know how they passed away. Don't ask that question. They passed away. Okay.

And so when, when they, when the animals passed away, they did a study on their brain that looked at the trained animals, actually had a larger cell cerebellum than the untrained animals, showing that the training of them actually changed the form and structure of their brain. And, and so while this was a really important study, it actually got pretty forgotten.

e principles of psychology in: 1890

But again, this was not widely accepted and kind of went unbelieved all the way up until the 19 hundreds, again, when some more experiments started to happen.

d then again, finally, in the: 1970

Your brain is constantly evolving based on, you know, what it's exposed to and what your thought patterns are and. And how. And how you can show up to the world around you. But again, I originally, people thought, like, man, when babies are young, right, you.

You learn stuff. Your brain grows. But then once you're an adult, your brain is what it is.

And so if you, you know, have depression or anxiety or have a stroke or have some sort of head trauma, man, I'm sorry. Your brain is what it is as an adult.

But again, this research shows us that because of neuroactivity and neurons in the brain, the the electrical activity that happens through thoughts or through stimulation can actually start to rewire, reactivate, and grow the brain. And so science shows us that through the lens of neuroplasticity.

But scripture, again says in romans twelve two, do not conform to the pattern of this world.

That is, you know, how the world thinks, how you were raised, what your sort of upbringing entailed you, maybe some of the things you saw, some of the things that you did, some of the ways that you were taught and trained to do not conform to that pattern. But actually, you can be transformed. You can change your life if you renew your mind.

And so, again, science shows us that the brain can grow and change based on neuroplasticity. And scripture tells us we can change through our brain as well.

And quite frankly, that's why I love the field of sports psychology, because while I believe that to be true, the next question then, is, okay, awesome. How? And that's why, to me, sports psychology is so powerful and so important because it holds the keys to the how. How do I transform my life?

How do I renew my mind so that I can show up differently in my own life to those that are important to me and to the world around me? That's why sports psychology is so important. That's why I'm so passionate about it.

And that's why I truly believe that what I do individually can make a difference. But it's not because of me. It's because of the collective entity that sports psych holds the keys that help people transform their lives.

And so I am passionate about what I do because I know people's lives can change. Whole teams can change. Whole organizations can change. Whole families can change. Whole communities can change.

Whole nations, whole worlds can change if the individuals inside of each of those systems understand the power that they have inside of their brains to truly transform when they renew their minds. And so, as we embark on season 15 together, that's what this is going to be about. Let's look at the science. Let's see what it says in scriptures.

Then let's apply that to our lives so that we can be transformed, so that we can show up and be who we've been created and called to be to the world around us. Because if you haven't noticed, the world's struggling right now. And we need people who can show up and deliver their best when their best is needed.

And so it's such an honor and a blessing for me to be able to get to do this work on a day to day basis. I've. You recently been promoted to chief culture officer at Lippert.

For those of you who have been listening to the seat, to the podcast for a while, you've known that my journey there over the last seven years has. Has evolved. And the next step of that is serving as our chief culture officer.

So I get to do this in the business space with an amazing team of leadership development, coaches, philanthropy, influencers, chaplains, and then our leaders across the business at every layer that are really looking at how do we build a high performing organization and how do we build high performing individuals inside of that organization? So we get to apply these principles, uh, these scientific principles through the business lens in.

In then my other life, right, my other side of my life is serving as the men's performance coach for LSU football. And so being able to bring this to life inside of the world of athletics, this is applicable regardless of who you are and what role you play.

How do you think. How can you think right?

How can you be transformed by renewing of your mind and leveraging the tools and the keys inside of sports psychology to do just that? This season is going to be so fun. I can't wait to grow myself. I can't wait to hear the ways that you grow. And.

And one of the ways that we're able to do that is every. Every episode, we provide this championship mindset, training.

So, something that you can actually do to start to transform and train your brain just like you train your body or your craft or work on the relationships that you have in your life. And so our mindset training for this week is, it's a simple question. Do you really believe that you can change?

Do you believe that you can transform who you are today and who you want to be tomorrow? And I want you to ponder that question. I really want to challenge you to think about that, because here's, here's what I know.

Science says you can, and scriptures say that you can.

And if you can wrap your head around one of those, either from a scientific standpoint or from a faith standpoint, or maybe both of those, then holy smokes, I can't wait to see who you continue to become and how you show up to the world. Because, again, we need you in this world. The best version of that, bring in your greatness all the time.

So, listen, if there's anything I can do for you. Keynote speaking for your organization. If you'd like to be a sponsor for this podcast.

If you're interested in our book, you can check out our book, winning the mental game, the Playbook for building championship mindsets. You can get that on our website, selkienperformance.com, or on Amazon or wherever you buy your books.

Check that out because it holds even more of these keys to help you transform your mind. But again, reach out to me directly.

My email is doctor Selkien@selkienperformance.com and I would love to come share these sports psychology principles. Like I said with your organization through keynote speaking, I have a team of mental performance coaches if you'd like to do some one on one work.

And again, this isn't always through the lens of scripture. This is through the lens of organizational high performance. Right. And in sports psychology.

And so how do we build high performing organizations through leadership? How do we build high performing individuals through mindset?

And in this season, we just be happen to show, show the connection between scripture, but that that may or may not be a part of the conversation you want to have. And that's totally cool, right?

We're all on this journey, and my whole hope and intent is that we help you unleash the power of mindset and leadership to drive high performing people and high performing teams and organizations. So let us know how we can help Doctor Selkien at Selkien performance.com.

again, lots of resources on our website and then we're on all the social media platforms. So follow us. We're on team follow back Selkien performance group on Facebook and then X and Instagram. We're at Champ mindsets.

That's mindsets with an s, excited for this season together. Thank you so much for tuning in. You've been listening to building championship mindsets, the podcast. This is your host, Doctor Amber Selking.

And from the locker room to the boardroom, I just want to challenge you to continue building your championship mindset.