So many people ask me why they can do great in practice, warm-ups, and a down-and-back but not maintain that once the game goes live. The solution to this problem is understanding your nervous system.

When there aren’t any stakes you are most likely in the ventral vagal or play state. The ventral vagal is a calm state when you are at ease, connected, and in flow. If you’ve heard me talk about the importance of automation you will notice how that state sounds similar to how I describe being in automation, and that’s not an accident.

The play state is a combination of ventral vagal and sympathetic. It basically takes your ventral vagal state and adds a lot of energy and mobilization. It’s the ideal state for playing cornhole (or any sport). You care more than you do in warm-ups and that mobilizing energy helps you to play at your best for longer periods of time.

As soon as we spin that bag, fist bump, and say good luck there is most likely a shift in the nervous system. For some of you that shift may be too subtle to notice, but it’s there. And then you will head into 1 of 3 states…

1. Remain in the play state. This is ideal! This means you will feel energetic and calm. It’s where automation will happen. You won’t be in your head. You will be grounded in the body with confidence.
2. Shift to the sympathetic state. This is where fear, anxiety, and fight or flight live. Your thoughts could be going around and around, your jaw could feel tense and you might notice heat through your chest.
3. Shift to the dorsal vagal state. This is a state of numbness. Disconnection from yourself and others. You may feel hopeless, depressed, and exhausted.

As you can imagine, the sympathetic and dorsal vagal state are not ideal. You’re either in your head (and it’s a mess up there) or you’re nowhere. Numb. Disconnected. And here’s the kicker…

Most people don’t notice these shifts until its made its way up to your thoughts. And by then it’s too late. 

The first sign of what state you are in happens as body sensations. Then it moves into body movements and postures. Then into thoughts and stories.

Here’s an example for the sympathetic state:

You fist bump and go live… first up body sensations:

Your heart rate increases, pressure builds like a wall in your chest, you feel heat spread over the front of your body and your stomach goes into knots…

Next up are body movements and postures… your fists clench a little tighter around the bag. Your jaw clenches and your breathing rate increases…

Now your body has informed your brain that something is wrong. The brain goes down fear-based stories of worry. Things are going to fall apart, I’m going to fall short…

The bag gets released… it’s short or right, or left, or off the back of the board.
The stories in the brain are confirmed. The brain signals to teh body that things are bad. Brace up… get ready for a threat… 

And that’s just one potential scenario. And it can be triggered by all sorts of things throughout a match. This all happens via the nervous system which is why it’s crucial to understand your patterns, body sensations, and programmed state for cornhole success. If we are only focusing on our minds we are bypassing our nervous system because most of our communication travels from the bottom up. Body to brain... not brain to body.