The complementary nature of the Practices of the Healthcare Athlete is a foundational concept and key attribute in the pursuit of health, wellbeing, and sustainable high performance.
Dr. Darin Davidson partners with Learner+, a CME/CE reflective learning platform for healthcare providers. For the opportunity to reflect on this article and earn CME/CE credits, Launch here. Check out all past articles which are also eligible for reflections and CME/CE credits.
For downloadable, actionable strategies and tactics to leverage biology in the pursuit of health, wellbeing, and sustainable high performance, visit the resource store, Launch here. Chapters are arranged by topic so those of interest can be selected and each are also eligible for reflections and CME/CE credits through Learner+.
Throughout this article series, the mind-based and body-based skills, strategies, and tactics which form the paradigm of the Practices of the Healthcare Athlete have been discussed in detail. The purpose of this framework is to leverage our biology in the pursuit of health, wellbeing, and sustainable high performance. As described in the previous article, this approach leads to a foundational philosophy of developing the ability to be the best version of our self as consistently as possible. Another important contributing factor to the empowering aspect of this perspective is that it is complementary in nature.
Prior to discussing the complementary nature of this framework, it is important to first discuss what is meant by complementary. This concept is primarily taken from football. Within the game of football, there are three main phases of the team, specifically offense, defense, and special teams. Successful teams and their coaches regularly talk about playing complementary football. By this they mean that each phase strives to work in tandem with the others such that the overall impact is greater than the sum of the parts. The same perspective can be taken, and in fact should be implemented, within the Practices of Healthcare Athlete.
It is not necessary to be a football fan or player in order to understand this perspective and apply it within this paradigm. We can readily understand how different aspects of the overall team can work synergistically to improve the effectiveness and ability of the other parts. When we apply this to the mind-based and body-based skills, strategies, and tactics of the Practices of their Healthcare Athlete this can also be readily understood. In particular, this understanding and outlook emphasizes how we can utilize our mind-based skills to strengthen our anchored and grounded states. Similarly, we can utilize body-based skills in order to shift back towards or maintain strength within our anchored and grounded states. We can also utilize the wide array of body-based and mind-based skills as needed such that we are able to leverage our biology in the desired fashion. In addition, through effective recovery and restoration practices we are able to replenish necessary resources to strengthen our foundation and optimally apply the necessary skills. By implementing this paradigm, not only are the various skills better able to function in conjunction with each other, but we are able to more fully realize the potential of implementing the framework across all domains and elements of our life.
Ultimately, our mind-based and body-based skills work best when they are utilized in a complementary fashion. This allows one set of skills to supplement and support the other. In addition when one group of skills is not effective in a given scenario, we are able to turn to the other group of skills in order to leverage our biology in the desired way. As a result our mind-based and body-based skills can be seen to support each other in a complementary fashion to bring about an overall greater impact than either group of skills could achieve on their own.
To further consider the paradigm of a football team we can consider the structure of those teams and apply that to the framework of the Practices of the Healthcare Athlete. Within the three phases of the team described above, there are numerous position groups, in particular within the offense and defense. These specific position groups have particular purposes and functions within the larger group and team. When the team is preparing for an upcoming game, the position groups meet and prepare amongst themselves and then subsequently within the larger phase of the team. This is then brought together to create an overall team across all three phases, which ideally is greater than the sum of its parts.
We can apply a similar paradigm within the Practices of the Healthcare Athlete. We can consider the different mind-based and body-based skills to represent different position groups within the overall phase or group of skills. By developing each position group and bringing them back to the overall phase in which they exist, we are able to optimally develop each specific skill and, more importantly, optimize the overall ability of that phase to leverage our biology. When we then combine the phases, the synergistic impact is greater than the sum of the parts.
In past articles, it has been discussed that there is a limitation to implementing only the psychological perspective. The specific limitation is that when we shift away from anchored and grounded states these skills lose their effectiveness. It has also been discussed that implementing only somatic perspectives has its own limitations. The analogy within the complementary approach is that by only emphasizing either the psychological perspective or the somatic paradigm, we are only focusing on one phase of the overall system. This limits the overall effectiveness of the framework in working towards our objective of optimally pursuing health, wellbeing, and sustainable high performance.
Another important consideration within the overall framework of applying this complementary paradigm is the process through which we extend our ability to implement individual skills and apply them on a frequent and consistent basis. When we are developing a plan to develop and utilize the necessary mind-based and body-based skills, the necessity to enhance the ability to perform the skills and subsequently utilize them under progressively higher demand and higher stake situations can seem daunting. When applied in a complementary fashion, this process becomes more manageable. There are two aspects to this. Firstly we practice the skills under lower demand situations to develop the ability to perform the specific skills. Secondly, we emphasize the process of utilizing the skills in one situation at a time and then repeat this process as often and consistently as possible. Simultaneously we can incrementally increase the consequences of the situations in which we utilize the skills, thereby enhancing our capacity to successfully implement the skills under progressively higher demand scenarios. This allows for the process of skill development and implementation to be as complementary as possible, thereby optimizing the capacity to leverage biology in the pursuit of health, wellbeing, and sustainable high performance.
The various phases or groups of skills to be considered from this complementary perspective are important to note. Specifically within the framework of the Practices of the Healthcare Athlete this relates to the mind-based skills, the body-based skills, and the recovery and restoration practices. Each of these groups of skills or practices can be considered as a distinct phase, analogous to the football example of offense, defense, and special teams. Within the paradigm discussed throughout this article, each of these groups of skills and practices are best considered as complementary in nature, particularly when we seek to optimize the benefit of each in the ability to leverage our biology in the pursuit of health, wellbeing, and sustainable high performance.
By considering the complementary nature of the skills, strategies, and tactics within the Practices of the Healthcare Athlete, we can more readily develop an overall plan to bring the perspective to life. This increases and enhances our ability and capacity to leverage our biology in the pursuit of health, wellbeing, and sustainable high performance. By pursuing a complementary embodiment of these practices, we are best positioned and have the most available tools to bring about the desired shifts in our biological state to support our activities at any given point in time. In addition, this perspective includes the capacity to optimize our recovery and restoration such that we are able to replenish resources and be mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually prepared to pursue upcoming activities and tasks.
In order to optimally pursue our objectives, utilizing a complementary approach is ideal. This allows us to most effectively and comprehensively implement the various skills, strategies, and tactics. If we choose to overemphasize one particular group of skills, we will lose the overall synergistic potential of the framework and therefore will be in a suboptimal position to fully leverage our biology to the greatest extent possible.
To learn more, including about polyvagal informed coaching for healthcare professionals and others in high demand domains, please visit www.darindavidson.com.
Dr. Darin Davidson partners with Learner+, a CME/CE reflective learning platform for healthcare providers. For the opportunity to reflect on this article and earn CME/CE credits, Launch here. Check out all past articles which are also eligible for reflections and CME/CE credits.
For downloadable, actionable strategies and tactics to leverage biology in the pursuit of health, wellbeing, and sustainable high performance, visit the resource store, Launch here. Chapters are arranged by topic so those of interest can be selected and each are also eligible for reflections and CME/CE credits through Learner+.