This article is for chess players who want to use their brains and knowledge at peak levels, to win more games, matches and tournaments.
Therefore, you don't have to worry that I want you to find satori, enter nirvana, learn to levitate or develop your ESP. Fortunately, meditation does not have to be anything mystical at all. Instead, it's a tested and proven way of helping your mind to function at its best. Which is what you need to win chess games.
I want to make clear that meditation is NOT thinking over your next chess move, remembering your first kiss, worrying about your bills or thinking about the meaning of life.
It's relaxing and focussing your mind so that your brainwaves are primarily cycling at the alpha rate.
Many years ago, brain researchers found that the electrical impulses of our brains cycle as waves as various intervals, as measured by an EEG. The speed of these waves help determine our states of mind. Alpha is brain going at the rate of about 7 to 14 cycles per second.
This feels relaxed and dreamy. You can easily visualize and concentrate.
You can practice entering alpha simply by relaxing (you can sit on the floor or in a chair or lie down if you wish), closing your eyes, look up at a 45 degree angle and slowly count from 100 to 1.
With practice, reduce this count to 20 to 1 and then 10 to 1.
I know it sounds a little nuts but it works trust me.