world-famous golfer Tiger Woods is on the green' at the 18th hole. He gets ready to take his shot. Hundreds of people are watching, but that doesn't bother Woods. He makes the shot and wins the tournament. what makes Woods a winner? As a young golfer, his mother introduced him to Buddhist philosophy. This helped him focus his mind on the moment. He learned to block out the crowds and the stress. when he was younger, his father often created distractions while Tiger was playing. He coughed or made sudden movements to test his son's concentration. Now many people say that it is Tiger's mental strength that helped him become the number one golfer in the world. Lewis Gordon Pugh also knows a lot about the way the mind can control the body. Pugh is an ice swimmer from England. He swims in ice-cold water(32 F: 0 C) in just a regular bathing suit. He holds the world record for the longest cold-water swims in both the Arctic and Antarctic Pugh spends a great deal of time in mental preparation before each swim. Of course, he prepares his body, but more importantly, he prepares his mind. He often spends four hours a day thinking about challenging situations. He thinks about his reasons for wanting to break records. He thinks about every minute of the swim, imagining how it will feel in detail.
So far, he sounds like a normal athlete. What he does next, however, is extraordinary. He raises his body temperature by almost 3 F a.4 Co to 101 F(38 He does it all by mental control. Then Pugh dives into the water. Most people die in just a few minutes in the cold water. Their body would dangerously low temperature would drop to a level. Pugh doesn't even shiver? In the water, he can keep his body time temperature at c) for as long as 30 minutes. This is the to complete a one-kilometer swim(about half a mile) The ability of the mind to control the body is not only true for grea athletes. Ellen Langer a psychologist who is interested in the mind body relationship. She studied hotel housekeepers who spent all day at work bending, stretching, and lifting. Langer asked them, "Are you physically active?" They said no, they did not get much exercise Medical tests agreed. The housekeepers had the same physical health as office workers. This result did not make sense to Langer. The women were getting a lot of good exercise. Why weren't they showing any benefits? Langer decided to do an experiment. She told half of the housekeepers that their jobs involved a lot of physical exercise. She told them that pushing a vacuum cleaner, changing sheets, and cleaning a bathroom required a lot of energy. She said these activities used the same amount of energy that people use when they work out at the gym. After a month, Langer retested all the women. This time, the results were different. Half of the housekeepers were thinner fitter, and healthier. These were the housekeepers who thought they were working out. In fact, these housekeepers had not done anything differently. The only change was in their minds. They believed they were getting exercise. They believed they should get fitter and healthier. As soon the housekeepers believed that, their bodies showed positive effects Tiger Woods, Lewis Gordon Pugh, and the housekeepers are all examples of the power of the mind and the mind's mysterious relationship to the body.