University of Richmond Athletics
Mindfulness Expert George Mumford Meets With Athletics Department And Campus
02/04/2020 | Spider Leadership
RICHMOND, Va. – World-renowned mindfulness and performance expert George Mumford visited campus last week in conjunction with the University of Richmond and the athletic department. Mumford spent a couple of days on campus, meeting with selected student-athletes, coaching staffs and the campus faculty and staff talking about his life and work as a mindfulness expert.
"It was an honor to have George Mumford visit our campus," Associate Athletic Director for Leadership Development Lauren Wicklund said. "The benefits for mindfulness are immense and George brought this topic to life with practical examples, stories, and personal application that will help us not just athletically, but in all facets of our lives."
Mumford particularly spent time with members of the Spider Leadership program's Rising Leadership and Championship Leadership teams, comprised of student-athletes from all of the 17 programs at Richmond. Additionally, he spent time speaking with the men's and women's basketball staffs sharing his work with the sport of basketball and the world of mindfulness.
"In sessions with our student-athletes, coaches, and university staff, George Mumford demonstrated and dispensed his plain but profound wisdom that true mindfulness can release us to think, act, and thrive in a world replete with challenges around every corner," Assistant Athletic Director for Academics Bruce Matthews said.
Mumford was an aspiring basketball player at the University of Massachusetts (where he roomed with Dr. J, Julius Erving), injuries forced Mumford out of the game he loved. The medications that relieved the pain of his injuries also numbed him to the emptiness he felt without the game and eventually led him to heroin.
After years of making meditation on and off the cushion the center of his life and getting clean, Mumford enrolled in Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn's Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction program and collaborated with him to create the Inner-city Stress Reduction Clinic in the early nineties.
When Michael Jordan left the Chicago Bulls to play baseball in 1993, the team was in crisis. Coach Phil Jackson, a long-time mindfulness practitioner, contacted Dr. Kabat-Zinn to find someone who could teach mindfulness techniques to the struggling team—someone who would have credibility and could speak the language of his players. Kabat-Zinn led Jackson to Mumford and their partnership began.
Mumford has worked with Jackson and many of the teams he coached to become NBA champions. His roster of champion clients has since blossomed way beyond basketball to include corporate executives, Olympians, and athletes in many different sports.
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"It was an honor to have George Mumford visit our campus," Associate Athletic Director for Leadership Development Lauren Wicklund said. "The benefits for mindfulness are immense and George brought this topic to life with practical examples, stories, and personal application that will help us not just athletically, but in all facets of our lives."
Mumford particularly spent time with members of the Spider Leadership program's Rising Leadership and Championship Leadership teams, comprised of student-athletes from all of the 17 programs at Richmond. Additionally, he spent time speaking with the men's and women's basketball staffs sharing his work with the sport of basketball and the world of mindfulness.
"In sessions with our student-athletes, coaches, and university staff, George Mumford demonstrated and dispensed his plain but profound wisdom that true mindfulness can release us to think, act, and thrive in a world replete with challenges around every corner," Assistant Athletic Director for Academics Bruce Matthews said.
Mumford was an aspiring basketball player at the University of Massachusetts (where he roomed with Dr. J, Julius Erving), injuries forced Mumford out of the game he loved. The medications that relieved the pain of his injuries also numbed him to the emptiness he felt without the game and eventually led him to heroin.
After years of making meditation on and off the cushion the center of his life and getting clean, Mumford enrolled in Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn's Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction program and collaborated with him to create the Inner-city Stress Reduction Clinic in the early nineties.
When Michael Jordan left the Chicago Bulls to play baseball in 1993, the team was in crisis. Coach Phil Jackson, a long-time mindfulness practitioner, contacted Dr. Kabat-Zinn to find someone who could teach mindfulness techniques to the struggling team—someone who would have credibility and could speak the language of his players. Kabat-Zinn led Jackson to Mumford and their partnership began.
Mumford has worked with Jackson and many of the teams he coached to become NBA champions. His roster of champion clients has since blossomed way beyond basketball to include corporate executives, Olympians, and athletes in many different sports.
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