Tennis is a very challenging sport mentally.

Tons of frustrations, pressure and problems to overcome:

- Frustrations for not playing as well as you're used to.

- Expectations and pressure with the idea that because you played well in training therefore you should win. You don't want to disappoint your parents and your coach either.

- This opponent also, who gives you more trouble than you thought.

- "But the ball was clearly in!"

- And what's wrong with you now, you can't even put one ball in the court, what's going on!!!

Surely you can add to this list.

Curiously, thinking of it, you haven't heard much much about what to do to face these challenges.

Or maybe the famous "solution is to train harder and do more fitness".

Ironically, one solution has been here all the time, not right under your nose, but with your nose: enter the power of better breathing.

How are you breathing when you are frustrated?

What's going on to your ... when you're not able to face the pressure any longer?

Can you feel what's going on inside when you are overcomed by the problems in front of you?

Typically, your body becomes tense, or at least you inhale more than you exhale.

So you start to talk out loud, with more and more noise, to boost yourself: "come on, just play tennis!!!"

Which gives you an adrenalin boost, for a few points...and if you don't happen to win these, game over, this is the angry vulcano eruption!

However this description describe your situation, I suggest another route.

If instead of being a victim of the events, you were becoming the master on board, positively influencing your thoughts, emotions and body?

And if you were to liberate yourself from those tension, what would happen?

And if you were to breathe correctly, slow-ly, with a regular pace, what would be the consequences?

What does work in a direction, also works the other way:

- frustration (émotion) was leading the way, you were adding some negative words (thoughts) to it, and your movements were becoming uncontrollable (body).

- now you remain present, with a peaceful breathing pattern (body), so you remain relaxed (body) and you have the necessary detachment to analyze the situation and make good choices (thoughts), and you feel confident (emotion).

Here we go, great inner work!

An example to illustrate (yes, you will play like Roger when you have finished the course!):

Some points of observation:

- observe as Federer keeps a relaxed and composed face in between the points (body)

- can you see him breathing (body)?

- check the quality of his choices as well: for instance against Coric he plays onto his forehand a lot, and adds some short slices (thoughts)

- and as a consequence, see how he looks calm and confident (emotion) even though the score is not in his favor, which I believe has an impact on Zverev (he looks more and more agitated)

The first thing for you is to (re)learn how to breathe correctly.

“But what would this give to me, Benoit, to breathe better?”, you might ask.

Depending on where you start, a lot.

You see, unless you are quite special, you are, hopefully, already breathing.

And unless you have practiced breathing consciously for a long long time, you too have a lot to learn to master this skill as Federer shows it here.

Let's insist: breathing well is a skill.

Now let’s be specific, so you can assess if this course is for you:

Confidence —> it might sound weird to start with this benefit, and yet, I bet you won’t find any confident person breathing in an excited manner, yawning, sighing or out of sync.

Alternatively, if you think of any confident person, you can assume a great posture and an invisible breath.

Can you see it with Federer in the video?

This, my friend, is an art you can develop.

Health —> Breathing correctly is one (and maybe the most important) core foundation for a good health and reliable immune system. You will not be sick as often (if at all), and these days especially, it’s probably a good idea*.

Dealing with stress—> Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to remain relax under pressure? You can definitely learn to do this with breathing.

Improve your athletic performances, and especially your endurance.

Did you know for instance that there are specific exercises that you can do that makes you improve your VO2 max?

Being in the flow in Tennis **. There are optimal ways to breathe during and in between the points.

So you remain calm, focus in the moment, ready to perform.

Bonus 1: you will be able to sleep better, maybe stop snoring and/ or stop sleep apnea. Which is a good start, isn’t it?

Bonus 2: curiously, if you practice enough breathing properly, you might be able to reshape your jaw so you will look better.

* Please note I’m not a doctor (my parents are though, and still, it doesn’t qualify me!), so I’m not the one who can assure you that it will save all your problems. Because, you know, medicine never fails. Yes, I’m kidding.

** Tennis is my sport. I’m sure the same techniques apply in other racket sports, or those involving some form of rhythm like soccer, or even pétanque, cong!

The jackpot. A few million dollars, or the equivalent in Bitcoin (safer than USD in my opinion).

A perfect wife or husband.

Winning, at least, one grand slam.

In short: a really amazing life!

Ok. Maybe not.

Still.

Breathing better will:

- Improve your health

- Make you resilient to stress

- Improve your Performances (yes, all of them)

Here are 2 stories for alternatives to good breathing skills (and showing my coaching mistakes):

1.

A very promising tennis player I had the pleasure to coach between he was 9 to 14 years old.

He became then, I believe, among the best players in the world at that time.

Yet, if I had the honour to do it again, knowing what I now know , in addition to focus on a relaxed technique, I would insist much more on breathing, on and off the court.

Why?

Because his overall anxiety, linked with not a proper breathing, has caused him to get sick very often (like once a month), and injured almost as often.

I’ve felt sorry, frustrated and helpless as I witnessed his misfortunes. And I'm now certain we could have avoid this altogether and chnage the course of his life.

I know we all have to learn, and if his challenges could help you not making the same mistakes, it would at least benefit others!

Lesson from player 1's experience:

If you are anxious and therefore don't breathe correctly, the most important is to start here: learn to find calmness through proper breathing. An investment for your health and performances in the future.

2.

2. is another player I did coach for a short period of time, 3 weeks in tournaments, then mostly online.

When stress is too high, he freezes, his body becomes very tight and he's not able to make decisions any longer.

I did my best to help him, and I’m not happy with the results.

What he does need, it's a full reset, like a computer that is saturated with data and viruses.

And there are breathing exercises (one in particular that is quite easy to implement), that calm you down in the short term, and reset your nervous system in 10 weeks or less.

And for this to happen: you need to do the work. My frustration is that I didn't achieve to convince him to go all the way.

Lesson from 2's experience:

When you are overwhelmed with stress, it doesn't matter how many hours you train (in tennis or your own field): until you learn how to breathe under pressure, you will not be able to have significant performances.

This video is the conclusion of the course. I think it gives you a sense of what you can expect.

As you can attest with these 2 players, in order to change your breathing patterns and building excellence in this area, you need to really want it.

To be committed.

Otherwise it’s a waste of time.

Some signs that you can really benefit from this breathings course:

Breathing & Health:

-- > your nose is often blocked, so you breathe through you mouth.

--> you are often tired, and your brain foggy.

--> people can hear you breathing at rest.

--> you are out of breath just walking some stairs.

--> you sigh, sniff, yawn a lot.

--> you might even have asthma or asthma during effort*

(* please note that in this case it would be better to be coached with a Buteyko or Oxygen Advantage Coach. This course will give you some basis and you need more personalised attention.)

Breathing & Confidence:

--> you freeze under pressure, not able to think and adjust to the situation.

--> you are intimidated around “high status” people (boss, rich, stars, models…etc).

--> deep inside you know you lack confidence.

Breathing in Tennis:

--> how to breathe during the point

--> how to breathe in between the points

--> how to be in the Flow (also called the Zone, this state of focus and performance)

Breathing & Athletic Performances:

--> it takes a lot of time for you to breathe normally after your heart rate was high.

--> you breathe with your mouth while you jog (yes, a sign you can do better).

--> you are out of breath very easily, despite training a lot.

Breathing & Stress

--> you are not able to remain calm under pressure.

--> your emotions control you: anger, disappointment, frustration, once they hit you it’s game over.

--> you would like to enjoy stressful situations, like a boss.

--> You are eager to learn how you too can be in the flow in tennis.

--> your performance in competition is much lower than in practice.

--> you often have the same pattern in your matches: at some point, you lose you ability to perform. You need a reset.

Conclusion: whether you are looking for performing better as a tennis player, improve your health, becoming stress resilient, we got it in this course.

This course is tailored for tennis players in mind and the goals specified above.

If you aim for something else, this is not for you:

—> Some breath courses are focused on trauma and healing (see holotropic breathing for instance)

—> Some for intimacy (check David Deida or tantric breathing for this).

—> Some for diving.

—> And I’m sure some others for different purposes.

Here you learn a lot of exercises, separated for different purposes about proper breathing, then stress resilience then performance. Voila!

At the moment, I have a special policy regarding my online courses: You are the one who chooses how much you'd like to invest.

3 prices:

- one quite cheap for what you get: 48 Euro

- one medium: 98 Euro

- one high price for those who can and want to support us:198 Euro

Same product. Different prices for different people.

I do create the best I can. This course took me 7 years to create.

So, in my mind, it could be worth a lot.

Yet, only you and what it’s worth in your life is what does count.

Yes. Your call.

Your performances.

You stress resilience.

"I don’t think I thanked you properly for a fantastic job. Your dedication to your craft and how you manage to always improve Oliver (with results as only a bonus!)

I think it is so important for Oliver to have good people around him […] So for me I feel so comfortable knowing you are so dedicated to his development and improvement. So thank you very much Benoit. Our lives have been enriched by you being in it! 🙏🙏🙏"

Esther Bonding, Oliver Bonding's mother, top tennis junior player in the world.

"Benoit is a man of great, positive consequence."

Bill Zimmer, CEO and President, Check Corporation Manufacturing

"with Benoit you have access to the type of fitness training that is usually only for the pros and the happy few. Highly recommended!"

Jean-Noël Payer

Doing this course, you learn:

- the science for proper breathing (most people don't).

- 4 breathing exercises to teach you how to breathe correctly.

- 10 breathing exercises to improve your ability to deal with stress.

- 9 breathing exercise to improve your athletic performances.

- 3 breathing exercise to improve your immune system.

- Flow and how to breathe in tennis: during and in between the points.

- 2 answered questions from my mailing list.

- how to organize your breathing training.