Myles Lewis-Skelly Reveals His Secret for Handling Pressure

Myles Lewis-Skelly has revealed that mindfulness and Buddhist principles help him deal with pressure and nerves before matches.

The Arsenal midfielder explained that he uses the Buddhist concept of the “monkey mind” to understand what happens when his thoughts become restless and jump from one concern to another.

“There's a Buddhism concept about the monkey mind,” Lewis-Skelly told Men in Blazers. “It's about the restless mind, how you can jump from concern to concern.”

Rather than allowing those thoughts to build, the teenager said he tries to calm his nervous system and bring his mind back to a state of stillness.

“Whenever I feel a type of weight, for me it's important to bring my nervous system down and to bring stillness back to my mind, to be calm,” he explained.

Lewis-Skelly said he uses several methods to achieve that, including breathing techniques, music and talking with people around him.

He also highlighted mindfulness and the importance of deliberately training the mind just as an athlete trains the body.

“I want to touch on how important the mind is. It's a muscle, so you have to train it,” he said.

The comments offer an insight into how Lewis-Skelly approaches the mental side of elite football, particularly as he continues to take on bigger responsibilities for Arsenal and England.

Despite his young age, he has already experienced the pressure of playing in major matches at club and international level, making mental preparation an increasingly important part of his development.