Question: What should athletes do, from the spiritual point of view, to increase their performance?
Sri Chinmoy: If one is a seeker-athlete, then before he runs or jumps, before he enters into physical activities, he should offer a few moments of gratitude to his Inner Pilot for inspiring him to become an athlete. An athlete is he who runs, who values time, who values speed and who believes in a goal that ever moves forward. There are millions and billions of people on earth who are not athletes, but he already is an athlete. So if he can offer his gratitude for that, then he increases his receptivity-power.If he increases his receptivity-power, then he automatically increases his athletic capacity. For it is receptivity that increases capacity. The moment he increases his receptivity, he is blessed with more capacity, abundant capacity, boundless capacity. And to increase his receptivity there is only one way: to offer his gratitude-heart for what he has already become.
Sri Chinmoy, The outer running and the inner running, Agni Press, 1984