When Mind and Body Come Together The Sky is the Limit: Welcome Olympic gold medalist Katerina Stefanidi

All of us at Breakthru are so honored to welcome Olympic Gold Medalist pole vaulter Katerina Stefanidi to our team as spokesperson and collaborator. She’s got talent, humor, wisdom, not to mention she’s medaled 10 times and is widely regarded as the greatest female athlete in the history of Greek sport.

There’s no better metaphor for overcoming obstacles than the pole vault competition, and Olympic gold medalist Katerina Stefanidi is the perfect spokesperson and collaborator for Breakthru. Just watching her clear the bar as it rises higher inspires awe. Add to that Katerina’s wide smile that exudes so much joy and bravery as she flies through the air for the win.

Katerina joins us at Breakthru to remind us all that aligning body and mind, in the course of our workday, can help us be brave, overcome challenges, and be a source of? joy.?

The great athletes of the world know that the source of their edge, or their greatest performance, is the power of their mind. For those of us who rely mostly on our mind to perform in the flow of our day, Breakthru is here to as a break taking tool that keeps our body, and its intelligence, present through moments of movement? in our thinking day. It can be the difference maker and lead to our optimal performance.

Getting her mind and body to work together to achieve more energy and momentum is what she aims for. Katerina refers to it as ‘stopping time.'

“Our body and brain have learned what they need to do through practice. And we just need to take a step back and let them.” She compares it to toothbrushing and tries to achieve that same muscle memory in pole vault—where motions are so automatic that there’s a constant flow of energy. “When I take off from the ground and flip upside down in the best competitions, it feels like time stops. I'm able to zone everything out.” She says, “There's almost no perception of time in the moment.”

“The best feeling is when we come off the ground, then upside down. At that moment, you know nine times out of 10, if you're going to make the bar. You know if you're going to have a good jump.” The second you come off the ground, your success will be based on the position at which you took off and how fast you're moving with the pole. She keeps the right distance from the pole, then flips upside-down.

“You’re basically seeing the ceiling or the sky, suddenly you turn, and you're over the bar.” That’s when all her mind-body preparation pays off. There are no more blockers.

At Breakthru, we’re keenly aware of building the mind-body connection into our microbreaks. It’s not easy to accomplish our goals with everyday distractions. For peak performance, however, even at work, we all need to take the time to listen to our body and let the mind-body deliver in unison.

Interoception, or one’s sense of their internal state, is at the heart of our break taking. It helps us listen to the part of our brain that is in our body. It’s also essential to Katerina’s performance.

Leaning into easiness and relaxation are key to her success. “I don't feel like I'm trying to fight gravity. In a way, I feel like I'm trying to feel everything. I'm trying to feel the ground, and push off of it, and feel when the pole goes into the box—feel that leverage and direct it in the right way to help me go higher.” Katerina encourages her students to feel that they’re moving naturally or to mirror their heroes (even running like a cheetah).

“If we have a new jumper, we’ll show them a video so they’ll have an idea of what they’re trying to do and make sure they’re safe and holding low enough to not get hurt, then we’ll let them do what their body wants to do.” Many jump higher that way. Breakthru similarly invites member interpretation of each choreographed break. There are no verbal instructions at all—just immersive sound and visual cues.

?Finally, Katerina acknowledges that a big part of building confidence is consistency: “You get better and more fluid each day. You're becoming a little safer. You're getting ‘bigger poles.’ You don't have to always jump higher, but the jump is starting to feel more and more connected and easier.”

That sense of mastery is key: “You feel so confident about every motion when your body and brain are working together. Once you’re there, it's almost impossible to lose it.”

Join Us at Breakthru to learn more.