Game On

After a career-ending spinal injury, former NFL American football star Keith Mitchell discovers a path to healing as a mindful meditation coach.

If you asked Keith Mitchell 10 years ago if he’d ever imagined himself as a mindful meditation coach, he would have laughed. During his first time in Hong Kong following a week-long workshop he led in Nepal and attending an Osho meditation practice, he presides over the crowd that has assembled at Sun Yat Sen Memorial Park for a silent yoga class, the final event following a mindful meditation workshop and lecture organised by The Yoga Room.

The tall, muscular Mitchell has swapped his former uniform of heavy helmet, protective gear and number 59 jersey for a white tank top and matching shorts. Growing up, Mitchell dreamt of becoming a professional athlete long before he had even made his first pass or tackle. For him, playing football was a way of escaping his religious upbringing and constant feuds at home.

His father was a strict Christian preacher and his presence was expected at church every Sunday, but what he most looked forward to was the afternoon football game on television. Mitchell says, “We’d always get out of service in time for the football game on TV. It was the only time my family stopped arguing and had fun watching.

As a child, I thought, ‘Wow, everyone likes each other in this environment.’ And I subconsciously created ways to make space for this. As a kid, I thought playing football could bring my family together.” The sport came naturally to Mitchell and his talent shone brightly on the field at his local high school, where 20,000 local fans would show up every game night, despite it being an amateur team.

“I grew up in Texas, home of the Dallas Cowboys. At home, football is a religion.“ By his senior year, many universities in the US offered him sports scholarships including Texas A & M, which he accepted to stay close to home. Quickly becoming one of the school’s star players, Mitchell would later be inducted into its football hall of fame.

But towards graduation, as top athletes from schools across the country were being drafted by NFL teams, he confronted his first obstacle – not being chosen. However, his luck changed when he was hired by coach Mike Ditka of the New Orleans Saints. Even at the height of his career, playing the sport he had grown up loving which afforded him a glamorous life, which included three stately homes and a fleet of six sports cars, he felt unfulfilled.

“When everyone thought I had everything and I should be happy, I wasn’t.” Then on a Sunday afternoon in Florida, Mitchell was critically injured. He entered the stadium sporting the Jacksonville Jaguars jersey ready to take on the Buffalo Bills. Getting into position, body bent forward in the defensive line, the seasoned athlete was ready for a play he’d done a countless times as a linebacker – block the quarterback from advancing onto his team’s turf.

When the pass was made, Mitchell didn’t get to the quarterback fast enough but was there for the collision, ramming his helmet into the chest of the opposing running back. The violent impact left Mitchell on his back paralysed. He says, “The first thought I had lying on my back was, ‘Oh my God, this is so embarrassing!’ I didn’t care about the condition of my neck, even though at this point I couldn’t move at all, only about the masculine persona I had to uphold.”

Fear settled in at the hospital when Mitchell was diagnosed with a spinal contusion that paralysed him from the neck down. He was sent home to Texas, where he made a slow, painful recovery over six months. A nurse introduced him to a conscious breathing technique which helped him recognise the healing effect it had on his body and mind. “It was detoxifying and while I massaged my organs using my breath, I started bringing chi back to my body. When you realise that you can contribute to your own healing, you’re no longer a victim.”

Still Mitchell was weak, and a shadow of the former athlete he once was, having lost a lot of strength during his confinement and immobility. “I went from believing that I could play pro football to simply believing that I could be well. My body was frozen and had to be thawed out. I’d get movement in my fingers, elbows and shoulders – and became frustrated that everything else wasn’t following. I had to learn to be compassionate with myself.

I didn’t have time to wallow, but started to focus on what I wanted, without knowing the outcome of the situation.” Once mobile and rehabilitating physically through yoga, Mitchell tried to get back into football, but it was a lost cause: “If I had been hit the wrong way, I may not have been able to get out of it. I chose my life over money.” It was during this period of self-discovery that he came across The Art of Loving by Erich Fromm that led to him become introspective.

Consequently Mitchell began reevaluating the connections in his life. He says, “I started contemplating my relationship with my parents, and others I was disengaged with. I started looking at them, but not about their potential or things that needed to be fixed. I focused on the part I played in the whole equation, because it was never about them, but how I behaved and perceived our relationship.” With his newfound knowledge, Mitchell sold his belongings and moved to Los Angeles, where he found a community of likeminded individuals that fostered his interest in wellness.

He began teaching yoga and mindful meditation, and founded nonprofit organisation Light It Up Foundation, which raises money through an annual five kilometre run in Los Angeles for charities worldwide, including educational workshops for young girls from rural communities in Nepal who are at risk of being sold for sex trafficking.

Mitchell has made a name for himself teaching mindful meditation and yoga at overseas retreats. He was invited to the White House to teach First Lady Michelle Obama and was voted Sexiest Yoga Instructor by People Magazine. Following his stint in Asia, he returns to Los Angeles to begin filming a television series.

In this new life chapter, Mitchell takes success in stride, turning his attention towards helping others push past pain and make a positive impact through his practice. He says, “The mindfulness approach is to be a master of yourself, so you can have better relationships, so you can love. And from there we can solve larger problems because everything starts from within. We need to fix ourselves first before we can change the world.”

“The mindfulness approach is to be a master of yourself, so you can have better relationships, so you can love”