Greta Bassan, a 15-year-old mountain bike athlete, has been cycling since she was 9, and this winter she has also been taking up cyclocross more seriously. Greta contacted me to work with her and maximise her sporting performance. We began our journey together in May 2025, both online and in person.

In the first online sessions, we defined her goals, not only in terms of results, but above all in terms of how she wanted to feel during competitions and training. We worked with hypnosis to improve inner qualities such as concentration, focus/flow state, and ‘presence’ in the various stages of competition. During the live sessions, we worked in a more practical way, using kinesiological muscle testing. We tested muscles connected to organs and energy meridians and beliefs or programmes that Greta had carried with her from the past related to the physical and mental management of the race and her opponents. We integrated and balanced her beliefs, transforming those that had become obstacles into enablers, and creating real ‘mantras’ to be repeated during the performance and before the warm-up phase. All this was done using specific techniques applied in the studio and then repeated for longer at home with consistency and determination by Greta.

Greta’s words:

“Since I started this journey with Gaia, I have changed a lot. Before starting, I would get demoralised if I was overtaken and often give up mentally, whereas now, if an opponent overtakes me, I try to fight back. Before, I would get distracted by the smallest things and lose my concentration, which often led me to lose positions and make mistakes in technical passages. Now, I am able to stay focused on my goals for the entire duration of the race, managing to give my all…! I have learned to stay focused even on the grid and not to get scared or paranoid if I see opponents who are stronger than me. I have learned to believe in myself more, which I used to find very difficult to do. I have realised that I have a lot of potential and that by making good use of it, I can achieve excellent results, similar to or better than those I have achieved this year.”

 

Here Greta’s results:

8th and 6th at the International Cyclocross Championships in Salvirola. While in MTB during the 2025 season:

2nd at the Regional Championships in Sant’Anna di Roero,
then 5th at the Argentario national race, 1st at the Granfondo della Prevostura, several top 10 finishes in national and international races,
and 1st in her category and overall at the regional race in Camino.

The main focus of this work, as well as many other projects conducted with young people, not just athletes, revolves around the theme of “self-esteem.” Too often, in sport, as in life and school, I find kids full of potential and talent, but with very little belief in it; they are just waiting to be seen, heard, and valued for who they are.

The pressure that sports imposes on young people is generally a problem. Competition begins very early, the opponent becomes an obsession and, for many, a source of anxiety and worry, and in doing so, they forget about themselves!
By working to restore awareness and presence within oneself, we liberate ourselves as individuals and as athletes, focusing on the only thing we can control in performance: our actions and our mental states. We can’t control our opponents, nor the variables outside of ourselves—the crowd, our teammates; but we can know ourselves, and this will magically resolve the anxiety and worry that everything else could have caused.

I’m very proud of the transformation Greta achieved in such a short time, which bodes well for a conscious, strong, and self-confident future in both her sport and her personal life.