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Goldman: What inspired you to start teaching goalies at a higher level? Granqvist: “In the beginning, I thought there was a lot I could do on the human being and the mental side of goalie coaching. When I went to become a coach 12 years ago, I didn’t really know so much about the technique, tactics or equipment at that time. So my original approach was always focused on supporting them mentally and as human beings. Then I learned the technical and tactical part along the way. When I talked to goalies, what inspired me to start coaching was how they appreciated someone that gave them the feeling of support, mentally and as persons.” Goldman: How did this inspired approach come about? What was the thought behind being a mental supporter first and then a technical guy second? Granqvist: “It started with my own personal journey. I quit playing hockey when I was 27 or 28 years old because I just didn’t feel happy anymore. I wasn’t in touch with my own feelings. When I was sad, I couldn’t cry. When I was happy, I couldn’t smile. I had problems saying ‘no’ and ‘yes’ to things and to people. I felt like I wasn’t in a good emotional state of mind. I lacked a good connection with myself. I was just focused on performing; that was the only thing that mattered. Every year, I felt more and more like I was a bird in a cage, just stuck inside myself. After some time, I started doing different types of therapies and met a couple of sports psychologists that opened the door for me to do certain things, both for my own growth as a human being and also to learn the psychological view of an athlete. I think after two years of discovering and studying this self-knowledge and things like different breathing techniques, I felt really good. I was motivated to share this knowledge, but still felt like it wasn’t the end. I wanted to go even deeper.” Goldman: So what was the next step once you realized you wanted to go even deeper? Granqvist: “At that time, I started working as a kindergarten teacher because I came to realize I couldn’t play naturally anymore. The playfulness inside of me was always connected to a goal. For as long as I could remember, all the playfulness that you see in young children was gone. Whenever I played anything, I had to win. I had to achieve something. So when I started working as a kindergarten teacher, it was my duty to play with them all day. I just played with them for the whole day and made sure they stayed safe. At the beginning, it was so tiring. I felt, oh man, they just have so much energy. But after two or three months, I could easily play with them from nine in the morning until four in the afternoon. I was just living in the present moment and just playing in the sheer blissful creativity of playing. I was there for them as an adult when rules were needed and boundaries needed to be set, but otherwise, I just played and was one with the playfulness and creativity that children naturally have. I did that for nine months and then one day I woke up and realized I had re-discovered the natural playfulness that every human being has from the moment they are born. So then I went to the school, hugged the children and thanked them for showing me the beauty of being in the moment without being tied to a goal. After that, I quit and went to India for three months.” Goldman: Wait…did you say India? Why did you go to India after this? Granqvist: “To discover myself even further. I spent a lot of time in long periods of silence. In India I met a realized man called Madhukar, who did a ‘Who Am I’ inquiry retreat. You ask the question ‘who am I’ to discover the ‘I’, the very source of being. Who is aware of the thoughts and the sensations in the body and who is aware of the breathing? These things – thoughts, breathing, feelings and sensations – come and go. But who is aware of it? It was these types of inquiries that I would ponder in my mind for two hours every morning, then two more hours in the afternoon. I would take walks and enjoy nature in between. In the beginning, I was kind of panicked because my mental programming since I was young was that something had to happen. I was reaching for results right away. So once again, I was challenged with the obstacle of performing for the sake of accomplishing a task or reaching a goal. To eliminate this, Madhukar inspired me to be present in the moment. Just be as I am. It took some time, but then it was total bliss for me. I was so peaceful with myself, and I rediscovered a natural happiness and freedom inside of me, which is always being in the present moment, but we often overlook it. Madhukar and I are still great friends and we enjoy being together for a week every year in one of his retreats called Yoga of Silence.” Goldman: What did you learn from this personal retreat experience that led you back to coaching goalies? Granqvist: “After my trip to India, I realized that at the core of who we are as human beings, we are already perfect. Nothing has to be changed. The core awareness is as it is – it’s totally free. I’ve read about this in many places, but never realized it for myself until my trip to India. So after that, I knew I didn’t need therapy or anything like that to change my personality. I just wanted to focus on how I would share these things. I had an overflow of energy and love, and I wanted to share it with others. So I went home from India and started to work with children that had special needs or learning disabilities. I worked with them for maybe six months. It felt really meaningful because most of them lacked support from their parents, and you could feel the pain that they felt due to their dysfunctional families, or from just not having enough support from home. So after working with kindergarteners and as a teacher for children with special needs, I felt the pull to bring this awareness to the hockey environment. What do I love most in life? It’s hockey. It’s been my passion ever since I saw Pelle Lindberg on TV in 1980 in Lake Placid. At that moment I knew I wanted to be a goalie coach because I love the position so much.”