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Knicks are undergoing mindfulness training before the season

New York Knicks president Phil Jackson is already living up to his "Zen Master" nickname in his role as team president, installing a mandatory mindfulness training regimen before the season starts.

New York Knicks' Phil Jackson is already living up to his "Zen Master" nickname in his role as team president, installing a mandatory mindfulness training regimen before the season starts.

The 11-time championship coach spoke with writer Ben McGrath as part of TheNew Yorker Festival and talked about the importance of the technique in basketball, according to ESPN.

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"There's a mindfulness training program that's very logical and very calm, quiet, and we've started the process with this team, and [first-year head coach] Derek [Fisher is] all for it. He's a proponent of it," Jackson said Sunday. "And yet I think that it's kind of what I am inserting in here as part of what I think has to happen because I know what effect it [has]. I think it's very difficult sometimes for a coach to do this because it's so anti what we are as athletes."

Jackson continued to say that the practice will help players eliminate distractions like bad calls during games.

Brendan Maloy