HEALTH & PERFORMANCE COACH · WRITER · SPEAKER
You need to perform.
The pressure is real.
Mindset and skills matter.
So does your ability to access them under pressure.
Whether you’re competing, leading, or pursuing a dream, I’ll help you work with how your body responds to pressure so you can access your potential and play within that pressure. Sure, we can fight our way to the top. But we perform best when we feel safe enough to play.
Creator of The Play Zone, with 750+ Play Zone PRO coaches in 35+ countries Presented at Harvard and Oxford Work across MLB, NBA, ATP, WTA, FIFA and NCAA
Between our potential and our performance is
our physiological state
In a culture built on competition, comparison, and evaluation, many of us feel a constant pressure to perform and achieve. So we work hard to develop our skills, knowledge, and abilities. Yet even as our capacities expand, access to them can narrow as the stakes rise. This essential part of performance is often overlooked and undertrained.Michael helps us recognize how our physiological state shapes what is available to us and teaches us to skillfully guide our state to access the capacities we need when it matters most.
Work with Michael
Where are you feeling the pressure?
Athletes, coaches, teams, organizations, performers, leaders & companies.
MICHAEL’S NEW BOOK · COMING MAY 2027
The Performance Code
The New Science of Achieving Under Pressure
Drawing on physiology, nervous system science, and years of coaching elite athletes and leaders, Michael lays out the science and practice of achieving from safety rather than stress — and introduces Autonomic Agility®, the skill of recognizing and guiding your state in real time.
Join me on Substack
Pursuit of Play
You perform best when you feel safe enough to play.
Pursuit of Play is my publication on Substack. A new article one week, a new podcast episode the next.
Every other week, I sit down with someone who achieved something real and look at what was happening inside them along the way.
In the weeks between conversations, I write articles here. Some of it is new. Some of it is work I’ve created elsewhere over the years.
- Week 1Article
- Week 2Podcast
- Week 3Article
- Week 4Podcast
HEALTH & PERFORMANCE COACH · WRITER · SPEAKER
Michael Allison
Michael Allison is a performance and leadership coach, educator, and writer, and the author of the forthcoming The Performance Code (New Harbinger, May 2027), with a foreword by Dr. Stephen W. Porges. He is the creator of Autonomic Agility®, an educational partner with the Polyvagal Institute, host of Pursuit of Play on Substack, and co-author of Polyvagal Parenting (2026). He has presented at Oxford University and Harvard Business School, and works with athletes, teams, leaders, and organizations performing under pressure.