CINCINNATI -- Cincinnati Bengals safety Jessie Bates stepped into the woods in northeast Indiana, surrounded by trees, fully present in the moment.

In Japanese, it’s called shinrin-yoku. In English, it roughly translates to “forest bathing.”

Twice this offseason, Bates, who is one of the NFL’s top free safeties, met up with Kathy Little, his yoga instructor. Near his native Fort Wayne, Ind., he and Little walked without a word through hickory and oak trees, old and new, as Bates took inventory of his senses and meditated.

It was a specific type of meditation Bates wanted to explore as he approached the most pivotal season of his young career. At 24, Bates is trying to build off his best year as a pro. He was selected as the team’s NFLPA representative, an honor previously held by longtime veterans on the roster. And he’s in the midst of contract negotiations that will shape his long-term stability in Cincinnati.

To prepare, Bates embraced meditation, a discipline he believes will bring benefits during and after his fourth NFL season.

“That's something that some people may think is corny a little bit,” Bates said. “But I think that definitely kind of helped me tap into my peace of mind.”

Pro Football Focus rated Bates as the best safety in the league in 2020. According to NFL Next Gen, Bates had the lowest total Expected Points Added among all safeties when targeted as the nearest defender.

But the contract he signed as a rookie has become a key point of tension surrounding Bates’ future. According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, talks between the Bengals and Bates’ representatives have stalled regarding a long-term deal to keep him in Cincinnati.

On July 29, Bates said he wished the situation had already been resolved. Two weeks later, in an interview with the team’s website, Bates said the impasse suggested the franchise didn’t feel he was one of the best safeties in the league.

But even as Bates acknowledged the tension in the contract situation, he spoke as someone content with their circumstances.

“I have a goal that I want to reach, personally, and I know I have to get better to help this team get to where we need to be,” Bates said.

It was a sign that his offseason recalibration is already paying dividends.

‘He wasn’t afraid’

When Bates entered the league in 2018, he was primarily goal-driven.

That season, the second-round pick out of Wake Forest became the first Bengals defensive rookie to start every regular-season game in 20 years. And while he found success the following two seasons, he hadn't put as much thought into aspects of his life outside of football.

Hoping to change that in 2021, he texted Little to enquire about meditation. Little is the certified yoga instructor at Fort Wayne’s Traction Athletic Performance, where Bates has been a client since he was an all-state standout at Snider High School.

Bates was previously in Little’s yoga classes. But this offseason, he asked her about adding meditation time to the routine.

Typically, if Bates wasn’t spending time with his nephew, he worked out in the morning and then met with Little for yoga in the afternoon. The session usually started like this -- Bates, sitting on the turf, legs crossed, palms upward and resting on his thighs, ready for Little to lead him through a meditation aimed at channeling positive energy to others in his life.

“There were times when he needed that kind of grounding that meditation brings,” Little said.

At one point last year, Little noticed Bates seemed off during a session.

His eyes were closed.

To Little, it was a sign he wasn’t fully present.

This summer, Little has rarely needed to remind Bates to keep his eyes open. Once that change happened, Little said it was like a switch flipped with Bates and she felt a newfound sense of focus in him.

“It’s like a focus that’s gentle yet fixed,” Little said. “It was a balance between strength and stillness and softness. It was really cool to watch.”

Bates and Little meditated roughly two days a week throughout this offseason. When asked why Bates was now able to open his eyes, Little immediately reflected on Bates’ maturation over the past two years.

“He was ready to see what he was a part of, and ready to fully engage,” Little said. “He wasn’t afraid. There was no fear. There was an acceptance.”

‘Peace for tomorrow and today’

Bates is not the only member of the Cincinnati secondary who believes in meditation.

When new Bengals safety Ricardo Allen first joined the league in 2015, he wondered how athletes such as Kobe Bryant and LeBron James could stay calm under immense external pressure, while Allen, some nights, couldn’t stop his mind from racing as he attempted to wind down.

So, for the past four years, Allen has meditated daily. And in Bates, Allen senses someone who is comfortable being in his own skin.

“Being in this world, maybe going and getting that contract and stuff like that, sometimes that blurs up some things,” Allen said about Bates.

“Being able to bring it back within and having peace with yourself and where you’re at and what you’re doing, it just gives you peace for tomorrow and today also.”

Bengals assistant coach Robert Livingston remembers when Bates made his debut in the 2018 opener at Indianapolis. Since then, Livingston has seen a 21-year-old surrounded by veterans become a leader among the team’s safeties and on the team as a whole.

“He’s kind of finding his voice,” Livingston said. “Everybody’s going to be a bit different. I think as long as you’re true to yourself, people will recognize that.”

Since his rookie year, Bates has turned heads across the NFL. League officials named him one of the league's top 10 safeties in an ESPN offseason poll. Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo praised Bates’ versatility and ability to cover ground across the back of the defense.

Perhaps most importantly, for Bates and the Bengals, coach Zac Taylor described the free safety as someone who personifies what the franchise’s future should look like.

“Jessie embodies everything we want the Bengals to be about,” Taylor said. “When we define a ‘Bengal’, Jessie Bates fits that description.”

Bates will play a key role if Cincinnati wants to end a playoff drought that stretches back to 2015. And while he enters a crucial fourth season without a new deal, all the meditation and training throughout the offseason has brought him something perhaps even more valuable.

Peace.

“I know it's not going to get done right away,” Bates said in July. “And I'm OK with that. I'll be the same person, same teammate, same family member as I've always been.”