ESS3808Sport Psychology

Martin I. JonesBSc MSc Phd PGCHE CPsychol CSci AFBPsS SFHEA

Mindfullness

Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom

Viktor Frankl

Mindfulness interventions, accentuating to both awareness and acceptance of external and internal states (Kabat-Zinn, 1990) may be useful for athletes

(e.g., Kaufman, Glass, & Arnkoff, 2009; Gardener & Moore, 2007)

Michael JohnsonI have learned to cut all unnecessary thoughts on the track. I simply concentrate on the tangible – on the track, on the race, on the blocks, on the things I have to do. The crowd fades away and other athletes disappear and now it’s just me and this one lane.

The instance your mind goes into future (thinking) mode, you’re in trouble. You have no power in the future or past. You have to stay right here, right now

ChallengeDo athletes need to control internal experiences (cognitions, emotions, and physiological sensations) to enhance psychological functioning

?

ProblemYour client reports debilitative anxiety before a cricket match. She tells you that she feel so nervous that she cannot grip the bat properly

What are you first impressions? Does your client need to control (reduce) her emotions?

The primary focus of mindfulness and acceptance-based models of psychological therapy is to promote a modified relationship with internal experiences (i.e., cognitions, emotions, and physiological sensations)

Mindfulness is not about trying to change their form or frequency

(Gardner & Moore, 2007).

MindfulnessMindfulness is the non-judgmental focus of one’s attention on the experience that occurs in the present moment

(Kabat-Zinn, 1994).

Mindfulness“The awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally to the unfoldingof experience moment to moment”

(Kabat-Zinn 2003, p. 145).

MindfulnessSelf-regulation of attention so that it is maintained on immediate experience, thereby allowing for increased recognition of mentalEvents in the present moment

Adopting a particular orientation toward one’s experience that is characterized by curiosity, openness, and acceptance

(Bishop et al., 2004. p. 232).

A mental state resulting from voluntarily focusing one’s attention on one’s present experience in its sensorial, mental, cognitiveand emotional aspects, in a non-judgmental way.

Mindfulness meditation originates in Buddhist Vispassana and Zen practices; developed from Buddhist psychology involving the complete awareness of emotions, cognitions, and sensations in the present moment

(De Petrillo et al., 2009).

Non-judging Patience

Trust Non-Striving Acceptance

Letting go/be or non-attachment

Kabat-Zinn (1990) Seven Core attitudes

Mindfulness is NOTPositive thinkingJust another relaxation techniqueGoing into a tranceTrying to blank your mind

Optimal performance does not require the reduction or volitional control of internal states at all, but rather, requires

Nonjudging (i.e., not good, not bad, not right, not wrong) moment-to-moment awareness and acceptance of one’s internal state

An attentional focus on task-relevant external stimuli, instead of a focus on internal processes that includes judgment and direct efforts at control/modulation

A consistent and effortful personal values-driven commitment to behavioral actions/ choices that support one’s athletic endeavour

Traditional sport psychologyFocussed on developing personal control over one’s internal experiences

Goal setting, imagery, precompetitive routines, self-talk

How to catch a Monkey?

To create the best conditions for success, then let go of the outcome

Phil Jackson

Mindfulness and acceptance-based interventions make no

such assumptions about a particular “ideal”

performance state

Individuals can perform optimally while experiencing a variety of cognitive, affective, and physiological states

Formal practiceMeditation (e.g., Bodyscan, mindful movement, sitting practice, breathing space)

Informal Practice Awareness of body sensations, thoughts, emotions and sensory input during daily life. Practiced in ordinary activities like eating, washing brushing teeth

How does mindfulnes

s work?

Self-regulatio

n of attention

Personality characteris

tics that underlie mindful

tendencies

Is mindfulness a psychological trait?

Mindfulness brings awareness to the present experience, detecting and

attending to the changing patterns of thoughts, sensations, and feelings

from moment-to-moment by regulating the focus of attention

(Bishop et al.).

Researchers have reported that mindfulness-based stress reduction interventions can enhance general aspects of coping (Grossman et al., 2004), teaching stress reduction techniques to encourage goal setting (Miller, Fletcher, & Kabat-Zinn, 1995), as well as decrease anxiety and depression in both clinical and nonclinical populations (e.g., Shapiro, Schwartz, & Bonner, 1998; Hoffman, Sawyer, Witt, & Oh, 2010).

Participants Ranging from suicidal outpatients to Tibetan Buddhist monks with more than 40,000 hr of meditation experience

Mindfulness meditation actually alters basic brain structures and functions

MRI scan: Increase in grey matter density in left hippocampus, cortex, cerebellum. Brain regions involved in learning and memory, emotion regulation, self referential processing and perspective taking

Hotzel et al., (2011).

Meta-analysis (64 studies of which 20 high quality from 1995-2001) MBSR intervention (Pre-Post) (N=1605) (10 RCT)

MBSR positive effects on a broad range of clinical and non clinical problems: Medium strength effect size d = 0.54

Grossman et al (2004)

Kaufman and Glass (2006) created mindful sport performance enhancement, an intervention teaching athletes how to effectively apply mindfulness skills to sport through techniques such as the raisin exercise, body scan, sitting meditation, mindful breathing, mindful yoga, with a further walking meditation revised to running

The direct experience of mindfulnessis elusive

A substantial number of studies have consistently demonstrated the efficacy of mindfulness and acceptance-based interventions

Clinical settings

What is mindlessness?

Time lost in memories of the past and fantasies of the future

“Autopilot”

Deliberate efforts to escape the present moment

Mindfulness in its ancient context is to eliminate needless suffering

by cultivating insight into the workings of the mind and the nature of the material world

How does the application of Buddhist principles sit within the broader Buddhist tradition?

AwarenessAttentionRemembering

Outcomes in sport?

Fosters meta-cognitive awareness, capacity to observe ongoing consciousness

Reduces inaccurate appraisals

Acceptance of challenges relative to coping resources

Reduction in emotional reactivity to interoceptive cues

ChallengeDo athletes need to control internal experiences (cognitions, emotions, and physiological sensations) to enhance psychological functioning ?

ChallengeDo military personnel need to control internal experiences (cognitions, emotions, and physiological sensations) to enhance psychological functioning?

Martin I. JonesBSc MSc PhD CPsychol CSci AFBPsS SFHEA

m.i.jones@exeter.ac.uk@drmijones