Mindfulness and Acceptance in Sport

Author: Kristoffer Henriksen
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429787375
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 228

Book Description
Mindfulness- and acceptance-based approaches such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Mindfulness Acceptance Commitment (MAC) are gaining momentum with sport psychology practitioners who work to support elite athletes. These acceptance-based, or third wave, cognitive behavioral approaches in sport psychology highlight that thought suppression and control techniques can trigger a metacognitive scanning process, and that excessive cognitive activity and task-irrelevant focus (self-focused attention such as trying to change thoughts) disrupts performance. Using this perspective, the aim of sport psychology interventions is not to help the athletes engage in the futile task of managing and controlling internal life. Rather, it suggests that sport psychology practitioners should work to increase athletes’ willingness to accept negative thoughts and emotions in pursuit of valued ends. Key aspects of such interventions include: teaching athletes to open up and accept, teaching athletes to mindfully engage in the present moment, and helping athletes formulate the values and engage in committed actions towards these values. The goal of Mindfulness and Acceptance in Sport: How to Help Athletes Perform and Thrive under Pressure then is to provide students, researchers, practitioners, and coaches of sport psychology with practical guidance for implementing mindfulness and acceptance approaches in their work with athletes. This book brings together highly experienced practitioners and shares their working methods, exercises, and cases to inspire the sport psychology profession.

The Psychology of Enhancing Human Performance

Author: Frank L. Gardner, PhD, ABPP
Publisher: Springer Publishing Company
ISBN: 0826103367
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 312

Book Description
The MAC approach developed by connecting the more traditional scientific knowledge base on human performance and self-regulation to more contemporary findings to do with meta-cognitive processes, emotion regulation, and acceptance-based behavioral interventions. Written by the originators of the MAC model, this book will provide both the necessary theory, empirical background, and a structured step-by-step, easy-to-use protocol for the understanding, assessment, conceptualization, and enhancement of human performance. It is a protocol that can be readily adapted for a wide variety of high-performing clientele--from athletes and business people, to sales people, professionals in a variety of fields, and emergency/military personnel. The material can be integrated by practicing clinicians as an adjunctive intervention strategy to help clients with specific performance problems. Numerous case examples, forms, handouts, in- and out-of-session assignments and activities, and verbatim client instructions are included.

Mindful Sport Performance Enhancement

Author: Keith A. Kaufman
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
ISBN: 9781433827877
Category : Athletes
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
This book is a comprehensive resource on the history, theory, and practice of mindfulness in sport. The authors present their empirically-supported, six-session mindfulness program adapted for specific athletic populations.

ACT in Sport

Author: JAMES. HUELSMANN HEGARTY (CHRISTOPH.)
Publisher: Dark River
ISBN: 9781911121381
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 212

Book Description
ACT in Sport is a practical workbook that provides a variety of simple strategies for athletes, sport psychologists, and coaches - regardless of their level of ability - for growing their skills, including mindfulness, acceptance, and defusion.

The Power of Mindfulness

Author: Amy Baltzell
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319704109
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 207

Book Description
This book offers both sport psychology practitioners and sport athletes a clear understanding of mindfulness to help athletes optimize sport performance. It provides a clear insight how sport athletes can learn to increase their ability to concentrate, be fully present during high pressure competition and how to effectively respond to distracting thoughts and emotions (e.g. performance anxiety; dread). The strategies offered in the chapters are based on Mindfulness Meditation Training for Sport (MMTS), an empirically supported mindfulness intervention for sport, which was created by the authors. MMTS has been adopted internationally by practicing sport psychologists – used with collegiate, club, and Olympic teams. Through offering a clear explanation of mindfulness and self-compassion (an essential element of MMTS), brief mindfulness based practices, and consistently offering how such practices link to performance – the reader learns to implement all of MMTS or elements of MMTS to help the increase their ability to focus, cope with difficult emotions, and perform their best when it matters.

Mindfulness and Performance

Author: Amy L. Baltzell
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1316495388
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 875

Book Description
Incorporating the theoretical conceptualizations of Jon Kabat-Zinn and Ellen Langer, this volume illustrates how performers from a variety of disciplines - including sport, dance and music - can use mindfulness to achieve peak performance and improve personal well-being. Leading scholars in the field present cutting-edge research and outline their unique approach to mindfulness that is supported by both theory and practice. They provide an overview of current mindfulness-based manuals and programs used around the globe in countries such as the United States, China and Australia, exploring their effectiveness across cultures. Mindfulness and Performance will be a beneficial reference for practitioners, social and sport psychologists, coaches, athletes, teachers and students.

The Mindful Athlete

Author: George Mumford
Publisher: National Geographic Books
ISBN: 1941529259
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
“George helped me understand the art of mindfulness. To be neither distracted or focused, rigid or flexible, passive or aggressive. I learned just to be." —Kobe Bryant Michael Jordan credits George Mumford with transforming his on-court leadership of the Bulls, helping Jordan lead the team to six NBA championships. Mumford also helped Kobe Bryant, Andrew Bynum, and Lamar Odom and countless other NBA players turn around their games. A widely respected public speaker and coach, Mumford is sharing his own story and the strategies that have made these athletes into stars in The Mindful Athlete: The Secret to Pure Performance. His proven, gentle but groundbreaking mindfulness techniques can transform the performance of anyone with a goal, be they an Olympian, weekend warrior, executive, hacker, or artist. When Michael Jordan left the Chicago Bulls to play baseball in 1993, the team was in crisis. Coach Phil Jackson, a long-time mindfulness practitioner, contacted Dr. Kabat-Zinn to find someone who could teach mindfulness techniques to the struggling team—someone who would have credibility and could speak the language of his players. Kabat-Zinn led Jackson to Mumford and their partnership began. Mumford has worked with Jackson and each of the eleven teams he coached to become NBA champions. His roster of champion clients has since blossomed way beyond basketball to include corporate executives, Olympians, and athletes in many different sports. With a charismatic teaching style that combines techniques of engaged mindfulness with lessons from popular culture icons such as Yoda, Indiana Jones, and Bruce Lee, Mumford tells illuminating stories about his larger than life clients. His writing is down-to-earth and easy to understand and apply. The Mindful Athlete is an engrossing story and an invaluable resource for anyone looking to elevate their game, no matter what the pursuit, and includes a foreword by Phil Jackson. "Self-consciousness is when you’re focused on how you’re doing instead of what you’re doing. We have to learn how to push and challenge ourselves, but not in an insensitive way. Honing your performance really comes down to being comfortable with being uncomfortable."—George Mumford

The Wiley Blackwell Handbook of Mindfulness

Author: Amanda Ie
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1118294874
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 1240

Book Description
The Wiley Blackwell Handbook of Mindfulness brings together the latest multi-disciplinary research on mindfulness from a group of international scholars: Examines the origins and key theories of the two dominant Western approaches to mindfulness Compares, contrasts, and integrates insights from the social psychological and Eastern-derived perspectives Discusses the implications for mindfulness across a range of fields, including consciousness and cognition, education, creativity, leadership and organizational behavior, law, medical practice and therapy, well-being, and sports 2 Volumes

Clinical Sport Psychology

Author: Frank L. Gardner
Publisher: Human Kinetics Publishers
ISBN: 0736053050
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 283

Book Description
Clinical Sport Psychologywill provide readers with an assortment of tools to use in evaluating and working with athletes. The text addresses a range of athletes' issues in an informed and integrated approach to sport psychology. Rather than focusing on one problem area, one modality of intervention, or one aspect of professional practice, Clinical Sport Psychologyblends grounded theory and sound research with effective assessment and intervention practices, presenting empirically informed intervention guidelines specific to various needs of athletes. This text provides the foundation needed for working with athletes experiencing a range of nonclinical, subclinical, and clinical issues. Readers will learn to thoroughly assess athletes, identify and understand their needs, and appropriately intervene with each athlete—unless a referral is necessary to better meet an athlete's individual needs. Clinical Sport Psychologycontains the following features: -A thorough explanation of the Mindfulness-Acceptance-Commitment (MAC) approach to enhancement of sport performance -A detailed examination of the empirical support for traditional procedures in sport psychology -A detailed and practical understanding of the Integrative Model of Athletic Performance (IMAP), which integrates clinical and sport science -A firm understanding of the Multilevel Classification System for Sport Psychology (MCS-SP), a model to classify the wide range of athletes' issues -A clear organizational structure from theory through intervention, including special considerations Clinical Sport Psychologypresents a new way of thinking about the psychological processes that are involved in attaining and maintaining sport expertise. The text, based on clinical and sport research, bridges the gap between clinical and sport psychologists by presenting a model that connects athletic performance, basic psychological processes, and relevant empirical findings. This cutting-edge text promotes a greater understanding of the varying dimensions of clinical phenomena and how nonclinical, subclinical, and clinical issues affect athletic performance and the overall well-being of athletes. Whether helping athletes improve competitive performance, adjust to the changing demands of the athletic environment, or clarify clinical issues, sport psychologists will find valuable insight and direction from this text. Part I integrates relevant knowledge in clinical and sport science, laying the foundation for practice in clinical sport psychology. Part II shows how to assess and classify athletes' issues beyond the traditional assessment approaches in sport psychology. It includes a new and useful approach to the holistic assessment of cases, thereby leading to sound intervention decisions and strategies for case formulation. Part III delves into intervention guidelines for the full range of problems and issues that the practicing clinical sport psychologist will face, and it offers both innovative and empirically informed interventions for a variety of client needs. Part IV examines special considerations in clinical sport psychology, including ethics, professional development, supervision, and future directions for the profession. With 30 years of ongoing practical experience with professional athletes, the authors present an integrated and holistic approach to clinical sport psychology, guiding readers in understanding, effectively assessing, and appropriately intervening with athletic clientele.

Acceptance and Commitment Approaches for Athletes’ Wellbeing and Performance

Author: Ross G. White
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030649423
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 308

Book Description
Elite sport can be an unforgiving and harsh environment. This book explores psychological predictors of wellbeing and performance excellence in elite level athletes, and presents an innovative approach for optimizing mental wellbeing and sporting performance. Jointly developed by performance psychologists, clinical psychologists and sport scientists the Flexible Mind approach draws on contemporary psychological theory and research to help athletes build ‘psychological flexibility’ - the ability to experience challenging thoughts and emotions and still be true to one’s values. A range of case studies relating to different sports are used to demonstrate how three core components - Being Present, Being Open and Doing What Matters - can improve athletes’ performance and wellbeing. This book will be a game-changing resource for sports psychologists, mental health practitioners, coaches and support staff who are committed to helping athletes to excel and stay well.