This mixed methodology study investigated the effects of a ten session mindfulness-based intervention on a women’s collegiate basketball team’s (n = 13) perceived stress, athletic coping resources, and perceptions of the mindfulness intervention. Quantitative results showed a progressive decrease in stress and an increase in athletic coping skills over the course of the intervention. Qualitative results indicated the mindfulness intervention was beneficial in various aspects of the athletes’ lives in the form of improved awareness, control, focus, presence and relaxation. These results suggest that mindfulness training may be an effective approach in assisting college athletes attain benefits in both sport and life.
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Mindfulness Intervention With a U.S. Women’s NCAA Division I Basketball Team: Impact on Stress, Athletic Coping Skills and Perceptions of Intervention
Zeljka Vidic, Mark St. Martin, and Richard Oxhandler
“Tuning into One’s Self:” Foucault’s Technologies of the Self and Mindful Fitness
Pirkko Markula
This article explores the application of Michel Foucault’s technologies of the self—practices of freedom that are characterized by ethics of self-care, critical awareness, and aesthetic self-stylization. Foucault’s argument states that the technologies of self can act as practices of freedom from disciplinary, discursive body practices. Based on ethnographic fieldwork, this study examines the intersections of Foucault’s theory with commercial fitness practices to identify possibilities for changing the dominant, feminine body discourse. The focus is on fitness practices collectively defined as mindful fitness and specifically one hybrid mindfulfitness form that combines Pilates, yoga, and Tai Chi with western strength training. Through in-depth interviews with the instructors of this hybrid form, this study analyzes the possibilities for mindful fitness to act as a practice of freedom by detailing what can be meant by critically aware, self-stylized fitness professionals for whom ethical care of the self translates to ethical care of the others.
One Year Follow-Up of Mindful Sport Performance Enhancement (MSPE) With Archers, Golfers, and Runners
Rachel W. Thompson, Keith A. Kaufman, Lilian A. De Petrillo, Carol R. Glass, and Diane B. Arnkoff
The purpose of the present investigation was to evaluate the long-term effects of mindful sport performance enhancement (MSPE), a program designed to improve athletic performance and psychological aspects of sport. One-year follow-up assessments were conducted on archers, golfers, and long-distance runners (N = 25) who attended Kaufman, Glass, and Arnkoff’s (2009) and De Petrillo, Kaufman, Glass, and Arnkoff’s (2009) MSPE workshops. Across the athlete groups, participants reported significant increases in the ability to act with awareness (an aspect of trait mindfulness) and overall trait mindfulness from pretest to follow-up, along with significant decreases in task-related worries and task-irrelevant thoughts (both aspects of cognitive interference during sport). The long-distance runners exhibited significant improvement in their mile times from pretest to follow-up, with significant correlations between change in runners’ performance and trait variables. Results suggest that MSPE is a promising intervention associated with long-term changes in trait variables that may contribute to optimal athletic performance.
The Effect of Mindfulness Training on Athletes’ Flow: An Initial Investigation
Cian Aherne, Aidan P. Moran, and Chris Lonsdale
This study investigated the relationship between mindfulness training (a nonjudgmental attentional training technique) and flow experiences in athletes. Participants were 13 university athletes (M = 21 years), assigned either to a control group or an experimental group. Flow experiences were assessed before and after the intervention. ANOVA (group x time) of global scores on the Flow State Scale-2 (FSS-2; Jackson & Eklund, 2004) showed a significant interaction (F = 11.49, p < .05). Follow-up t tests indicated no significant difference (p > .05) between the experimental and control groups’ FSS-2 global scores at the baseline training session, but a large difference (p < .05, d = 1.66) at a follow-up training session. Significant interaction effects were also observed for FSS-2 subscales scores for the flow dimensions of “Clear Goals” (F =18.73, p < .05) and “Sense of Control” (F = 14.61, p < .05). Following an evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of this study, the theoretical significance of the results is assessed and the promise for the application of mindfulness training in performance enhancement is discussed.
The Buddha’s Extra Scoop: Neural Correlates of Mindfulness and Clinical Sport Psychology
Donald R. Marks
Recent studies using neuroimaging technologies offer evidence that ancient beliefs about the benefits (e.g., enhanced attention, increased distress tolerance) associated with mindfulness practice and other forms of meditation may be supported by identifiable neuroanatomical changes in the brain. Although it is too early to make probative statements regarding exactly how and why contemplative practices affect the structure and activity of the brain, sport psychologists may want to consider the potential implications of the findings that have begun to emerge from this neural correlates research. The goal of this article is to (a) review the findings from the principal studies of contemplative practice that have employed measures of neuronal activity (e.g., fMRI, EEG) and (b) examine the potential relevance of these studies to the treatment of psychological disorders among athletes and the enhancement of athletic performance.
Associative/Dissociative Cognitive Strategies in Sustained Physical Activity: Literature Review and Proposal for a Mindfulness-Based Conceptual Model
Paul Salmon, Scott Hanneman, and Brandon Harwood
We reviewed and summarize the extant literature on associative/dissociative cognitive strategies used by athletes and others in circumstances necessitating periods of sustained attention. This review covers studies published since a prior publication by Masters and Ogles (1998), and, in keeping with their approach, offers a methodological critique of the literature. We conclude that the distinction between associative and dissociative strategies has outlived its usefulness since initially proposed in an earlier era of ground-breaking research by Morgan and Pollock (1977) that was influenced to some extent by psychodynamic thinking. In recent years there has been an evolutionary shift in concepts of sustained attention toward mindfulness—moment-by-moment attention—that has had a significant impact on conceptual models and clinical practice in diverse areas including stress management, psychotherapy, and athletic performance. We propose that future research on cognitive activity in sustained performance settings be embedded in a mindfulness-based conceptual model.
Erratum. What Is Known About Mindfulness and Self-Compassion Among Sport Coaches? A Scoping Review
International Sport Coaching Journal
TO OUR READERS: A change was made to the following article after its initial publication online: Hägglund, K., Kenttä, G., Wagstaff, C.R.D., & Bentzen, M. (2024). What is known about mindfulness and self-compassion among sport coaches? A scoping review . International Sport Coaching Journal
Erratum. Effect of Mindful Sports Performance Enhancement in College Athletes for Reducing Sports-Caused Anxiety and Improving Self-Awareness: A Critically Appraised Topic
International Journal of Athletic Therapy and Training
TO OUR READERS: A change was made to the following article after its initial publication online: Garg, S., Uriegas, N.A., Winkelmann, Z.K., Adams, M., & Fraley, A.L. (2024). Effect of mindful sports performance enhancement in college athletes for reducing sports-caused anxiety and improving self
Erratum. Effect of Mindful Sport Performance Enhancement in College Athletes for Reducing Sports-Caused Anxiety and Improving Self-Awareness: A Critically Appraised Topic
International Journal of Athletic Therapy and Training
TO OUR READERS: A change was made in the ahead-of-print version of the following article: Garg S, Uriegas NA, Winkelmann ZK, Adams M, Fraley AL. Effect of mindful sport performance enhancement in college athletes for reducing sports-caused anxiety and improving self-awareness: a critically
Effects of Yoga on Psychological Health in Older Adults
Kimberlee Bethany Bonura and Gershon Tenenbaum
Background:
The objective of this study was to assess the effect of a yoga intervention on psychological health in older adults.
Method:
A randomized controlled trial study, conducted at 2 North Florida facilities for older adults. Subjects were 98 older adults, ages 65 to 92. Participants were randomly assigned to chair yoga, chair exercise, and control groups and assessed preintervention, postintervention, and 1-month follow-up on the State Anger Expression Inventory, State Anxiety Inventory, Geriatric Depression Scale, Lawton’s PGC Morale Scale, General Self-Efficacy Scale, Chronic Disease Self-Efficacy Scales, and Self- Control Schedule.
Results:
Yoga participants improved more than both exercise and control participants in anger (Cohen’s d = 0.89 for yoga versus exercise, and 0.90 for yoga versus control, pretest to posttest; and d = 0.90 and 0.72, pretest to follow-up), anxiety (d = 0.27, 0.39 and 0.62, 0.63), depression (d = 0.47, 0.49 and 0.53, 0.51), well-being (d = 0.14, 0.49 and 0.25, 0.61), general self-efficacy (d = 0.63, 1.10 and 0.30, 0.85), and self-efficacy for daily living (d = 0.52, 0.81 and 0.27, 0.42). Changes in self-control moderated changes in psychological health.
Conclusions:
Over a 6-week period, our findings indicate yoga’s potential for improving psychological health in older adults.
