Mindfulness in sport: getting athletes in a state of Flow

Mindfulness can also optimize sports performance.

For many decades, sport psychology has depended on the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to control and modify the psychological variables involved in sports performance. sports performance. Recently, the philosophy and praxis of Mindfulness has aroused great interest among sports psychologists, as it seems to contribute to a better psychological predisposition on the part of the athletes who practice it.

The application of Mindfulness in sport

But first of all, let's answer a basic question: what exactly is Mindfulness?

Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way, on purpose, in the present moment, and without judgment. To learn more about Mindfulness practice, we invite you to visit our article "Mindfulness: 8 benefits of mindfulness".

Mindfulness improves sports performance

When talking about improving athletic performance, many people think only of the physical variables. physical variablesvariables, however, the psychological component is very important. Although the role of the sports psychologist is unknown by many individuals, more and more teams and athletes are hiring the services of a psychologist aware of the benefits it brings in different aspects of sports performance, training or interpersonal relationships.

The right combination of cognitive, affective and physiological conditions, allows an optimal state of performance in sportsimilar to what we understand as State of Flow, but applied to the field of sports.

Mindfulness and psychological variables important for better sports performance

There are many psychological variables (motivation, level of activation, stress, etc.) that will be decisive for the optimal performance of an athlete, and many are the investigations that have demonstrated their impact on athletes. These variables also make up other important variables (e.g., within the variable self-efficacyThe perception of control) that will also affect the individual's sporting performance.

It is important to note that these variables are related to each other. For example, the stress variable can affect the activation level variable, or the activation level variable can affect the attention variable (and vice versa). Mindfulness, directly or indirectly, will influence many of these variables, such as: stress, activation level, attention, etc.

On the other hand, Mindfulness will also have a positive influence on the self-esteem and self-confidence of an athlete, since the "non-judgmental" interpretation characteristic of this practice will be positive when interpreting successes and failures. This is also important for young athletes, since educating them with Mindfulness at an early age can have an impact on their future well-being.

In addition, the practice of Mindfulness will be beneficial in interpersonal relationships and team cohesion, a determining factor in team sports.a determining factor in team sports.

Emotional management and Mindfulness in sport

Unlike Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, which assumes the idea that the best sports performance is based on self-control or behavioral change, Mindfulness focuses on emotional management and Mindfulness in sport, Mindfulness focuses on the idea that optimal performance is a state that emerges from the acceptance of thoughts, emotions and sensations. without trying to eliminate or modify them, but simply observing them in a non-judgmental way.

The acceptance of emotions causes an improvement in both attention and activation level, because emotions are not interpreted as negative (even those emotions that are part of stress). The emotional self-knowledge acquired with Mindfulness and the correct emotional regulation resulting from this self-knowledge and "being in the present", leads to an ideal state of sports performance. The athlete who practices Mindfulness in sport is in a "state of Flow", because his body and mind are in tune.

The State of Flow in Mindfulness

People who habitually use Mindfulness, stop reasoning, controlling and ruminating on everything that affects them negatively, to merge into a process of acceptance, which brings with it a union between body and mind. brings about a union between the body and the mind.a union with the present. The athlete observes what he feels and thinks without further significance, and increases his concentration considerably. Thoughts and emotions are allowed to pass, without giving them meaning or value, achieving a distancing from them since they are not controlled, only accepted.

Time is invested in the present: in the consciousness of the moment, in the bodily sensations and in the state of Flow. That is to say, energy is not invested in worries or future expectations, and in this way a better sports performance is achieved.

Mindfulness and sports injuries

Mindfulness has been applied in numerous fields with benefits in variables such as stress management, Pain or quality of life. But in the field of sport psychology it is not only being used to improve stress management and performance enhancement of athletes, but it is also being put into practice with injured athletes.

The sports injuries have negative consequences for the mental well-being of athletes, causing resulting psychological symptoms (fear, anger, low self-esteem, sadness, etc.) that can have a significant impact on proper recovery. In fact, these psychological factors can contribute to poor adherence to treatment, a reduction in sports performance in the readaptation phase, and even lead to abandonment of practice.

Solé, Bruno, Serpa and Palmi (2014), in their article "Mindfulness applications in sports injury", published in the Journal of Sport Psychology, recommend the progressive introduction of Mindfulness in the prevention and rehabilitation of sports injuries.It has been shown that its contribution can be very useful, since it can improve the following variables: balance in sports action, pre-competition anxiety, post-injury emotional reactivity, pain control, the communication necessary for the athlete to improve the relationship with his or her environment and medical team, adherence to the established recovery program, attentional capacity and the improvement of coping resources.

Bibliographic references:

• Solé S., Carrança B., Serpa S. and Palmi J. (2014) Applications of mindfulness in sports injury. Journal of Sport Psychology, 23(2), 501-508.