Mindfulness In Sport 101

What Is Mindfulness?

Before we start exploring what mindfulness is, I want you to try something. Set a two-minute timer on your phone. Sit comfortably, your back straight and close your eyes. Now just spend those two minutes focusing on your breath. Focus on how your belly expands and contracts. Focus on the feeling of the air going in through your nose. Whenever a thought crops up, just notice it. Don't judge if a thought is good, bad, annoying or however else you might judge one. Just notice it and then bring your attention back to the breath. 

What did you notice after doing that for two minutes?

If you are like the rest of us, you probably realise your attention is wandering from your breath constantly. You may have become distracted and didn't focus on your breath. This is a regular occurrence for athletes and when the pressure is turned up a few notches, the more the mind begins to wander. 

Mindfulness can be described simply as focusing on what is happening in the present moment, with intention, and without judgement. It also emphasises that you should be aware of your internal and external thoughts, feelings and sensations without judgement.

Mindfulness is about becoming aware of what is going on inside and outside of you. It is about not being lost or dragged around by the thoughts our brain throws at us. In sports, it is about putting our attention and focus where it is needed the most, on the task at hand.

In the book ‘The Mindful Athlete’ by George Mumford, he explains mindfulness as:

‘Mindfulness helps you to pay attention to your thoughts in an unattached manner, which can help to take the emotional charge out of them, slow down your experience of time, and reconnect you to the present moment. It is only in the present moment that we can cultivate conscious flow, achieve optimal levels of performance, and experience the holy place called ‘the zone’. 

As you can see, mindfulness can be extremely beneficial for our performance. 

The Space Between Stimulus and Response 

George Mumford, a mindfulness teacher who worked with Phil Jackson, the legendary Chicago Bulls basketball coach who coached the likes of Michael Jordan, talked about this calm space between stimulus and response. He likened it to a hurricane, with the space between stimulus and response being like the eye of a hurricane. In the middle of all the chaos is a quiet and calm centre. Everyone has this calm and quiet centre within them and mindfulness helps to connect us to this centre space. Once we are connected to it, it enables us to experience the present moment. 

In Victor Frankl's ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’, he described it this way: ‘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.’ Go and read this book. It is written by a psychiatrist who was able to observe the way that both he and others in Auschwitz coped (or didn’t) with the experience. 

It is when we stay in this calm centre of the hurricane, when the skies are blue, that we can think straight, make clear decisions, and respond effectively and intelligently. The minute we step away from the centre of the hurricane, we are thrown into chaos. If anyone has seen The Wizard of Oz, you know what happens to Dorothy!  

How Is Mindfulness Helpful For Athletes?

An athlete's mind can be full of negative thoughts, expectations, worry or self-doubt. We have a constant narrative or commentary running through our heads when we are performing. This commentary can yank our attention away from doing what is needed in the moment. For example, an F1 driver might be distracted by a thought going through his head that he missed his braking point and lost time in his qualifying lap. A boxer might miss the perfect opportunity to counter as he was focused on the fan's expectations of him. There are many examples we could use here but I hope you get the point. 

Our focus needs to be on the task at hand.  The task at hand will vary depending on the sport you play, but you will know what you need to do in a competition or match. Mindfulness can help us refocus on the task at hand, restoring control of our attention.

Now it isn't just performance that mindfulness helps with. Mindfulness can support our well-being as well. It helps us to understand how our brain works and engage with what matters most to us. We also start to realise that the thoughts, beliefs, images and expectations (all of these things can be referred to as cognitions) that come up in our brains are not the truth. They are literally just what they are. Nothing more, nothing less. 

How do I use mindfulness? 

Just like any technical skills, physical aspect or tactical know-how, mindfulness requires practice. We can train and practice our ability to bring our attention and focus back to the present moment, enabling us to choose the most effective responses. Many people refer to mindfulness as lifting weights for the mind. Mental resistance training!

Just like you would for any other part of your training, set a time throughout the day that is dedicated to mindfulness practice. The practice we are going to do is so simple, yet so powerful. Simply, it involves focussing on your breath. Just like you did at the start of the blog. 

Step-by-step guide to mindfulness of breath:

1. Set a timer on your phone (between 3-5 minutes to start with).

2.  Sit comfortably, your back straight and close your eyes. 

3. Focus on the breath and the feelings associated with breathing.

4. If anything in your mind pops up, notice it without judgement. If you become distracted or get lost in thought, bring your attention back to the breath.

5. Complete this at least once a day.

Key takeaways for using mindfulness:

• If you become distracted or lost in thought, bring your attention back to the breath. This is the key skill to develop in mindfulness.

• Don't worry about being good at it; there's no good or bad in mindfulness.

• Learning new skills can be tough initially.

• The goal is to train the ability to return to the present moment.

• Start with five minutes a day, every day.

• Gradually increase the time as you get comfortable.

• Practice mindfulness during everyday tasks (e.g., driving, cooking).

• Focus on the task at hand and bring attention back if distracted.

• Mindfulness can be practised in any activity.

• Begin with the mindfulness of breath, the fundamental technique.

• Once comfortable, explore other mindfulness exercises.
  

Not paying attention to what needs doing, becoming distracted and losing focus happens to all athletes. Learning and practising how to maintain your focus and attention on the task at hand as well as being fully present in the moment can be extremely beneficial for your performance if trained and practised regularly. Remember, we want to be in the calm centre of the hurricane where we can think straight, make clear decisions and respond effectively and intelligently.

A step by step guide to settings goals

When training for an important competition, there is a huge amount of emphasis on physical preparation - but what about preparing mentally? A method that can help athletes mentally prepare for competition and enhance their focus, self-confidence and overall performance is Psychological Skills Training (PST).

PST involves techniques that an athlete consistently practices in order to enhance and maintain their performance. Primarily, PST is composed of four main components; goal setting, relaxation techniques, imagery and self-talk. Today I will be focusing on goal setting, explaining my role as a performance psychologist in helping individual athletes and teams set and achieve their goals.

Goal setting is at the core of psychological skills training to improve an individual’s motivation, productivity and attentional focus on a specific task. As a performance psychologist, I help educate athletes on how to develop, monitor and evaluate goals.

Firstly, I introduce athletes to the “SMART” acronym when settings goals, explaining that all goals need to be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely. This is a major component of setting both short term and long-term goals for an individual to remain accountable for the goals they have set, as well as evaluating their goals to assess their progress.

The goal setting process is broken down into three different components comprised of process, performance, and outcome goals:

• Process goals are the smaller steps an athlete takes to achieve their performance goals. They focus on the repeated execution of a specific skill or strategy during training that they the individual wishes to improve. By repeatedly practicing the skill, the individual is able to gain attentional control and improve their performance. For example, a process goal for a swimmer could be to practice not breathing out of the turn during the main set for the next four training sessions. After the sessions are complete, the individual would then evaluate this goal to establish whether they should adjust the goal to a more challenging process goal,  such as practicing not breathing out of turn during prep set and main set for the next four training sessions.

• Performance goals are the performance standards that athletes set themselves in order to reach their outcome goals. When setting performance goals remember that they should be aspects of your performance that you have control over. For example, a swimmer could set a performance goal of swimming 100M breaststroke in 1min 20s. If we refer back to the swimmer’s process goal of not breathing out of the turn, this goal is one of the steps to help them achieve their performance goal.

• Lastly, Outcome goals are the end result that the athlete is working towards, for example, getting a gold medal at Nationals.
  

Some key points to remember when settings goals:

(1) Focus on the goals you can control

•  Focus on process and performance goals you can control instead of focusing on the outcome
  
  

(2)  Write them down!

• Individuals who write down goals are more likely to achieve them then those who don’t write them down Writing down goals help to monitor your progress

(3)  Make them visible for you to read on a daily basis

• Ensure your list of goals is visible for you to read them a couple times a day (especially before training/competition) to remind you of your objectives.
  

If you have any questions regarding setting goals, please email Serena at serenamacleodsportpych@gmail.com

How can we help adolescent athletes to be open about their mental health?

As I work primarily with adolescent athletes, I continuously want to raise awareness and address the stigma against young athletes regarding their mental health. Awareness of mental health and well-being amongst adolescent athletes is has increased receiving both research and media attention throughout the last few years. Negative perceptions of the athlete’s performance and dealing with performing under pressure is a major aspect that contributes to a decrease in the athlete’s overall mental health. Although the importance of youth athletes receiving mental health support has increased, the most popular barrier that inhibits an individual in reaching out for help is the stigma surrounding mental health.

One of the most important roles for coaches and parents is to provide athletes an environment in which they feel comfortable to disclose aspects of their mental health that they are struggling with. Firstly, to help facilitate this environment, we can encourage athletes to be open and honest regarding their thoughts, feelings and emotions. By having a positive attitude towards mental health and encouraging the athlete to share what they’re struggling with, this helps develop trust and decrease the fear of being judged.

Educating adolescent athletes’ is another extremely important aspect when addressing mental health. By educating the athlete, we can provide them an understanding of what they are experiencing, and also to develop an awareness that they are not the only individual struggling with their mental health. It’s so important to validate and normalise what the athlete is experiencing in a kind, compassionate way. In the UK, there are several organisations that provide mental health support. Mind is a fantastic organisation that educates individuals regarding mental health, as well as providing resources for mental health support. Another organisation that provides education and resources for support is Mental Health UK. Alternatively, the athlete or parent can reach out to their sport clubs safeguarding or well-being officer to receive guidance regarding education and support.

It is important to provide adolescent athletes’ with the platform to speak about their mental health concerns without the fear of being perceived negatively. Together, we can end the stigma against adolescent athletes’ who suffer from mental health disorders and help them receive the appropriate support.