Mindfulness in Sports: Getting Athletes in a State of Flow

For many decades, sports psychology has depended on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in order to control and modify the psychological variables that intervene in the sports performance Recently, the philosophy and praxis of Mindfulness It 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 sports

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

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

Mindfulness improves sports performance

When talking about improving sports performance, many people only think about the physical variables However the psychological component It’s very important. Although the role of the sports psychologist is unknown to many individuals, more and more teams and athletes are hiring the services of a psychologist who are aware of the benefits it provides in different aspects of sports performance, training or interpersonal relationships.

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

Mindfulness and the important psychological variables 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 there is much research that has demonstrated their impact on athletes. These variables also make up other important variables (for example, within the variable self-efficacythe perception of control) that will also affect the individual’s sporting performance.

It is important to highlight 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 positively influence 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, because by educating them with Mindfulness at an early age, their future well-being can be influenced.

Furthermore, the Mindfulness practice It will be beneficial in interpersonal relationships and team cohesion a determining factor in team sports.

Emotional management and Mindfulness in sports

Unlike Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, which assumes the idea that the best sports performance is based on self-control or behavior change, 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, you simply have to observe them in a non-judgmental way.

Acceptance of emotions causes an improvement in both attention and the level of activation, since emotions are not interpreted as negative (even those emotions that are part of stress). The emotional self-knowledge that is acquired with Mindfulness and the correct emotional regulation as a result of this self-knowledge and “being in the present”, promotes an ideal state of sports performance. The athlete who practices Mindfulness in sports is in a “State of Flow”, because his body and his mind are in tune.

He Flow Status in Mindfulness

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

Time is invested in the present: in the awareness of the moment, in bodily sensations and in the Flow State. That is, energy is not invested in worries or future expectations, and in this way 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 sports psychology it is not only being used to improve stress management and improving the performance of athletes, but it is also being put into practice with injured athletes.

The sports injuries They have negative consequences for the mental well-being of athletes, as they cause 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 cause abandonment of the practice.

Solé, Bruno, Serpa and Palmi (2014), in their article “Applications of Mindfulness (full awareness) in sports injuries”, published in the Journal of Sports Psychology, recommend the progressive introduction of Mindfulness in the prevention and rehabilitation of sports injuries since it has been shown that its contribution can be very useful, since it manages to improve the following variables: balance in sporting action, pre-competition anxiety, post-injury emotional reactivity, pain control, necessary communication so that the athlete improves the relationship with his environment and his medical team, adherence to the established recovery program, attention capacity and improvement of coping resources.