Mindfulness and Acceptance in Sport: How to Help Athletes Perform and Thrive under Pressure
Abstract
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.
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MAIC training could significantly improve psychological outcomes and athletic performance in dart throwing, shooting sports, and swimming athletes.
“A series of follow-up MAIC intervention studies targeting athletes of dart throwing, shooting sports, and swimming showed that MAIC training could significantly improve their psychological outcomes (mindfulness, acceptance, flow state, anxiety reduction, training, competition satisfaction, etc.) as well as their athletic performance [16,17,18,19].”
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“A foundational belief for consultants using acceptance-based philosophies of practice is that thoughts and feelings are to be accepted and acknowledged, as opposed to managed and controlled (Henriksen et al., 2020).”
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“Today, he mainly draws on existential psychology (anxiety is an inevitable part of life and athletes should strive for an authentic life in which they take responsibility for their decisions; Nesti, 2004), Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT) (we should teach athletes to accept rather than control their thoughts and em…”
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“Recently, a book focused on applying ACT and mindfulness-based approaches in sports has been published, further highlighting the value of these approaches in applied practice (Henriksen et al., 2019).”
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“…(Bond, Flaxman, & Bunce, 2008; Henriksen, Hansen, & Larsen, 2019) are recognised by coaches as integral to athlete development, and coaches desire a better understanding of how to support athletes and work with psychologists to develop these skills (Burton & Raedeke, 2008; Henriksen et al., 2019).”
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“A sport psychologist could support athletes, coaches and performance support team members through providing recommended readings (e.g., Henriksen et al., 2019) or tailored sessions to teach clients techniques that involve awareness of thoughts, breathing and bodily sensations to foster…”
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“…and underlying values, has been an effective culturally situated approach for helping elite athletes find meaning within non-normative events (see Henriksen et al., 2019) The 80 th birthday exercise The 80 th birthday exercise is one that we have used with athletes to help them search for…”
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“…fi ndings suggest that Acceptance and Commitment Therapy-based interventions typically aimed at improving psychological fl exibility could be particularly helpful in situations that increase susceptibility to mental health issues, and not just for elite sport performance (Henriksen et al., 2019).”
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“Practitioners should identify and clarify their core values, which act as guiding principles in their daily work (Henriksen et al., 2019).”
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“…with lower rumination and fewer difficulties in emotion regulation (Nolen-Hoeksema et al., 2008; van der Velden et al., 2023; Birrer et al., 2012; Henriksen et al., 2019; Olusoga et al., 2019; Sarkar and Fletcher, 2013; Britton, 2019; Bühlmayer et al., 2017; Hut et al., 2021; Lindsay and…”
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“All athletes’ behaviors to increase their performance are conscious behaviors and related to mindfulness (Henriksen et al., 2019).”
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- Authors
- Henriksen, K., Hansen, J., & Larsen, C. H.
- Affiliations
- University of Southern Denmark (DK)
- Venue
- Routledge eBooks
- Publisher
- Routledge
- Published
- 2019-08-19
- OpenAlex
- W4236448780
- Cited by
- 34
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 2
- FWCI
- 3.80
- Type
- book
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Routledge eBooks (publishedVersion)
- University of Southern Denmark Research Portal (University of Southern Denmark) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Sport Psychology and Performance
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychological Treatments and Assessments
- Keywords
- mindfulness, acceptance, acceptance and commitment therapy, elite athletes, sport psychology intervention, thought suppression, self-focus, values-based action, performance under pressure
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