Implementing Langerian Mindfulness to Increase Flow Experience During Tennis Performance

Mindfulness;Performance;Sport Performance;Flow;Optimal Experience;Peak Performance

James, Courtney D.

University:Havard University

Department:Clinical Psychology

关键词: Mindfulness;    Performance;    Sport Performance;    Flow;    Optimal Experience;    Peak Performance;   

Others  :  https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/37365364/JAMES-DOCUMENT-2018.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

美国|英语

来源: Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard

【 摘 要 】

Enhanced athletic performance can lead to a more fulfilled experience. By simultaneously enhancing performance and overall experience in athletic settings, one potentially reaches a higher propensity for flow, an optimal mental state of heightened experience and performance (Jackson, 1996; Kee & Wang, 2008). Mindfulness, specifically Langerian Mindfulness, has previously been shown to be useful in increasing one’s performance in a variety of settings (Langer et al., 2010). Given that Langerian Mindfulness has been shown to increase performance, this study intends to investigate whether Langerian Mindfulness can increase performance in an athletic setting, while also increasing one’s propensity for experiencing the flow state. So far, there are a limited number of interventions developed for athletes to enhance their performance through mindfulness techniques (Birrer, Rothlin & Morgan, 2012). The current study seeks to create another resource for athletes, by developing a potential mindfulness intervention that could be useful in the augmentation of performance, leading to the increase of the propensity of experiencing a state of flow. One path to increasing the propensity of experiencing flow would be to increase one’s mindfulness. However, the current tools to do so in athletic settings revolve around the use of mindfulness meditation to increase dispositional mindfulness (Birrer et al., 2012). This intervention has proven difficult to implement in athletic settings due to the difference of the context of the activity and the practice of the intervention (Kee & Wang, 2008). When one is athletically performing during an activity, it is very different than when one is meditating in a quiet setting. There needs to be more accessible way in which individuals can access a higher state of mindfulness during practice and performances. Langerian Mindfulness in athletic settings provides a unique approach that allows for novel distinctions of the present moment to enhance athletic performance through the increase in mindfulness during the activity.This study will be an experiment implemented in a tennis setting, investigating whether providing participants with mindfulness prompts while conducting a tennis practice will increase their performance in a tennis task, and in turn increase their likelihood of experiencing flow. Participants will be tennis players with previous tennis experience. This study hypothesizes that Langerian Mindfulness will increase performance during a tennis activity and increase the propensity of experiencing the flow state. The study focuses on developing a way in which athletes can enhance their performance by allowing for a more accessible means of increasing mindfulness during practices. While this study only uses tennis players as its population, the findings of this research can be implemented across many areas of performance. The focus on the development of an intervention that can be implemented, regardless of the context, will be useful across all mediums of performance.