Discovering Your 'A' Game

The following post has been inspired by the work of Kristine Eiring and Colleen Hathaway, who are authors of the book 'Mindfulness and Sport Psychology for Athletes'. The 3 A's model and imagery has been reproduced with kind permission from the authors.

Over the past few years of working with athletes, I've come across so many cases where the person feels they've either "lost control" of their emotions when they play their sport or that they find themselves overthinking their emotions and dwelling on mistakes. Many athletes now recognise that the mental aspects of sport are just as important as physical training however most do not apply the same amount of time to enhancing their mental skills, as they do their body! The end result of this is that even though the person knows they have the technical ability to perform their sport, they feel as though their brain is letting them down.

One technique which I've found extremely helpful for many of my clients is the concept of mindfulness. Mindfulness is essentially about being in the moment and allowing thoughts to come and go without judgement. To explain this to clients I often refer my clients to the book 'Mindfulness and Sport Psychology for Athletes' written by Kris Eiring and Colleen Hathaway who are both athletes themselves and who devote their work helping athletes perform at their best.

In their book, the authors present the concept of the 3 A's…  Awareness, Acceptance and Action. They represent this concept in the following infographic:

Essentially this simple yet effective model helps teach an athlete the 3 key steps to understanding and achieving mindfulness, which can in turn help them to feel more in control of their emotions, meaning they will be much less likely to 'lose it' at the vital moment in the game or race. The fact is negative thoughts happen to us all - even the most talented and ‘mentally tough’ performer. The key it turns out, is how you deal with these thoughts… the action you decide to take. Rather than be at the mercy of your emotions, you can give yourself the permission to observe these without judgement, let go and move on to the next point, putt or goal.

To find out more from Kris and Colleen, they publish a huge array of interesting articles and advice for athletes on their website http://www.psychologyofsport.net/

  

If you would like to find out how you can learn mindfulness with the aid of hypnosis, please contact Christy christy@christyhypnotherapy.com or call 07527 576245 for a free telephone consultation.