Content area
Full Text
Keywords: mindfulness, sport, performance, meditation, neurofeedback
Years of research have demonstrated that biofeedback, neurofeedback, and mindfulness, individually and in various combinations, have been employed to effectively improve sport performance. The present article discusses the literature supporting the combination of these techniques, the neurophysiologic measures that support the use of these techniques for performance enhancement, and practical methods for implementing a combination of biofeedback and mindfulness with athletes. Finally, a case study is presented to offer practical steps on implementing mindfulness and biofeedback for the purpose of performance enhancement.
In the fall 2015 issue of Biofeedback, Khazan (2015) offered a detailed approach for applying mindfulness and acceptance techniques during biofeedback to improve the lives of those seeking treatment for clinical conditions. Klich (2015) described how mindfulness-based biofeedback has been integrated into health care settings. The current article aims to address how mindfulness is combined with biofeedback to improve performance, particularly among athletes.
Mindfulness is a mental skill rooted in Eastern meditation practices that has been reapplied through various therapeutic techniques such as mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (Teasdale et al., 2000), acceptance and commitment therapy (Hayes, Luoma, Bond, Masuda, & Lillis, 2006), and mindfulness-based stress reduction (Kabat-Zinn, 2003, 2011). As is likely well understood at this point, mindfulness is about teaching individuals to ''become more aware of thoughts and feelings and to change their relationship to them'' (Bishop, 2002, p. 71). Combining mindfulness with biofeedback is a logical evolution in self-regulation therapies, given that they are natural complements to one another, as biofeedback would enhance mindfulness through becoming more aware of one's physiology (Wyner, 2015). Further, the proposed psychological mechanisms of action in mindfulness techniques include behavioral processes of operant conditioning employed in bio/neurofeedback interventions (Ivanovski & Malhi, 2007; Sherlin et al., 2011). Fortunately, most individuals are capable of the two required skills for mindfulness, attention and awareness (Brown & Ryan, 2003), which increases the number of individuals to whom it can be applied successfully.
Psychophysiology of Mindfulness
Psychophysiology offers an opportunity to quantify the mindful state and allow individuals to identify and volitionally create it. A large body of research has amassed in the investigation of psychophysiological markers of meditation. However, all meditative practices are not created equal. The methods used to elicit specific states differ...