Mindfulness and Emotions in Sport

Abstract

Mindfulness involves awareness and acceptance of the inner feelings, including thoughts, emotional responses, and bodily sensations. Several mindfulness-based programmes have been developed and implemented in the context of sports. This chapter outlines the main components of mindfulness as well as the relationship with emotion regulation strategies, provides an overview of scientific literature on the effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions, and includes guidelines and practical examples for the use of mindfulness-based strategies in a high-performance setting. Research evidence has provided support for the use of mindfulness-based interventions to help athletes self-regulate and improve performance.