Squash is a game that demands concentration and focus from its participants, where mental toughness often determines success or failure during key moments in a match.
Bee Happy Mindfulness was honored to craft a tailored mindfulness curriculum for Urban Squash Toronto, an organization which supports youth from Jane-Finch community in reaching their academic and athletic potential. Our program integrated emotional regulation practices along with teambuilding exercises.
1. Focus on your strengths
Mindful practice can help players remain present during matches and avoid getting caught up in negative emotions or dwelling on mistakes. Studies have revealed how mindfulness strengthens brain areas associated with attention and memory while simultaneously decreasing activation of the amygdala (fear centre), which often hinders peak performance.
Studies of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy showed participants being able to recognize and label their thoughts, enabling them to better comprehend and regulate their emotions. Self-awareness helps players focus their attention back onto the task at hand without getting distracted, which is a major challenge in squash and other sports.
Mindfulness is a practice of being fully present in each moment without judgment, such as meditation or deep breathing exercises. Mindfulness combined with exercise can be challenging and requires dedication and discipline – it is therefore best advised that any new exercise program be reviewed by a healthcare provider prior to commencing any new regiments.
One study conducted a comparison between experienced mindfulness meditators and non-meditating control group, and found that those who regularly meditated performed significantly better on tests measuring focus, attention, and memory. Researchers also used brain imaging techniques to show that an area associated with memory (hippocampus) expanded among participants who regularly practiced mindfulness meditation.
One potential advantage of mindfulness meditation training is increasing working memory capacity – something crucial for athletes competing in high-pressure environments. A study comparing military groups that practiced meditating to nonmeditating civilian groups demonstrated this phenomenon over time; those practicing meditation showed greater improvement due to cognitive flexibility training that increased how efficiently attention was directed, leading to enhanced working memory capacity over time. Researchers attribute this trend to mindfulness meditation training’s capacity for increasing cognitive flexibility that increase efficiency with which attention was focused, leading to enhanced working memory capacity over time.
Mindfulness Acceptance Commitment (MAC), a mindfulness-based intervention designed for national sub-elite squash players, was applied in an A-B design using six athletes who were concussion and injury free and actively competing at an international level in squash with no prior exposure to mindfulness-based therapies such as meditation. Results demonstrated MAC was effective at increasing proficiency in mindfulness practice while decreasing experiential avoidance, psychological inflexibility, perceived stress levels and positive impacting on overall sports performance.
2. Practice refocusing
Mindfulness meditation has been proven to strengthen areas of the brain associated with memory and attention while attenuating activation in amygdala – the area associated with fear and stress – helping reduce negative emotions like anxiety and stress which interfere with performance.
Studies have established that mindfulness training can lead to positive psychological results, including decreased depression and greater life satisfaction. Furthermore, studies have shown that practicing mindfulness improves sleep and decreases symptoms associated with chronic illnesses such as pain and fatigue – in addition to expanding working memory capacity.
Notably, mindfulness’s positive effects may result from various psychological processes. One such process is reperceiving, which involves being able to observe and describe one’s emotions without becoming attached to them; and accepting emotional stimuli. Furthermore, mindful practices have been linked with decreased rumination (the practice of repeated negative thinking).
Studies have demonstrated the correlation between mindfulness practice and an increase in self-esteem and compassion, and improved performance during matches, along with developing mental toughness necessary for furthering your game. These benefits of practicing mindfulness can help keep players motivated, focused and committed during matches while building mental toughness necessary for improving your game.
Recent research investigated the impacts of mindfulness acceptance commitment (MAC) programs on national sub-elite squash athletes. Such programs have already proven their positive impacts on sport performance at both collegiate and professional levels; this was however, the first study that looked specifically at their application with national level athletes.
Research team assessed the effect of MAC on various psychological variables, including proficiency in mindfulness, experiential avoidance and psychological inflexibility as well as sports performance. Their results demonstrated that participation in MAC led to significant increases in sport performance with an average participant experiencing an impressive 0.79 effect size increase after participating.
Mindfulness can be practiced using various means, including guided meditation apps such as SquashMind or club sessions led by coaches. Individual athletes must find what works for them best and incorporate it into their daily routine; newcomers to mindfulness should start out small – 10-second increments for instance before gradually increasing its duration over time.
3. Practice self-awareness
Self-awareness refers to your ability to understand and recognize your thoughts, emotions, and responses in relation to others. It can also increase empathy between people. Self-aware people can use this skill in various contexts such as relationships, work or sports – for instance being more aware can allow one to empathize more when their teammates become upset by losing; using this empathy they can encourage and support during tough times rather than getting angry or depressing them further.
Mindfulness meditation involves paying attention to the present moment. It’s an effective way to reduce stress and enhance overall well-being; one study conducted in JAMA Network Open found that practicing mindfulness could even lower blood pressure for those who had high levels.
Researchers conducted this study with sub-elite squash athletes using a Mindfulness Acceptance Commitment (MAC) program, which has proven its efficacy at improving sport performance in collegiate and professional settings; however, this was its inaugural test with sub-elite players undergoing this protocol. All participants in this trial were injury and concussion-free while actively training and competing at national-level tournaments.
On a weekly basis, athletes were taught various mindfulness techniques and asked to practice them during off-training hours as homework – reported via text messaging each week by their coach and reported via text message each time homework had been completed. After seven weeks of training, their findings indicate that mindfulness training had a substantial effect on trait mindfulness levels with sustained effects that outlasted rates of change amongst all six athletes involved.
There are various strategies you can employ to foster self-awareness and mindfulness. One method is keeping a journal, which can help identify strengths and weaknesses as well as enhance mental clarity. Another is seeking feedback from family and friends; their insights into your personality, behavior and habits provide invaluable feedback about your skills and abilities. Finally, when playing matches you can practice mindfulness by breathing deeply while paying attention to both yourself and the environment around you.
4. Practice letting go
As squash requires physical conditioning, it’s crucial that players focus on their breathing and stay calm during matches. Both body and mind can become highly alert during matches, leading to shallow or rapid breathing that disrupts performance and poses risks to player safety. Achieve relaxation through mindfulness meditation by practicing 100 breath mindfulness meditations; slow and deepen breathing bringing nervous systems back into a parasympathetic state for relaxation and rejuvenation; this technique helps players focus their attention on what needs to be done instead of what might occur, improving recovery from mistakes without losing momentum or slowing down progressing further than before.
Mindfulness can help alleviate stress and anxiety caused by worrying about events that might or might not happen in the future, and regretting past actions. Mindfulness practice is an effective tool for dealing with such worries while increasing mental toughness – both necessary qualities in squash. Self-compassion should also be an important aspect of mindfulness as this involves treating oneself kindly just as you would any friend, while acknowledging everyone has difficult circumstances in their lives. While mindfulness practice has many positive benefits, it should also be remembered it won’t solve all life issues on its own; instead it may cause unexpected side-effects in some individuals despite all its positive outcomes – which should not be expected as being an easy fix-all magic bullet cure-all for life problems either – beware!
Studies have demonstrated the power of mindfulness meditation to reduce ruminations, enhance sleep quality and boost wellbeing in the short term. Furthermore, students who practice mindfulness report increased study engagement/curiosity and lower depression/anxiety levels – all results of mindfulness being found beneficial! Furthermore, mindfulness has even been found to decrease activation of the amygdala, or fear centre of the brain.
Recent research has demonstrated the efficacy of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) to effectively combat depression and anxiety among older adults and improve sleep among teenagers with insomnia. Furthermore, participants who practice MBSR experience enhanced athletic performance and mental clarity.
Even though the study under review lasted only seven weeks, it’s encouraging to see that trait mindfulness could be altered through an intensive mindfulness program and seems sustainable; Zadeh et al’s results indicated improvements in mindfulness proficiency that persisted for up to three months after participating.