A Still Quiet Place for Athletes: Mindfulness Skills for Achieving Peak Performance and Finding Flow in Sports and Life

Description

Find flow and reach peak performance-in sports and in life. Based on the groundbreaking Still Quiet Place mindfulness program, this workbook provides practical, step-by-step exercises and skills to help you gain present-moment awareness and achieve your fitness goals. Are you looking for unique ways to get into the game ? To enhance your training and find focus? You aren't alone. Increasingly, athletes and coaches-from amateur leagues to professional football champs to Olympic athlete -are incorporating mindfulness-based practices into their training. That's because mindfulness can help you lower your stress levels, connect with the moment, and mentally bounce back after setbacks. So whether you're a sports enthusiast or a professional athlete, mindfulness can also help you deal with physical aspects of training, such as fatigue, aches, pains, injury, burnout, and exhaustion. Written by holistic physician, mindfulness coach, and long-time athlete Amy Saltzman, this practical workbook offers mindfulness-based skills you can use any time during a game, as well as in life. You'll discover what the author fondly refers to as the still quiet place, and from the vantage point of that stillness, you'll be able to observe your thoughts, feelings, and physical sensations-both before practice and competition, during a timeout or half time, after a miss or significant loss, or even in casual game settings. You'll also find skills for dealing effectively with teammates and coaches, as well as skills for coaching mindfully. A parents guide is also included.No matter what sport you play, 90 percent of performance is mental. With this workbook as your guide, you can use mindfulness to enhance your training, competitive performance, and even your life beyond athletics.

Amy Saltzman, MD, is a longtime athlete, holistic physician, mindfulness coach, scientist, wife, mother, devoted student of transformation, and occasional poet. Starting in junior high, Amy both participated in and coached gymnastics; in college, she earned a spot as a walk-on varsity gymnast at Stanford. Later she turned to competitive cycling; and she has been a recreational athlete (cycling, running yoga, and snowboarding) for years. She is the parent of two young athletes (one competing at the professional level in cycling, the other played competitive soccer for years). As a mindfulness coach, her passion is supporting people of all ages in enhancing their well-being and discovering A Still Quiet Place within. She is recognized as a visionary and pioneer in the fields of holistic medicine and mindfulness for youth. She is founder and director of the Association for Mindfulness in Education, an inaugural and longstanding member of the steering committee for the Mindfulness in Education Network, and a founding member of the Northern California Advisory Committee on Mindfulness. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and two teenaged children. For more information, visit www.stillquietplace.com.

"A Still Quiet Place for Athletes is an amazing, comprehensive book that covers all the bases and addresses the concerns of athletes, coaches, and parents, for both sports and life. Grounded in research, personal experience, and a lifelong commitment to training and developing athletes of all competitive levels to peak performance and access to 'a still quiet place.'" --George T. Mumford, author of The Mindful Athlete--George T. Mumford "A Still Quiet Place for Athletes is an instructive and interactive tool, tailor-made for athletes at every level of competition. The book offers a wide range of skills related to achieving peak performance--including mindfulness, self-care, how to face challenges, and creating habits of excellence. ... Overall, this book is a great instrument for practitioners and coaches who work with athletes as they pursue excellence in their sport." --Logan Lyons, PhD candidate and sport psychology consultant--Logan Lyons "Amy Saltzman takes the mystery out of mindfulness by introducing easily understood concepts and practical activities that can be immediately applied to any sport. This is a valuable resource for athletes of all levels, as well as coaches who want to help their athletes and teams perform mindfully." --Pete Kirchmer, mPEAK (mindfulness Performance Enhancement Awareness and Knowledge); director of the University of California, San Diego's Center for Mindfulness; mindfulness-based health coach--Pete Kirchmer "Amy Saltzman's A Still Quiet Place for Athletes is a superb introduction to mindfulness and its practical application for athletes and coaches. This compelling, accessible book will help you achieve elite-level performance success!" --Cornelia Cannon Holden, MDiv, team building, leadership development, and sports psychology coach for US Women's Ice Hockey (2006-2010); CEO at Mindful Warrior www.mindfulwarrior.com)--Cornelia Cannon Holden, MDiv "I am energized after reading Amy Saltzman's A Still Quiet Place for Athletes. This unique text fills an important gap in our field, and has the potential to be a wonderful resource for athletes, coaches, and practitioners. The book affords the reader not just the what, but also the how when it comes to achieving peak performance. Specifically, it highlights strategies for readers to seek their own inner 'quiet' through mindfulness, self-care, and the creation of habits of excellence." --Travis Dorsch, PhD, assistant professor of human development and family studies, and founding director of the Utah State University Families in Sport Lab--Travis Dorsch, PhD "In A Still Quiet Place for Athletes, Amy Saltzman gives real strategies and techniques that are not just for athletes, but for coaches, teachers, and parents who see athletics as preparation for life. All I can say is I wish I had this book as a kid growing up in my sports-obsessed childhood." --Tim Ryan, US representative from Ohio and author of A Mindful Nation--Tim Ryan "In every athletic career, there are crucial moments--moments when an athlete's inner voice can make or break her performance. Being mindful and present in these moments is the key to athletic success. And yet athletes, coaches, and parents often overlook how to do just that. This book will become your new guide and will ensure, when your moments come, that you will be ready." --John O'Sullivan, founder of the Changing the Game Project, and author of Changing the Game--John O'Sullivan "In my experience, the path to being your best, in sports and in life, always passes through the Still Quiet Place. Learning how to get there will prepare you for any challenge you might face. If you are ready to put in the same degree of work mentally as you do physically, the steps outlined in this book will help you get to the next level of your game." --Cassidy Lichtman, two-time first-team All-American at Stanford University in volleyball; gold medalist in the Pan American Games, 2015; silver medalist in the Grand Champions Cup, 2013; assistant coach for the 2016 NCAA Champions at Stanford--Cassidy Lichtman "Mindfulness is a practice to pay attention to the here and now. Every athlete and coach knows the value of that. This book helps you get there more habitually." --Dan Quinn, head coach of the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL)--Dan Quinn "Saltzman has written a practical guide for training mindfulness in sport. She provides concrete tools and real-world applications that are easily accessible for competitive athletes at all levels. A Still Quiet Place for Athletes is an outstanding new resource for mental training!" --Kelli Moran-Miller, PhD, licensed psychologist and certified mental performance consultant--Kelli Moran-Miller, PhD