Development Zone®

   

PCA Resource Center

Mindfulness Skeptic? Watch A Great Pitcher Or Free-Throw Shooter

Share This Resource

PCA National Advisory Board Member Dacher Keltner is a Psychology Professor and the Director of the Greater Good Science Center (@GreaterGoodSC) at UC-Berkeley. Keltner is most famous in the sports world for his study on NBA teams, when he identified a link between positive, supportive ‘touching’ (such as high-fives) and success on the court. Keltner is also a published author, most recently publishing The Power Paradox.

Keltner says that if you're a mindfulness skeptic, all you need to do is watch a great pitcher, as they practice mindfulness on every pitch. To Keltner, someone shooting a free throw or going through their pitching routine is mindfulness in action: the player takes a deep breath, stills their body, gets into a pattern in order to put themselves into a "mindful state" of focus.

For other resources on mindfulness, click here