BUDDHISM WAY OF THOUGHT STOPPING TO ENHANCE

PERFORMANCE IN ELITE TENNIS PLAYERS

TANAPORN PANICH

A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF

THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE MASTER DEGREE OF SCIENCE

IN EXERCISE AND SPORT SCIENCE

FACULTY OF SPORT SCIENCE

BURAPHA UNIVERSITY

JUNE 2014

COPYRIGHT OF BURAPHA UNIVERSITY

53910313: MAJOR: SPORT PSYCHOLOGY;

M.S.(EXERCISE AND SPORT SCIENCE)

KEYWORDS: BUDDHISM/THOUGHT STOPPING/ELITE PLAYERS/

PERFORMANCE/ SPORT PSYCHOLOGY

TANAPORN PANICH: BUDDHISM WAY OF THOUGHT STOPPING

TO ENHANCE PERFORMANCE IN ELITE TENNIS PLAYERS. ADVISORY

COMMITTEE: NARUEPON VONGJATURAPAT, Ph.D., SUEBSAI

BOONVEERABUT, Ph.D. 59 P. 2014.

The aims of this study were to examine the effectiveness of a Buddhist

thought stopping program on the inner dialogue of elite tennis players and the

effectiveness of a Buddhist thought stopping program on performance of elite tennis

players. The approach employed mixed methods research, incorporating quasi-

experimental design and qualitative research. The participants were 7 elite tennis

players, age between 13 - 18 years. Purposive sampling was employed primarily

because this study needed participants who were interested in this intervention.

Qualitative research with semi-structure was used to interview the

participants. The framework was to have details of how and which situations that

thought stopping were employed including the perception of types and amount of

thoughts occurring each day. Each participant was interviewed a total of 4 times. The

statistic ANOVA with repeated measure was employed for the quantitative research

in order to measure the result on the intervention effects. The quantitative data of 3

pre-test and 3 post-test of quantitative data were collected by hitting 10 balls of tennis

test. The coach and researcher selected the test for each participant. They had to do

the same test through the whole process for data collection.

The result of quantitative data analysis confirmed the Wilks Lambda value =

0.441, multivariate F-test = 7.591 and p-value was significant at < 0.033. The value

of partial eta2 was 0.559. The result of qualitative data analysis showed that the

participants was able to stop their thoughts and had greater awareness of the occurrence

and the consequences of their thoughts while the quantitative data analysis confirmed

that the intervention significantly improved the performance of the participants.

CONTENTS

Page

ABSTRACT iv

CONTENTS v

LIST OF TABLES... vii

LIST OF FIGURES. viii

CHAPTER

1 INTRODUCTION... 1

Research question........ 6

Aims of the study. 6

Research hypothesis 6

Definition of terms... 7

2 LITERATURE REVIEWS. 8

Thoughts and emotions from cognitive behavior therapy... 9

Process of thought stopping. 11

Meditation and thought stopping in Buddhism... 12

3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 17

Participants........... 17

Measurements.. 17

Statistical analyses....... 19

Procedures....... 19

4 STUDY RESULTS. 23

Qualitative data analysis.. 23

Summarizing data 27

Quantitative data analysis 36

5 CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION 38

Conclusion 38

Discussion 38

Caveats.. 39

Suggestion for future study... 40

CONTENTS (CONTINUED)

Chapter Pages

Suggestion for application 41

REFERENCES. 42

APPENDICES... 51

BIOGRAPHY... 59

LIST OF TABLES

Table Page

1 Participants characteristics. 24

2 Themes, categories and sub-categories of the study 28

LIST OF FIGURES

Figures Page

1 Conceptual framework.. 6

2 International tennis numbers guideline... 18

3 Experimental diagram... 22

4 Results of hypothesis test and multivariate test 37

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

The technique known as thought-stopping is the most common technique

used to summon positive thoughts and neutralize negative ones. It helps athletes to

consciously self-talk so that they can be in a position to undermine negative thoughts

and replace them with more positive ones. This is the same as other psychological

skill training (PST) such as imagery, relaxation, and progressive muscle relaxation

(PMR). Thought stopping is not difficult per se but it needs to be practiced regularly

and frequently to enhance its efficacy.

Jones, Hanton and Connaughton (2002, p. 205) stated Mental toughness

is probably one of the most used but least understood terms in applied sport

psychology. Mental toughness defines athletes who have the natural or developed

psychological edge that enables them to generally cope better than their opponents

with the many demands from competition, training, and life style that sport places

upon them. Specifically to be more determined, focused, confident, and in control

under pressure on a more consistent basis than your opponent. This research also

recognized the need for clarification of mental toughness and attempted to define and

identify the attributes of mental toughness as perceived by ten elite sports performers.

This empirical study resulted in a definition of mental toughness and the identification

of 12 attributes of a mentally tough performer. These attributes can be natural or

developed and are presented as follows in their rank order of importance:

1. Having an unshakable self-belief in ones ability to achieve goals.

2. Bouncing back from performance setbacks and recovering to strive

forward with an increased determination to succeed.

3. Possessing an unshakable self-belief that one has qualities and abilities

greater than ones opponents.

4. Having a burning desire and internal motivation to succeed.

5. Staying fully on task despite distractions from the competition.

6. Regaining psychological control following unexpected events.

7. Overcoming physical and emotional pain while maintaining technique

and effort.

8. Accepting and coping with competition anxiety.

9. Thriving on the pressure of competition.

10. Not being adversely affected by others good and bad performances.

11. Remaining fully focused in the face of personal life distractions.

12. The ability to switch a sport focus on and off.

Jones et al. (2002, pp. 205-218)

Athletes also struggles emotionally when confronted with adverse

circumstances or even with harmless circumstances that they may perceive as adverse.

Anxiety is a human emotion that has material influence on performance and therefore

continues to be one of the main research interests for sport psychologists. Anxiety

has consistently been viewed as an emotion characterized by the negative impairment

of motor performance (Eysenck, 1996). The components of anxiety, and its predicted

effects on human behavior, have been extensively investigated in the human sciences

over the last six decades (Hackfort & Schwenkmezger, 1993; Zaichkowsky &

Baltzell, 2001). Anxiety consists of three independent but interacting components:

somatic (emotionality), cognitive (worry), and behavioral (Davidson & Schwartz,

1976). Somatic anxiety is the physical manifestation of anxiety and includes the

bodily symptoms of autonomic reactivity (e.g., pounding heart, increased perspiration,

rapid shallow breathing, and increased muscle tension). Cognitive anxiety, on the

other hand, can be described as negative expectations and cognitive concerns about

oneself, the situation at hand and potential consequences (Morris, Davis, &

Hutchings, 1981, p. 54). Finally, the behavioral component refers to aspects such as

facial expressions, communication patterns, and restlessness (Gould, Greenleaf, &

Krane, 2002). The relationship between the behavioral component of anxiety and

performance is unclear. It has been suggested that cognitive anxiety might influence

all forms of athletic performance, whereas somatic anxiety tends to disrupt fine motor

skill more than gross motor activities (Lavallee, Kremer, Moran, & Williams, 2004).

Hackfort and Schwenkmezger (1993) described that anxiety is considered as

an emotion. More contemporary examinations of this emotion, however, have shifted

from finding the perfect definition to exploring the potential dimensions, categories,

and components of anxiety (Vallerand & Blanchard, 2000) that could be distinguished

among its defining characteristics, antecedents, and outcomes (Crocker, Kowalski,

Graham, & Kowalski, 2002). Most competitive tennis players have felt feelings of

nervousness or anxiety at some point, and many have left the court feeling they

choked. Even the top players in the world admit to being anxious at times when the

pressure is great, but they usually have developed coping strategies to deal with their

anxiety. In the context of sport performance, factors that might affect an athletes

behavior are important for regulating and predicting his or her level of performance

(Jones & Hardy, 1990). Sport performance, thoughts, and feelings all impact upon

one another (Zaichkowsky, 2005).

Thoughts can be both positive and negative. While positive thoughts can

make people feel happy about their situations and themselves, negative thoughts can

generate many bad feelings such as stress, anxiety, self-doubt, etc. Therefore, it is

very important to stop those negative thoughts before they create an unhealthy loop in

the mind.

Mindfulness is defined as a mental state resulting from voluntarily focusing

ones attention on ones present experience in its sensorial, mental, cognitive and

emotional aspects, in a non-judgmental way.(Cottraux, 2007). Brown and Ryan

(2003) have shown that mindfulness is an alternative form of awareness and focus,

which could be considered as another aspect to enhance well-being. Mindfulness has

its roots in Eastern meditation, and the practice helps to direct focus to the present

experience on a moment-to-moment basis (Marlatt & Kristeller, 1999). Hence, there

are several approaches such as Mindfulness-Acceptance-Commitment (MAC) that

apply to Eastern concepts to enhance the performance among athletes, and to increase

theeffectiveness ofperformance enhancement (Gardner & Moore, 2004; Bernier,

Thienot, Codron & Fournier, 2009).

In Buddhism, breathing control and meditation have been practiced for over

2,500 years as stated in Visuddhimagga Anapanasati and disengagement from

thoughts are components of this spiritual tradition. Emotions and behaviors are the

consequences of ones thoughts toward any given situation and so we can intuitively

appreciate that the sooner one is able to stop unwanted or negative thoughts, the

greater is the likelihood that favorable moods and productive behaviors can take

command. If those negative thoughts run through the mind, over and over, it will be

very difficult to stop or suppress them.

Vipassana meditation is a traditional Buddhist practice that involves

focusing on present-moment sensory awareness within a calm and non-reactive

mental state. This tradition has served as the foundation for the development of

contemporary mindfulness meditation techniques that are being used clinically

(Davidson, 2003). A focus on the present helps the practitioner to become aware of

his/her thoughts. When the natural dynamics of our thinking unfold, one can be

forgiven for assuming that the thoughts arose of their own accord, with little or no

apparent prompting or direction. It is indeed difficult to find where ones thoughts

originate and it may seem that the thoughts are thoroughly beyond ones control and

that consequently there is no choice about the kinds of things that drift across the

mind. For most people, most of the time, that might be true. The Buddhism

disengagement is mentioned in Vitakkasanthana - Sutta: the removal of distracting

thoughts. One of the first insights of meditation practice (Vipassana) is the

recognition that the mind has a mind of its own. But the teachings of the Buddha tell

us that it need not be this way (Soma, 2000). While breathing in and out, one has to

be aware of how thoughts happen. The more awareness one has, the greater the

capacity to detect any number of thoughts at any given moment. Throughout the

meditative process, one should strive to maintain awareness and in turn better position

oneself to stop negative thoughts before they gather momentum.

Thought-stopping in the Buddhist tradition has four steps. They are:

1. Meditation by focus upon breathing in and out or body, in order to be

calm and stabilize the mind to develop concentration.

2. Awareness will be created after the mind is calm and concentrated.

3. Detect the thoughts that come through.

4. Stop all those thoughts and shift the focus back to breathing or body.

Tennis is an open-skill sport but is considered to be nonaggressive since a

net physically separates the players from each other. That said, material

psychological pressure can occur during a match. When players are in those

situations, all kinds of negative thoughts, including self-doubt, start and ultimately

cloud their minds. Rafael Nadal, the current no. 1 in the world (as of 14 October

2013), has won 60 ATP tournaments including 13 grand slam titles. Nadal wrote in

his autobiography that tennis is a sport of the mind and that it can cause a tennis

player tremendous pressure. Nadal and Carlin (2011, p. 14) wrote in the biography

that; You might think that after the millions and millions of balls Ive hit, Id have

the basic shots of tennis sown up, that reliably hitting a true, smooth, clean shot every

time would be a piece of cake. But it isnt. Not just because every day you wake up

feeling differently, but because every shot is different; every single oneTennis is,

more than most sports, a sport of the mind; it is the player who has those good

sensations on the most days, who manages to isolate himself best from his fears and

from the ups and downs in morale a match inevitably brings, who ends up being

world number one.

Novak Djokovic, currently ranked No. 2 in the world (as of 14 October

2013), commented in an interview at the US Open on 24 August 2013 about the

challenge of competing with other top 10 ATP players and said You can't always

expect somebody to be at the highest level. You know, it's normal to go up and down.

That's why this sport is so, in the end, very demanding, you know, physically,

mentally, emotionally. In any way you turn it around, the sport is actually asking

from a tennis player everything, you know, all the commitment possible from every

aspect

In tennis, psychological factors are important in determining the outcome

of a match. These psychological factors can be state-specific for the competition.

Tennis-related psychological differences have been found between players with

different skill levels.

As mentioned above, sport performance, thoughts and feelings all interact

with one another, during competitions and even during practices. Negative thoughts

such as self-doubt, self-disbelief, and anxiety will occur and can be the main obstacle

to success.

For elite tennis players, to stop all thoughts and only focus on breathing may

not be practical or effective enough to enhance their performance. Therefore, this

study will employ the Buddhist technique of thought stopping, not only to arrest the

unwanted interference of self-doubt and lost focus, but also to quickly exchange those

negative states of mind with any self-talk or cue words that help them to enhance their

performances.

Research question

The Buddhism way of thought stopping should create the awareness on the

inner dialogue of elite tennis players.

Aims of the study

In order to understand the effective and consequences of Buddhism way of

thought stopping on performance of elite tennis players, therefore, the aims of this

study are:

1. To examine the effectiveness of a Buddhism way of thought stopping

program on the inner dialogue of elite tennis players.

2. To examine the effectiveness of a Buddhism way of thought stopping

program on performance of elite tennis players.

Research hypothesis

The Buddhism way of thought stopping program should enhance the

performance of elite tennis players in a longitudinal context (pre- and post-test).

Dependent variable

Independent variable

Figure 1 Conceptual framework

Definition of terms

Thought

stopping

Tennis

performance

Buddhism way of

thought stopping

program

Buddhism way of thought stopping refers to a practice in the Buddhist

tradition (awareness, detection and cessation of unwanted thoughts) where one

alternatingly shifts between attentive breathing or tension of the body and

employment of the 5 techniques (replacement, reflection, redirecting, reconstructing

and resistance) from Vitakkasanthana-Sutta- the removal of distracting thoughts

(Soma, 2000).

Performance refers to the accuracy with which participants hit the balls to

designated targets as per Broer-Miller Tennis Test (International Tennis Federation,

2004).

Tennis test refers to the drill that the coach and researchers will set for each

participant. Those drills may differ from one another. Each tennis test consists of 10

balls.

CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEWS

Thought stopping is one of the techniques that was developed to implicate as

a etiological and/ or maintaining factor in depression, generalized anxiety disorder,

specific phobia, post-traumatic stress disorder and obsessive & compulsive disorder

(Purdon, 1999). It has been used to correct self-defeating thoughts too. Thought

stopping is also called thought suppression, thought control or thought switching.

Thoughts can play tricks on the mind because the more one wants to eliminate certain

unpleasant or inopportune and intrusive thoughts, the more frequently and intensely

they come to mind. Krull (2009) stated that the thought stopping technique is a way

to interrupt such racing thought patterns. Trying to stop the thoughts requires a re-

training of the brain to interrupt the seemingly unending cycle of racing thoughts that

are fuelling negative emotions. The objective of thought stopping is to stop thinking

of negative or unwanted thoughts right away and replace or switch your thoughts to

something healthier at once.

Thought stopping is usually used in clinical psychology as a process to help

the patients who suffered from psychological diseases such as anxiety disorder, eating

disorder, and insomnia. It is also used for pain management as well as the reduction

of depression and stress among patients who suffered from cancer and chemotherapy

(Castello, 2006). Wegners investigation of the effects of thought suppression have

had significant impact on recent approaches to understanding emotional disorders

characterized by the occurrence of persistent, repetitive, and unwanted thoughts

(Purdon, 1999).

Psychological factors are important in shaping the outcome of tennis

competitions and elite tennis players are to have mental toughness in order to achieve

their goals. These psychological factors are:

1. Psychological foundation that consists of general psychological variables

such as personality, motivation and philosophy, which may affect players during the

game by influencing their state of mind, skills and strategies.

2. Moods and emotion: the effect of different mood states before

competition has been investigated. Based on the assumption that a more positive

mood should result in a lower score, weve assessed and analyzed the impact of

different mood states before competitions.

3. Psychological state skills and strategies are comprised of:

3.1 Optimal performance: skilled tennis players consider psychological

state, skills and strategies as being critical to achieving high performance.

3.2 Coping: adversity coping skills and strategies are important in

minimizing poor execution. Factors associated with poor performance were trying

too hard, speeding up of general play, changing routines and negative thoughts.

4. The physiological response to stress, or arousal, is conceptualized as an

individuals psychological and physiological autonomic system activation varying on

a continuum from deep sleep to extreme excitement (Gould & Krane, 1992).

Thoughts and emotions from cognitive behavior therapy (CBT)

Cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) is based on the concept that emotions and

behaviors result (primarily, though not exclusively) from cognitive processes; and that

it is possible for human beings to modify such processes to achieve different ways of

feeling and behaving. There are a number of cognitive-behavioral therapies, which,

although developed separately, have many similarities.

CBT is not just a set of techniques it also contains comprehensive theories

of human behaviour. CBT proposes a biopsychosocial explanation for how human

beings come to feel and act as they do i.e. that a combination of biological,

psychological, and social factors are involved. The most basic premise is that almost

all human emotions and behaviors are the result of what people think, assume or

believe (about themselves, other people, and the world in general). It is what people

believe about situations they face not the situations themselves that determines

how they feel and behave.

Seven inferential distortions

It was written by Froggatt (2006) and has been summarized by Aaron Beck

et al. that in everyday life, events and circumstances trigger two levels of thinking:

inferring and evaluating. At the first level, we make guesses or inferences about what

is going on what we think has happened, is happening, or will be happening.

Inferences are statements of fact (or at least what we think are the facts they can

be true or false). Inferences that are irrational usually consist of distortions of reality

like the following:

1. Black and white thinking: seeing things in extremes, with no middle

ground - good or bad, perfect versus useless, success or failure, right against wrong,

moral versus immoral, and so on. Also known as all-or-nothing thinking.

2. Filtering: seeing all that is wrong with oneself or the world, while

ignoring any positives.

3. Over-generalization: building up one thing about oneself or ones

circumstances and ending up thinking that it represents the whole situation. For

example: Everythings going wrong, Because I lose this match, Im a total failure.

Or, similarly, believing that something which has happened once or twice is

happening all the time or that it will be a never-ending pattern: Ill always be a

failure, No-one will ever want to love me and the like.

4. Mind-reading: making guesses about what other people are thinking,

such as: She ignored me on purpose, or Hes mad with me.

5. Fortune-telling: treating beliefs about the future as though they were

actual realities rather than mere predictions, for example: Ill never beat this tennis

player, Things can only get worse.

6. Emotional reasoning: thinking that because we feel a certain way, this is

how it really is: I feel like a failure, so I must be one, If Im angry, you must have

done something to make me so, and the like.

7. Personalizing: assuming, without evidence, that one is responsible for

things that happen: I caused the team to fail, It must have been me that made her

feel bad, and so on.

Fox (2010) wrote in his book that tennis is more difficult mentally than most

other sports. Because of its one-on-one personal nature, it feels more important than it

is. Competitive matches can become highly stressful, and losing is painful. Emotions

tend to get out of hand, with fears and nerves becoming difficult to control.

Confidence comes and goes; the scoring system is diabolical; and everyone is at risk

of choking, even the greatest players in the world. For athletes in competition and a

state of anxiety, such habitual or autonomic thoughts can trigger negative, self-

defeating thought patterns.

Process of thought stopping

As per Kennard (2006), the two most important steps of thought stopping

are as follows:

Step 1 Stopping of the thoughts

Picture a large STOP sign

Hear STOP! literally or figuratively whenever a negative or unhealthy

thought arises.

Count backwards from 100.

Recite a poem.

Clear the mind of all unnecessary and unhealthy thoughts that create

stress and then introduce cues for acting out in healthy ways.

Sing a song in your head.

Gently snap an elastic band on the wrist and say STOP.

Step 2 Keep the thoughts away

Read a book, as long as it keeps your attention.

Do a household chore that requires concentration.

Listen to a relaxation tape.

Do crafts or hobby work.

Break an obsessive, unhealthy thought pattern by substituting a healthy

thought pattern.

Replace a negative or unhealthy image with a positive visual image.

Replace one thought for another, i.e., the thought of eating is replaced by

the thought of exercising.

Substituting a healthy thought pattern. This will be used for the people

who have tendency to think irrationally due to irrational beliefs.

Meditation and thought stopping in Buddhism

Buddhism, one of the worlds oldest religions, and psychology, one of the

newest humanistic sciences, are both dedicated to the rigorous pursuit of human

understanding. Both disciplines engage scholars whose primary goal is to pursue the

deepest possible knowledge about the human capacity for growth and self-knowledge,

as well as the transformation of human behavior and functioning. Buddhism shares

with psychology an almost infinite faith in the inherent possibilities within human

beings to transcend historical and immediate experience in order to fully actualize

human potential. Moreover, psychology and Buddhism both espouse a rigorous

humanistic epistemology rooted in the ideal of empowerment through the exercise of

reason, intentional action, and learning about the human condition through a

scrupulous empiricism (Dockett, Dudley-Grant & Bankart, 2004).

Breathing control in meditation to create Samadhi or Samata is practiced

in parallel with Vipassana, the spiritual modality by which one engages in thought

stopping. Vipassana creates awareness, mindfulness, or Sati that is inherently

powerful, and attention, which is focused awareness and more powerful still. Siegel,

Germer and Olendzki (2009) wrote in his book that another aspect of mindfulness is

remembering. This does not refer to memory of past events. Rather, it means

remembering to be aware and pay attention, highlighting the importance of attentionin

mindfulness practice. Each moment we remind ourselves: Remember - be aware!

These will be mainly used to detect all thoughts that might occur in the mind. To

calm the mind means to find the right balance. Normally the mind is not still, it is

moving all the time, and it lacks strength. Making the mind strong and making the

body strong is not the same. To make the body strong we have to exercise it, to push

it, in order to make it strong, but to make the mind strong means to make it peaceful,

not to go thinking of this and that. For most people, the mind has never been

peaceful, it has never had the energy to achieve Samadhi. By meditating, an

individual follows the flow of his breath without getting overly concerned about how

long, short, weak, or strong the breath is. Rather, one wants to simply follow breath

and allow for its natural flow.

Process of Buddhist thought stopping

After the awareness has been created through breathing, the next process is

to detect the thoughts. If it comes to ones attention that thoughts are processed and

may turn ones attention away from breathing, one must come back to a focus on

inhaling, exhaling and counting the breath. At first, the mind will be very busy, and it

may even feel that meditation is making the mind busier; but in reality it is just

becoming more aware of how busy the mind actually is. There will be a great

temptation to follow the different thoughts as they arise. This is the most important

stage to resist such a temptation and remain focused on the sensation of the breath. If

discovered that the mind has wandered and is once again following thoughts, then it

has to stop immediately and start counting from the beginning again. It can be

repeated as many times as necessary until the mind settles upon breathing and is able

to stop thoughts as they emerge. All these processes will create awareness of

anything that may arise in the mind and enable the practitioner to achieve a sense of

inner peace and relaxation. The mind will feel lucid and refreshed.

In summary, the Buddhist practice of thought stopping is comprised of the

following steps:

1. Meditation by focus upon breathing in and out or body, in order to be

calm and stabilize the mind and thereby develop concentration.

2. Awareness will be created after the mind is calm and concentrated.

3. Detect the thoughts that come through.

4. Stop all those thoughts and shift the focus back to breathing or body.

The removal of distracting thoughts (Vitakkasanthana-Sutta)

Thought stopping was taught by Buddha as one of the techniques or tools in

order to achieve Nirvana. It was in the Vitakkasanthana Sutta (Nikya, 2000) that the

Buddha concisely outlines a discipline for the more conscious management of our

thinking. Even experienced practitioners of Vipassana who are schooled in the

techniques of non-judgmental awareness may be surprised to learn of this teaching of

the Buddha.

It is thought that is not conducive to liberation but rather promotes suffering.

Unwholesome thoughts may be recognized by certain telltale traits. Specifically, they

are connected to desire, hatred, or delusion. Thoughts associated with desire are

predicated on pleasant experiences and our greedy appetite for pleasure. Thoughts of

hatred arise out of aversion and our desire to avoid unpleasant experiences. Deluded

thoughts are thoughts that are at odds with reality and result from our failure to see

ourselves and the world as they really are. It requires skill, of course, to recognize

those thoughts, and the development of this skill requires practice and alertness.

Given time and diligence, we begin to realize when our thoughts are associated with

desire, aversion, and delusion. Once they have been recognized, they can be

disempowered.

The Buddha's five techniques for relaxing unwholesome thoughts proceeds

in a step-by-step manner. Those techniques are:

1. Replacement - perhaps the easiest means for ridding ourselves of

problematic thoughts once identified.

2. Reflection - contemplating the consequences of an unwholesome thought.

For example, one might ponder the effects of holding an unwise notion.

3. Redirecting - shifting attention away from a negative thought to

something more wholesome. To clarify this technique, the Buddha uses the metaphor

of averting one's gaze to avoid seeing certain objects.

4. Reconstructing - analyzing the formation of the unwholesome thought.

In the second method, reflecting on results, we pursue the forward trajectory of such a

thought. With reconstructing, we move in the other direction, examining the

antecedents that have given rise to an unwholesome notion in the first place.

5. Resistance - resisting the "evil mind" by means of the "good mind".

The Buddha advises the yogi to clench her teeth and press her tongue against the roof

of her mouth as she "beats down, constrains, and crushes mind with mind. The

Buddha compares this method to the way a stronger man might subdue and control a

weaker one, literally seizing him by the head and shoulders.

When the mind has been distracted by thought, we simply return attention

back to the breath. Once again, the practice of meditation strengthens the ability to

employ this technique. Redirecting attention relies on the fundamental impermanence

of reality to achieve success. If we can simply divert attention to more wholesome

objects, the distracting thought, given its impermanent nature, will dissolve of its own

accord (Soma, 2000; Dockett, Dudley-Grant, Bankart, 2004).

As the thought stopping is to re-train the brain to interrupt the seemingly un-

ending cycle of racing thoughts patterns (Krull, 2009), there will be certain effects

such as the rebound of the thoughts. In the study that initiated research in this area,

Professor Daniel Wegner and colleagues investigated the effects of thought

suppression (Wegner, Schneider, Carter III & White, 1987). Wegner et al. (1987, pp.

5-13) explained that;

Participants were asked to try not to think about a white bear for 5 minutes,

then for the next 5 minutes asked to think about a white bear. Throughout the

experiment participants verbalized whatever thoughts they were having and, each

time they thought of a white bear, rang a bell.Participants who first tried to suppress

their thoughts rang the bell almost twice as often as participants in a control group. It

appeared that the act of first trying to suppress a thought made it fight back even the

stronger..

This effect has subsequently been repeated by other researchers using

different types of experiments and appears to be relatively robust (Wenzlaff &

Wegner, 2000). The result of this study has been designated as the post-suppression

rebound effect and may well be crucial to many aspects of our everyday experience.

World Health Organization [WHO] (2013) identifies adolescence as the

period in human growth and development that occurs after childhood and before

adulthood, from ages 10 to 19. It represents one of the critical transitions in the life

span and is characterized by a tremendous pace in growth and change that is second

only to that of infancy. Biological processes drive many aspects of this growth and

development, with the onset of puberty marking the passage from childhood to

adolescence. The ages of participants in this study are between 13 18 years old, and

so in order to teach them to understand and be able to stop unwanted thoughts, it has

to be practiced regularly and frequently. Gordon, Staples, Blyta and Bytyqi (2004,

pp. 143-147) used mind-body techniques in adolescents (age 12-19 years) to

decrease posttraumatic stress symptoms in 6-week program that included meditation,

biofeedback, drawings, autogenic training, guided imagery, genograms, movement,

and breathing techniques.. Tandon, Mendelson and Mance (2011) studied the

acceptability and preliminary outcome from an open trial of a depression prevention

intervention for low-income African American adolescents (ages 16-24 years) in a 9-

http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.53.1.5http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10751965http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10751965

week intervention incorporating cognitive-behavioral therapy and a focus on coping

with stressful and traumatic events. Later, Ruiz-Aranda, Salguero, Cabello, Palomera

and Berrocal, (2012) studied the effects on a group of Spanish adolescents (13-16

years) of an emotional intelligence (EI) education program by conducting an

intervention program over 10 weeks, for one hour per week. Singh, Lancioni, Singh,

Winton, Sabaawi, Wahler et al. (2007) studied adolescents (aged 13-16 years old)

who had been diagnosed with conduct disorders, including aggressive and disruptive

behavioral patterns, by using mindfulness-based interventions 15 minutes a day, three

times a week, for 4 weeks.

The therapeutic community (TC) is an intensive and comprehensive

treatment model developed for use with adults that has been modified successfully to

treat adolescents with substance use disorders. TCs was for the treatment of addiction

originated in 1958. The first TC for substance users (Synanon) was founded in

California by Chuck Dederich, who wanted to provide a controlled (substance-free)

environment in which alcohol and substance users could rebuild their lives, using the

principles of AA along with a social learning model (De Leon, Incardi & Martin,

1995). The core goal of TCs has always been to promote a more holistic lifestyle and

to identify areas for change such as negative personal behaviors, psychological, and

emotional that can lead to substance use. Residents make these changes by learning

from fellow residents, staff members, and other figures of authority. This intervention

was a group dynamic training so that they had chances to share their experiences and

thoughts. Therefore, in this study, the participants will be trained every other day for 5

times and then have a 3 day break. Then they will be re-treated at least twice every

other day to measure the retention of this intervention.

CHAPTER 3

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The approach employed mixed methods research, incorporating quasi-

experimental design and qualitative research.

Participants

The participants in this study were 7 elite tennis players who still competed

at both national and international levels. The ages were between 13 18 years.

Purposive sampling was employed primarily because this study needed participants

who were interested in this intervention. These elite tennis players had direct

experiences in competition and understood the psychological factors that caused them

not to perform well, such as stress, anxiety, negative thoughts, choking.

The purposes of this research were explained to the participants and

informed consent was obtained, this ensured that rights of participants were protected

in the study. The protocol of the experiment was approved by the Ethics Committee

of the research institute and they had the right to drop out from this study anytime.

Measurements

In any given drill, participants were asked to hit 10 balls successively to a

specific target as per the coachs directions. Drills were determined by the coach in

cooperation with the researcher. Those drills differed across participants but each

participant was required to perform the same drill (assigned at the outset) throughout

the experiment. Each test consisted of 10 balls. The accuracy of each ball was

collected as the data. It was to be compared within the subject. The pre-test data of

each participant was to be collected 3 times while the post-test data was to be

collected 3 times. The points were given as per ITN (International Tennis Number)

that was one of the players development of ITF (International Tennis Federation).

Figure 2 International tennis numbers guideline

Accuracy points are awarded as follows:

1 Point - When a ball lands anywhere in the service box area.

2 Points - When a ball lands in the front section of the back court area.

3 Points - When a ball lands in the middle section of the back court area.

4 Points - When a ball lands in the last section of the back court area.

Power points are awarded as follows:

Power area = 1 Bonus point - When a ball lands anywhere within the

singles court area and the second bounce lands between the baseline and Bonus line,

1 Bonus point is awarded.

Power area = Double points - When a ball lands anywhere within the

singles court area and the second bounce lands beyond the Bonus line, double points

are awarded.

0 Points - When a balls first bounce lands anywhere outside the normal

singles playing area.

Examples: 5 points are awarded when the first bounce lands in the 4 Point

Area and the second bounce lands beyond the baseline. 8 points are awarded when

the first bounce lands in the 4 Point Area and the second bounce lands beyond the

Bonus line.

The researcher interviewed the participants after they had finished practicing

by using the qualitative research with semi-structure. The framework of this

interview was to have details of how and which situations that thought stopping were

employed including the perception of types and amount of thoughts occurring each

day.

Statistical analyses

Qualitative research, content analysis with semi-structure was used in order

to describe and explained the effectiveness of thought stopping. Including how and

when the participants employed those thought stopping. Each participant was

interviewed a total of 4 times. The statistic ANOVA with repeated measure was

employed for the quantitative research in order to measure the result on the

intervention effects. The confidence interval was at 95% and statistical significance

was set at p < 0.05.

The data triangulation was based on the interview of each participant,

coachs comments and observation of the researcher.

Procedures

The participants were trained every other data according to the following

schedule:-

The data of 3 pre-tests was collected as per the tennis tests, consisting of

10 balls, which were set up by the coach and researcher in order to measure each

participants accuracy in hitting to the specific targets. The coach and researcher

discussed and selected the test for each participant. They had to do the same test

through the whole process for data collection.

Phase 1

The participants were educated about the linkages across thoughts, emotions

and performance. They also received an explanation of the core reasons why it was

so important to stop unwanted, negative, self-defeating thoughts.

Phase 2

1st Step: Each participant started with 10 sets of inhalation and exhalation.

Each inhale and exhale ran on a six count. That was followed with a second 10 set

round, breathing, inhaling and exhaling frequently. Those 2 sets were repeated until

the body and mind felt calm. Each set had to be equal. This training was intended to

reduce distractions and make the mind more clear and lucid so that the breath became

a natural flow. This stage took 10-15 minutes.

2nd

Step: Breathe normally, preferably through the nostrils, without

attempting to control the breath. Faithfully, maintained a count of the inhales and

exhales. After the participants became calm, they were asked to shift their focus by

trying to be aware of thoughts that would distract their attention, all the while keeping

a breath count. It would be important that the participants had to try to detect

thoughts as soon as they occurred. This exercise required a determined effort and

attention to every thought that entered their minds. As soon as they saw any negative

thought enter, they had to immediately discard it and refuse to follow it. As

emphasized several times in this phase, the longer the thoughts were let through the

athletes minds, the more difficult it became to stop them. Therefore, it was best to

catch them as soon as possible.

The other technique was to teach the participants to stretch their bodies and

focus upon any tension from those parts of the body being stretched. They would do

this while counting 1 - 10, then switch to the other side, repeating the stretch for 2 - 3

minutes until the mind was calm and then they could begin detecting thoughts. This

technique might be easier for someone who never practiced breathing or it could be

employed when engaged in competition. The reason for applying stretching

techniques instead of walking mediation because it was to stretch joints and ligaments

and also more practical for participants.

These techniques could be practiced anywhere, anytime and in any position.

The participants would be asked to practice at least 20 - 30 minutes per day. The

follow-up interview would be done by the researcher once a week, individually. It

would take 4 - 5 weeks before participants could understand and be able to stop their

thoughts.

Phase 3

At this stage, the participants were able to detect thoughts, identify those that

were unwanted, and immediately replace those thoughts with desirable ones such as

instructional self-talk, motivational self-talk or self-selected cue words. There were

as many cue words as the participants wanted.

There were 2 steps that were employed in order to stop the thoughts:

1. Saying stop silently to oneself. Rapidly replacing those thoughts with

cue words.

2. If the unwanted thoughts are not stopped, the participants might employ

the stretching techniques, focused on the tension of the body until they were able to

stop the unwanted thoughts, and then rapidly replace them with cue words.

Phase 4

The participants were trained to differentiate thoughts into 3 types: positive,

negative, and neutral. As soon as the thoughts were detected, they had to be stopped

and be replaced at once by self-talk or positive cue words. The cue to stop and

replace were initiated by each participant.

Tennis test

These drills, consisting of 10 balls, were set up by the coach and researcher

in order to measure the accuracy of hitting to the specific targets set for each

participant. The coach and researcher discussed and selected the drill for each

participant. Additionally, each participant had to do the same drill assigned at the

outset through the whole process for data collection. At the end of data collection, the

participants were interviewed by the researcher as per the interview protocol.

Phase 5 & 6

This phase repeated the preceding four phases in order to reconfirm the

remaining intervention.

Tennis tests The same drills and method for collecting data were applied.

At the end of data collection, the participants were interviewed by the

researcher as per the interview protocol.

Abbreviation

- Qt 10 refers to tennis test of 10 balls

- P refers to pre-test

- B refers to baseline

- In refers to intervention

- Po refers to post-test

- QL refers to qualitative study, thought stopping

Figure 3 Experimental diagram

P1

Qt

10

P2 P3

Qt

10

Qt

10

QL

3

Qt

10 In1 In3 In4 In2

Po2 Po3

QL

2

Qt

10

B1 B4 B2 B3 Po1

Qt

10

QL

1

CHAPTER 4

STUDY RESULTS

This study employed a mixed method research. The aims of this study were

to examine the effectiveness of using the Buddhism way of thought stopping program

on elite tennis players by employing qualitative research. The effectiveness of the

program on the performance of elite tennis players was measured by employing

quantitative research with quasi-experimental design.

The data was divided into 2 categories which were qualitative data acquired

from interview and observation and quantitative data collected from the pre and post-

tennis tests of the participants.

Qualitative data analysis

The data was analyzed and structured as follows:

1. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and all records were saved on

computer using the Microsoft Word program in order to arrange the script of the

interview or conversation of each participant. Those transcripts were read several

times to get a sense of the whole.

2. The scripts were decoded and analyzed in order to summarize and

interpret the findings by looking at relationships among the ways themes co-occur

within participants accounts, or looked for patterns in the types of features raised by

those with unique roles, and gather together insights which might contribute most

effectively to the research focus.

3. The categories underwent content and definition changes as units and

incidents were compared and classified, and as understandings of the properties of

categories and the relationships between categories were developed and refined over

the course of the analytical process. (Lincoln & Guba, 1985, pp. 334-341).

4. Triangulation was employed to facilitate validation of data through cross

verification from three sources; the interview of each participants, coachs comments

and observation of researcher (Lincoln & Guba, 1985, p. 76).

The data analysis is presented as follows:

Table 1 Participants characteristics

Pseudonym Age Gender Years of

playing tennis

Achievements

Ae 17 Male 3 60th

Age Group

Nong 16 Female 10 10th

Age Group

Cee 16 Male 11 23th Age Group

Pete 15 Male 4 10th

Age Group (Single)

2nd

Age Group (Double)

New 14 Male 6 15th

Age Group

Jay 13 Male 5 Represented his school in USA

Bee 13 Male 3 80th

Age Group

Profiles of participants

1. Ae

Ae had played tennis for 4 years and he had one elder brother. His goal was

to enter university in an athlete quota and competed as high as he could. He had

never practiced any psychological skills. Since Ae started playing tennis later than

the other participants he tried harder, especially at playing skills. He stayed within

himself well, and was able to observe his thoughts but did not know how to manage

them. When he made unforced errors, whether during practice or competition, he

usually became frustrated or irritated. Before competition, he had sleeping problems

that affected his nerve during competition. If he lost the first set, he never came back

to win any match. He wantedto have more focus during a game and not feel too

frustrated.

2. Nong

Nong had played tennis for 10 years. She was the youngest in the family

and had one brother who was older than her by almost 10 years. Her goal was to be

the champion in her age group and represent her country, which at age 13 - 14 she

succeeded in her age group. When she was 15 years old, she had to step up the age

group, there was one incident where she lost to a younger opponent in 3 sets in spite

of leading her in the super tie-break 9-1 and she lost 11-9. That broke her confidence

any time she played a younger opponent. Nong practiced one mental tennis skill

which was to adjust the strings, turn the back to the opponent for a few seconds or

take a deep breath. From the pre-interview she said she was distracted easily by her

thoughts, sometimes not being able to focus.

3. Cee

Cee had played tennis for 11 years. He was an only child. His goal was to

enter the university in an athlete quota. He had experienced meditation and practiced

a mental tennis skills including adjusting the strings, turn the back to the opponent for

a few seconds or take a deep breath. When Cee made unforced errors, he would shift

into hurry mode. He wanted to improve his focus during the competition. From the

pre-interview, it was discovered that his parents had taught him to be responsible at

home such as cleaning dishes or helping his mother doing work at home.

4. Pete

Pete had played tennis for 4 years. He was the youngest, he had one sister.

His family lived in the south of Thailand and this was the first time that he had been

away from his family and stayed at the Tennis Academy. This was the biggest change

in his life in both school and social circumstances. Petes goal was to be a

professional player. From the interview he seemed to be quiet, not showing his

emotions much and sometimes not be able to focus. He was 12th

ranking in the 16

age group. He told that he was slow and sluggard and he wanted to improve but

unable to explain what he meant. Finally, he told that it was his fathers idea. From

the observation, his father was always by the court side and watched his son all the

times.

5. New

New had played tennis for 6 years. He was the youngest in the family. He

had one sister; his family lived about 200 km. from Bangkok. This was the first time

that he had to be away from his family and stayed alone at a Tennis Academy. This

was the biggest change of his life. His goal was to be a national player. When he

played bad or made unforced errors, he was usually frustrated and lost focus. He

practiced mental tennis skills, which included adjusting the strings, turning his back

on the opponent for a few second or taking a deep breath. From the interview, New

could not detect his thoughts but instead he was able to recognize the changes of his

body when stressed, such as the changes in his breathing.

6. Jay

Jay had played tennis for 5 years, he and his family had moved to USA for 2

years. Jay was an only child. His goal was to be a professional player. He practiced

at a tennis club in the USA at the end of semester; Jay would come back to Thailand

for more practice and competition. From the interview, Jay never practiced any

psychological skills. He was able to observe within himself clearly. He had a

problem with frustration and focus especially when a competition was close.

7. Bee

Bee had played tennis for 3 years. He was an only child. His goal was to

compete as high as he could. Bee wanted to have more focus during competition.

From the interview he stated that he was methodical and intentional. When he did not

perform as he expected, he was upset or sometimes even cried. He was able to

observe his thoughts well.

In order to understand the context of this research, it was important to

present all necessary circumstances such as upbringing, social status or education as

holistic. There were 2 environments involved as follows:

1. Physical environments presented the location, facilities of the academy

and transportation and time consumed each day in school and academy.

The Tennis Academy located in Bangkok. There were 12 tennis courts

(11 hard courts, 1 clay court), 1 fitness gym, 1 futsal court, 3 badminton courts,

1 swimming pool and 80 air-conditioning rooms. 5 participants lived with their

parents, the other 2 stayed at the academy because their family lived in other

provinces. During the break in semesters, they practiced every day from 8.00 - 15.00

hrs., except on Mondays, which was a day off. When the school was open, the 5

participants usually came to practice only on Saturdays and Sundays.

2. Social environments presented social, family status of participants.

Five of the participants were the youngest child; the other 2 were the only

child. All of them were from middle upper class families. Most of the participants

played tennis because of the influence from their family, either of their parents were

athletes. The length of time of having participated in playing tennis varied from 3 - 11

years. With regard to the goals, two wanted to be professional players, two wanted to

enter university as athletes, the other two wanted to be national tennis players and one

wanted to be in higher competition.

New and Pete were from other provinces outside of Bangkok and stayed at

the academy. This was the first time that both of them had been away from the family

and lived by themselves. Jay and his family had moved to the USA for 2 years and

come back for more practice during the semester vacation. The rest lived with their

families. From the observation, the participants were rational and had freedom to

decide their own matters.

Summarizing data

The data was collected from interview and observation. Those categories

underwent content and definition changes as units and incidents were compared and

categorized, and as understandings of the properties of categories and the

relationships between categories were developed and refined over the course of the

analytical process (Lincoln & Guba, 1985, pp. 334-341).Verbatim was used and all

records were saved digitally.

For the effectiveness of the Buddhist method of thought stopping program

on elite tennis players, there were 6 phases (Appendix 1). Each phase had 1 day break

except between the 4th

and 5th

phase, which had a 3 days break in order to examine the

remaining data.

The data analysis revealed into 6 themes as follows:

Table 2 Themes, categories and sub-categories of this study.

Themes Categories and sub-categories

1. Focus and concentration 1.1 With breath and body

1.2 Sport

2. Evaluation the thoughts

2.1 General relevance

2.2 Sport

2.3 Types of thoughts

2.3.1 Intended thoughts

2.3.2 Unintended thoughts

2.3.3 Unwanted thoughts

2.4 Quantity of thoughts

2.5 Perceptions of thoughts

2.5.1 General relevance

2.5.2 Sport

3. Thought stopping 3.1 Able to stop all thoughts

3.2 Able to stop thoughts occasionally

3.3 Unable to stop thoughts

4. The removal of distracting thoughts

(Vitakkasanthana-Sutta)

5.1 Replacement

5.2 Reflection

5.3 Redirecting

5.4 Reconstructing

5.5 Resistance

5. Perception of the benefits and

implementation

5.1 General Relevance

5.2 Sport Relevance and performance

1. Focus and concentration referred to the ability to focus on something,

these were divided into 2 categories as follows:

1.1 With breath and body the participants were taught to count when

inhaling/ exhaling continuously, breathe normally while trying to detect whether there

were thoughts coming through their mind. The body technique was to ask the

participants to stretch their body and focus on the tension of that part of the body.

Then Count 1 - 6, switch to the other side and repeat this stretch for 2 - 3 minutes until

the mind was calm, then started to detect the thoughts. Pete said after practice at

home that Before bed, I stretched and I felt calm. New reported I counted my

breathing before going to bed, it made me a lot calmer. From the interviews it

showed that the participants preferred different techniques according to the mood or

situation. Cee explained that after trying both techniques at home that I tried both

stretching and breathing, but I preferred breathing. Ae said At home, I practiced the

thought stopping; I could stop just for a few seconds. I used everything you taught

both breathing and stretching. I preferred stretching but from the 2nd

post-interview

he said, I counted breath, felt calmer and was able to detect my thoughts better.

During the competition Nong reported that I counted breathing during the 1 minute

break. I felt relaxed and less tired after that.

1.2 Sport relevance referred to the focus during practice or in competition

and was able to detect some thoughts occurring at the same time. From the interview,

Nong told, I chose to stretch during one minute break and it helps me focus on my

game more. Helped me control my emotions. Jay explained, During competition,

I used breathing adjustment and saw my thoughts with closed eyes. It worked. I felt

more calm and focused more on my game.

2. Evaluation the thoughts referred to the ability to comprehend their

thoughts. It was divided into 6 categories as follows:

2.1 General relevance referred to all matters other than sport such as

family, friends or schools. Ae expressed that I realized that I had many thoughts that

I did not know before. I felt calmer and had more focus. Nong explained, Even I

had many thoughts but I was able to distinguish them. Jay reported, When my dad

reminded me to stop playing on the computer, I sometimes felt annoyed.

2.2 Sport relevance referred to the activities concerned, both during

practice and in competition. Cee said, During practice, I was able to detect my

thoughts more than before. Mostly when those thoughts were finished. Pete said,

When I hit unforced errors, I said to myself eh then I told myself try again, dont

think too much as there were still many points to play. Ae said When the umpires

made incorrect judgements, I replaced the thoughts by using the words its OK, I am

doing fine, lets try it again. Jay explained that, During competition in another

province, the home fans were really loud, I was upset. I used the thought stopping

techniqueit was better, I was able to control my emotions, more focused on my

gameThis tournament, I had to play a tie-break almost every match. Those matches

were close, I thought more positive than negative. Before the program, I would be

tense and if I was behind, I could not play my game. This time, I used this technique,

it was relaxing, I was able to focus more.

2.3 Types of thoughts. These were thoughts which occurred in various

situations, they were categorized into 3 types as follows:

2.3.1 Intended thoughts referred to the thoughts that were intended to

think. It could be either just the ongoing thought; finished thought and emotions

had already arisen. Nong said, For this match, the opponent played consistently,

I wanted to score but there was no opportunity. Then, I thought it over and I rallied

for many strokes, be patient New said, I was afraid to be strongly criticized because

my coach told and warned me many times and I still was not able to do it

2.3.2 Unintended thoughts referred to those thoughts that occurred

unintentionally while doing something else. They may or may not concern the

activities involved. Ae said, During class, I sometimes had thoughts about school

activities that I was responsible for. Cee said, While walking to drink water, there

were thoughts about homeworkI didnt stop them New said, During the day,

there were some kind of thoughts that occurred. They were sometimes about some

old memories that kept on coming back.

2.3.3 Unwanted thoughts referred to the thoughts that were unwanted

or not supposed to think at that moment. Nong said, When I started making errors,

I detected my thoughts of slowly losing self-confidence and when I got too tired,

there were various unwanted thoughts such as hot or tired. When ill this match finish,

I can't stand it anymore. Cee explained that During the game, I detected some

unwanted thoughtsI lost concentration for the next point. New said During the

day, I had thoughts that occurred; they were old memoriesmost of them were

unwanted ones.

2.4 Quantity of thoughts referred to the amount of thoughts that occurred

each day including the ability to describe how those thoughts occurred. Cee said,

I knew I thought. Before this program, I did not realize how many thoughts I had.

I was more focused. Ae said that My thoughts occurred the most before bedtime.

During the day only 30%, before bed around 70%. Most of them were positive.

Nong told that I practiced counting breath and tried to detect the thoughts, it came

one by one before this program, they overlapped one another. Cee said that The

thoughts occurred one by one, sometimes one has not stopped and the others started

overlapping one another. Bee reported that most of my thoughts usually occurred

in the morning, there were 7 - 9 at the same time.

2.5 Perception of the thoughts referred to the abilities to perceive any

thoughts occurring. It was divided into 2 categories as follows:

2.5.1 General relevance referred to all other matters than sport such as

family, friends or schools. Nong said, I was aware of emotions occurring sooner

than before, like moody when things were not as I thought. New reported that

Before bed, usually I had thoughts such as schools, friends. Jay said, When my dad

reminded me to stop playing on the computer and go to bed, I was not moody because

I was able to deflect my thoughts.

2.5.2 Sports relevance referred to the activities concerned both during

practice and in competition. Ae said that In that match, I could not hit on my

forehand which was my strength; on the other hand my backhand was good instead.

There was the situation where the chair umpire called in while the ball was out and

caused me to lose that game. I was not upset. Cee said, During the match, I noticed

that there were negative thoughts or over joy with the good shots and made me lose

my focus on the next points. I have never experienced anything like this before. Pete

expressed that I turned to my parents and wondered what they would feel about my

errors. I focused on the next point to hit the ball in the court more.

3. Thought stopping referred to the abilities to stop the thoughts, they were

categorized into 3 types as follows:

3.1 Able to stop all thoughts referred to the abilities to stop them whenever the

subjects wanted to. Nong reported that I knew I started to be moody, Only for a short while,

it stopped. New told that Before going to bed, I practiced thought stopping, I could stop

them because of my concentrationI recognized my unwanted thoughts during the day so I

stopped them and focused on my breathing. It worked. Jay said that This tournament was

held up country, the home fans were really loud, and I was moody and frustrated. I stopped

those thoughtsI felt better.

3.2 Able to stop thoughts occasionally referred to the abilities to stop but

those thoughts came back or some other thoughts occurred instead. Ae said, If I

practice mediation by focus on the stretch of my body, I was able to stop the thoughts

but not all of them, around 40% kept coming back. Pete said that When I made

errors, I told myself to try again. Those unwanted thoughts stopped for a few minutes

then they occurred again. New said, When I was not confident of my shots, I tried

to stop those negative thoughts. They were on and off.

3.3 Unable to stop thoughts referred to the inabilities to stop any thoughts

or when the participants did not want to stop those thoughts. New said, I counted my

breaths, trying to detect my thoughts and stop them but I could not. Ae said that

Normally during the match, when I made errors, I kept on thinking about it. Bee

said that The unstoppable thoughts were about examination if I had not finished

reading. Pete said, I detected that there were thoughts but I did not stop them, just

noticed them. Nong said, I recognized the thoughts, this time they came one by one,

I did not stop because I wanted to know how long each thought would be. Ae

explained that Sometimes I could stop them; sometimes I could not, or went along

with them.

4. The removal of distracting thoughts (Vitakkasanthana-Sutta), there

were 5 techniques as follows:

4.1 Replacement referred to stopping the unwanted thoughts and

replacing them with cue words that were initiated by each participant. Nong said,

When things were not the way I wanted, I stopped the negative thoughts and

replaced them with it doesnt matter. I used this often, in almost every situation,

not only in tennis. Cee said, I told myself; stop and focus on studying. Pete told

that My serve was not as good as before, the opponent hit harder and with a lot of

spin and more consistent than me. I made too many errorsI told myself; keep cool,

try again. Jay explained that This tournament was held up country, the home fans

were really loud, and I was moody and frustrated. I stopped those thoughts and

replaced them with; hang on, be consistent.

4.2 Reflection referred to stop the thoughts after pondering the

consequences of them. Nong said, During the match, it was hot and exhausted. I

perceived those unwanted thoughts then I thought my opponent must felt the same

way and that kept me hanging on. Jay said, When my dad reminded me to stop

playing computer and go to bed, I was not moody because I was able to reflect my

thoughts.

4.3 Redirecting referred to contemplate the consequences of those

thoughts and chose to ignore or avoid them. Ae said, If I was still in that situation, I

would not be able to stop the thoughts, I walked away and went to my room. Cee

told, Before lunch at school, I had a lot of unwanted thoughts. I chose to ignore

them and focus on studying. New reported that I go to school by bus thats where I

usually had so many thoughts. I tried to ignore them by chatting with my friends, and

it worked. When I stopped talking, some of those thoughts came back.

4.4 Reconstructing referred to analyze, examine the antecedents and

reflecting the results then stop those thoughts. Nong said, When my opponent was

consistent, sometimes I wanted to go for broke but the timing was not right. I decided

to keep the rally; I did not want to lose the point by making errors. Cee said, If it

was about friends, I tried to reason. For example, if my friend called just to chat

while I was doing my homework. I would think how much homework I had to catch

up, when I had solution, I would tell my friend accordingly.

4.5 Resistance referred to resist or suppress those thoughts until they

eventually stopped. Ae said, If I was still in that situation, I would not be able to

stop the thoughts, I walked away and went to my room. Cee reported that When

there were unwanted thoughts, I would not think, focus on something else instead.

New told I recognized those unwanted thoughts during the day and I told myself to

stop and focus on breathing until they were gone.

5. Perception of the benefits and implementation referred to realize the

useful results after the program and implement the intervention. It was divided into 2

categories as follows:

5.1 General relevance referred to any situation other than sport. Ae

expressed his opinion later that Most people seldom noticed their thoughts and the

consequences so they reacted accordingly. It might cause problems before knowing

them. It was good to detect our thoughts and be able to stop them. Nong also

mentioned I recognized my emotions sooner than before, sometimes knowing that I

was moody when things were not as I thought. I took a deep breath that made me feel

better. Cee observed his thoughts more and said that Now, if my friends chatted

with me in class, I would consider if I should do it or not. Before the program, I

chatted back without considering things like this. Two participants taught this

intervention to their parents. Ae reported that I taught the intervention to my mom

when she told me about the problems of my cousins. I told her to stretch and focus on

the body, stop thinking. Nong said, I taught the intervention to my dad and my

friends, especially thought stopping.

5.2 Sport relevance and performance referred to the implementation of

the intervention on sport and to enable performance. Jay said, I would keep on

practice this intervention because it was proved in my competition. In this

tournament, I played tie-break almost every match. Especially when the match was

close, before this program, I would have been up tight and was not able to perform

but, this time, I was able to think more positively than negatively. I applied the

intervention, I played better, more relax, and more focused and was able to talk to

myself better.

The results of qualitative data analysis showed that even though the

participants were able to stop their thoughts and they had greater awareness as per

three examples of the participants as follows:

Ae

His quantitative data of tennis test showed his improvement; the averages of

pre-test were 19.667 and post-test was 21.00 while the interview revealed that he had

significantly more self-awareness. He expressed that he had never realized how much

he thought and carefully considered the consequences of his acts. His coach also

commented that he was more focused on court. His friend, Cee, said that Ae seemed

to concentrate more during practice even when he hit unforced errors. Before the

intervention, Ae would have shouted with frustration but he did not. From the

observation, he had focus during the interviews and was more thoughtful compared to

the baseline interview. Ae reported that he taught the thought stopping technique to

his mother when she told him about the problems among her cousins.

Nong

Her quantitative data of tennis test showed significant improvement; the

averages of pre-test were 20.333 and the post-test was 23.667. From the baseline

interview, Nong had never known that the thoughts could be stopped or controlled.

During the second phase of intervention, first she could not focus on breathing

therefore the researcher taught her to try a stretching technique and focus on the body.

After 5 minutes, she expressed her surprise that she could stop her thoughts where she

had never done it before. She was able to perceive both the types and quantity of her

thoughts occurring each day. This is in line with the coachs interview that Nong had

more focus on court during practice. Before the intervention, she asked a lot of

questions especially the reasons why she made unforced errors. After the program,

she listened better and when she hit unforced errors, she focused and tried to find out

by herself and asked only when she could not do it. Nong taught her father how to

stop the thoughts. From the observation of the researcher, she showed more

concentration while practiced on the court and more focus during the interview.

Jay

His quantitative data of tennis test showed the significant improvement; the

averages of pre-test were 22.000 and the post-test was 26.333. He showed his

improvement not only the significant performance of the tennis test, which was

closed-skill, but also in competition. He lost in the semi-final of the tournament he

competed in after the intervention. He reported that he played three matches per day

and this was the first time that he played super tie-breaks in almost every match. He

explained that he had implemented the intervention such as closed his eyes and

counting breaths during the one minute break. He reported that he was able to relax,

feel calm and focus on his game plan more than before the intervention. In the

coachs interview, he commented that Jay had more focus; the performance in the

tournament was significant. Jay said the coach that he lost because his right wrist was

injured otherwise he would have won the match. Jays mother told the researcher that

she had never seen her son play tennis at this level before. The result of Jay was in

line with Gardner and Moore (2004, 2007), Kee and Wang (2008) who studied the

relationship between mindfulness and sport performance. The result of that study

found that mindfulness is linked to present-moment focus, which is the principle of

the psychology of peak performance in sport (Ravizza, 2002).

Bee

His quantitative data of tennis test showed the significant improvement;

the averages of pre-test were 28.333 and the post-test was 19.667. He was the only

participant that the post-test was worse than pre-test. From the qualitative data

analysis, after the intervention, Bee showed that he was able to detect his thought

more than before. He also understood the consequences of the emotion. From the

coach commented that he was calmer for example when Bee lost the match, he

usually shown frustration sometimes even cried. After the intervention, Bee was calm

both during practice and competition. From the observation of researcher, Bee was

able to answer the question clearly and understood himself better after the

intervention. The reason that his post-test was lower than pre-test because the post-

test was done after the school was opened. Bee studied very hard, he told that he was

able to focus but his body did not respond well enough.

Quantitative data analysis

The tennis test was set by the coach for each participant. Those drills were

different from one another. Each tennis test consisted of 10 balls. The full marks

were 5 points as per ITN (International tennis number) that is one of the players

development departments of ITF (International tennis federation). The points were

given when the participants finished the last stroke of their pattern, consisting of 2-3

balls before finished the point at the net. If they made errors before the last stroke, it

was to start from the beginning. The balls were hit by coach only.

The pre-test and post-test of the tennis tests were collected 3 times each.

To test for differences after the intervention by using ANOVA repeated measures

were used with the test of the within-subjects. The statistical significance was set at

p < .05. The descriptive statistics revealed the grand means of pre-test and post-test;

23.76 and 26.33 accordingly. The standard deviation of the pre-test was 3.57 and the

post-test was 4.09 (as shown in Appendix 3). The researcher had first tested the

differences within the pre-tests and post-tests of participants by using repeated-

measures ANOVA. The results of the participants pre-test and post-test were

multivariate F-test = 0.669, p-value = 0.553 and multivariate F-test = 0.049, p-value =

0.953 accordingly. The results within pre-tests and post-tests showed that they were

not significant. All of the results within pretests and posttests showed that they were

not significant. The researcher then used the grand means of seven participants to test

the differences within subjects between the pre-tests and post-tests by using repeated-

measures ANOVA. The result showed the Wilks Lambda value = 0.441, multivariate

F-test = 7.591, p-value = 0.033 and partial eta2 = 0.559.

Figure 4 Results of hypothesis test and multivariate test

The quantitative data analysis from the Wilks Lambda of analysis of

variance (ANOVA) repeated measures within-subjects was run to assess the

differences. The result confirmed the Wilks Lambda value = 0.441, multivariate F-

test = 7.591 and p-value was significant at < 0.033. The value of partial eta2 of 0.559

showed the effect of the differences of Buddhism way of thought stoppings process

between the pre-test and post-test at 55.9%. The result confirmed the hypothesis that

the intervention significantly enhances the performance of the elite tennis players at

p < .05.

CHAPTER 5

CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION

Conclusion

The purposes of the study were to examine the effectiveness of the

Buddhism way of thought stopping program of elite tennis players by employing

qualitative research and to examine the effectiveness of the Buddhism way of thought

stopping program on performance of elite tennis players by employing quantitative

research. The result of qualitative data analysis showed that the participants were able

to stop their thoughts and especially they had greater awareness of the occurrence and

the consequences of their thoughts while the quantitative data analysis confirmed that

the intervention significantly improved the performance of the participants.

Discussion

The qualitative data analysis showed the results that the Buddhism way of

thought stopping program on the participants were effective and the most important

finding was that the participants had more awareness or Sati (in Buddhism), which

showed that they were able to detect the types and amount of thoughts that occurred

each day. They also better understood the consequences of their thoughts and

emotions. These findings were in line with Lutz, Dunne and Davidson, (2007) Segal,

Williams and Teasdale (2002) that development of greater awareness of and non-

reactivity to intero- and exteroceptive sensory stimuli during formal Vipassana/

mindfulness meditation enhanced self-awareness. Gunaratana (2002); Lutz et al.

(2007) also found that Vipassana meditative practice involved the adoption of a

mindful and receptive mental awareness, with intentional absorption on present-

moment sensations in the body and meta-cognitive reframing of ongoing experience

as impersonal incident to be observed but not reacted upon.

The participants also reported that the more they tried to observe their

thoughts, the more they found the thoughts seemed to reoccur after stopping them.

Further, the participants also understood the consequences of the thoughts and

emotions better. It is in line with the study of Wenzlaff and Wegner (2000) about

the post-suppression rebound effect which found three classes of those related

effects:

a) Enhanced occurrence of target thoughts following a period of

suppression.

b) An immediate, suppression-induced surge in target thoughts.

c) An intensification of intrusions during suppression, triggered by cognitive

demands.

The quantitative data analysis confirmed the hypothesis that the intervention

significantly enhances the performance of the elite tennis players at p < .05. The

result was in line with Kee and Wangs (2008) study, which was based on a cluster

analytic approach. This study examined the relationships between mindfulness, flow

dispositions and mental skills adoption. There were 10 clusters such as flexibility,

engagement, emotional control, goal setting and self-talk. Those in the high

mindfulness cluster scored significantly higher than the low mindfulness clusters in

challenge-skill balance, merging of action and awareness, clear goals, concentration

and loss of self-consciousness scores, attention control, emotional control, goal setting

and self-talk. This study suggested that flow dispositions and mental skills adoption

in athletes could be differentiated using mindfulness. The study of Gooding and

Gardner (2009) examined the relationship between mindfulness, pre-shot routine, trait

arousal, and basketball free throw shooting percentage by studying in 17 men

basketball players of three NCAA Division I. The results of the study confirmed that

the participants level of mindfulness significantly predicts competitive free throw

performance. The mindfulness regression model indicated significantly at p = .026,

game free throw percentage increased 5.75 percentage points. The statistically

significant relationship was found between practice free throw percentage and game

free throw percentage by linear regression analysis at p = .002.

Caveats

There are individual differences are to be discussed, firstly, the participants

in this stud