Dear Aerial/Acro teacher/trainer/coach/(insert your tittle here),
I have been looking into the benefits and motivation for participating in an aerial or acrobatic class and I would love to share some of the psychology insight that is very likely to compliment your teaching practice. I will use a few of my slides from a presentation on acrobatic fitness, from my MSc in Sport and Exercise Psychology.
I’ll jump right into it then! 😊
Let’s talk benefits…
Whist Aerial and Acro activities have inherent benefits, adding
Motivation to our benefits puzzle, enhances both the benefits and the
possibility that students will continue to be involved long term.
Looking at Motivation, there are 6 types of motivation in
total and these can be grouped under Autonomous and Controlled. Looking at the
characteristics of each type of motivation, I feel that we can all agree that Autonomously
motivated students are far more likely experience the positive effects of Aerial
& Acro.
Autonomy in the need to act out of one’s own volition. Feeling my you are doing something because you choose to, you want to, and you enjoy the behaviour, and/or its related outcomes.
Competence is the need to feel like you have the skill and ability to carry out a task and achieve a positive outcome. In other words, the need to know that you have enough knowledge and potential to be successful in the activity you chose.
Relatedness is the need to feel part of a community, where you are valued and value others.
The following slides will offer a few bullet points to build a Need-supportive culture and teaching stile in your classes. But please remain aware, that these are not exhaustive, and you do not need to implement all of them, or at the same time, in order to have a positive influence!
So… whilst I made
these slides to try and cover a lot of ground, allow me to offer 4 things you
can do to start implementing a need supportive culture and teaching style. Provide:
Rationale;
Clarity;
Constructive feedback;
Model supportive behaviour.
To support the Autonomy of your students, offer a
rationale for each rule, skill, conditioning and move.
Why do we use crash mats? Why do we condition?
What will these skills help us to achieve? Why do we practice inverting? Will
this help us towards achieving a fun move?
Try answering some of these questions before
asking your students to do something. By providing them with your rationale for
‘why we do this..’, you give them the opportunity to decide for themselves whether
the thing you are doing is worth doing.
Not convinced you need to rationale what you do
in class? If you cannot come up with a good rationale of why you do a certain
thing in class, should you be doing that particular thing in the first place?
To support the Competence of your students, focus
on Clarity and Constructive feedback.
Are you setting a
clear expectation for that move? Do your students know how they are likely to
end up? Are you explaining where pressure is felt in a move? Are you being
clear about what should be pulling/pushing, tightening/relaxing and in what
direction?
Will the feedback you give make your student
think about what they did in the past or what they should do in the future? Is
your feedback positive and focused on what can be done to succeed? Is your
feedback appropriate to their skill level?
By answering these questions for yourself and
coming up with level-appropriate feedback in a clear and constructive manner,
you are likely to empower your students to feel like they can achieve that
challenging goal.
Use your extensive knowledge and experience to
offer your students the opportunity to progress at their own pace and help them
set clear progression goals.
To support Relatedness,
model interest taking and listening skills (especially for youth
groups).
Take interest and ask questions about students’
life outside of class.
Listen and remember important things students
share.
Acknowledge and discuss students’ ideas and then
follow up on implementing them.
References: Connolly, M., Quin, E., & Redding, E. (2011). Dance 4 Your Life: Exploring the Health and Wellbeing Implications of a Contemporary Dance Intervention for Female Adolescents. Research in Dance Education, 12 (1): 53–66. .
Davies,
C., Knuiman, M.,
& Rosenberg, M. (2016). The Art of Being Mentally Healthy: a Study to
Quantify the Relationship Between Recreational Arts Engagement and Mental
Well-Being in the General Population. BMC
Public Health , 16 (15): 1–10.
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2000). The “what” and “why” of goal pursuits: human needs and the self-determination of behavior. Psychological Inquiry, 11, 227-268.
Ntoumanis,
N., & Standage, M. (2009). Motivation in physical education classes: a
self-determination theory perspective. Theory
and Research in Education, 7(2), 194-202.
Ryan,
R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2007). Active human nature: self-determination theory
and the promotion and maintenance of sport, exercise and health. . In M. S.
Hagger, & N. L. Chatzisarantis,
Intrinsic motivation and selfdetermination in exercise and sport.
(pp. 1-19). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
Sebire, S. J., Kesten, J. M., Edwards, M. J., May, T., Banfield, K., Tomkinson, K., . . . Jago, R. (2016). Using self-determination theory to promote adolescent girls’ physical activity: Exploring the theoretical fidelity of the Bristol Girls Dance Project. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 24, 100-110. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2016.01.009.
Spiegel,
J. B., & Parent, S. N. (2017). Re-approaching Community Development Through
the Arts: A ‘Critical Mixed Methods’ Study of Social Circus in Quebec. Community Development Journal,
1-18. doi:doi:10.1093/cdj/bsx015.
Spiegel,
J. B., Breilh, M.
C., Campaña, A.,
Marcuse, J., & Yassi, A.
(2015). Social Circus and Health Equity: Exploring the National Social Circus
Program in Ecuador. Arts & Health ,
7 (1): 65–74.
Stevens,
K., McGrath, R., & Ward, E. (2018). Identifying the influence of
leisure-based social circus on the health and well-being of young people in
Australia. Annals of Leisure Research.
doi:
https://doi.org/10.1080/11745398.2018.1537854
Following on from my first blog on Adversarial growth and injury, I received several questions relating to pain and rehabilitation. Something that piqued my interest in the first place was that my initial research did not bring up much about pain experiences. So, I investigated it separately and here is what I found.
Pain is a unique experience construct, athletic performance, and injury experiences can be either dictated or barely affected by pain. There are several theoretical approaches that address pain in psychology. I will discuss one approach, which in my developing practitioner philosophy, I relate to the most, with the recognition that there is research that supports other theories as well. I will start with some psychoanalytic roots.
Pain is more than a physical experience, it affects the Psyche by making an individual feel threatened, especially when they cannot explain it. The athlete not coping effectively with pain following injury is the product of:
the broken connection between the athlete and the injured part of them;
the adequate professional support, or lack of;
social support, or lack of, from the team, coach and important others
Pain – the Biopsychosocial perspective
The Bio:
Pain is related to a physical experience, no argument there. The bio element tends to have a physical manifestation, it is often something that is out there to see and treat. In the cases of chronic pain, the physical source of the pain may be less visible and difficult to rate objectively.
Current research tends to adopt the approach of asking individuals to rate their pain experience in terms of frequency and intensity, however, very often these ratings would mismatch actual tissue damage. The same injury and tissue damage level can cause two individuals to experience dramatically different levels of pain. This raises two questions, ‘What else is there that feeds into this experience?’ and whilst physical healing needs to take its own time, ‘Is there anything we can do to change the pain experience?’
The PsychoSocial:
Presently there is no evidence that psychological and social factors can be the direct cause of pain symptoms. However, Psychological and Social factors have the potential to influence the interpretation and by proxy the experience of sensory information (in this case pain).
In Psychology, we differentiate between the effect of thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. Research shows that continuous negative thoughts related to our injury have the potential to increase pain sensations and influence emotions. We can differentiate between positive, negative and adaptive cognitions:
Perceived control – perceiving ourselves to have control over our pain can have a positive effect on coping with the pain itself and carrying out meaningful activities.
High self-efficacy – belief/confidence in our capacity to execute a behavior towards improved coping with pain.
Catastrophic thinking – ruminating about worst case scenarios. Can raise anxiety and stress.
Hypervigilance – analyzing the painful part of the body. Modifying routines to ensure the pain is kept below a certain intensity to avoid reinjury or further pain. Whilst this can have an adaptive function, hypervigilance related to acute pain should fade away as recovery progresses and you return to normal activity levels.
The BioPsychoSocial dynamic interaction.
Bellow is an example explanation of the dynamic interaction between the Physical, the Psychological and the Social elements of the model. Apologies this may appear less scientifically supported, but the bellow explanation is what I use to understand this interaction.
Anxiety and stress related to an injury are important. Negative thoughts can increase feelings of stress. Continuous stress can influence cortisol levels within the body and impact the Immune system, which in turn affects the rate of recovery and the experience of pain. Delayed recovery and experiencing additional pain, can by themselves be very stressful and in cases of chronic pain, there is also the possibility of feeling helpless, developing anxiety and/or depression.
But, there is a brighter side too
High social support and interaction with individuals we feel close to, can raise oxytocin levels in the body. Sharing our time and experience with loved ones can be therapeutic and also help us rationalize our own experiences. This does a good job of lowering stress levels and allowing the body to recover effectively. The same has been found for pleasurable activities.
Whilst being injured and in pain, we may find ourselves unable to participate in our sport or art, and with a lot of extra time on our hands to contemplate how we are not able to do what we love. BUT what if we got into the activities that we never had enough time to do? For example purposes: why not try baking or writing, maybe meditating, reading or something crafty, maybe make a list of all your childhood friends that you haven’t spoken to in years, give them a call or a text and find out what they have been up to, maybe even get some ideas from them?!
Distraction activities even by themselves have been effective in managing pain post-injury. Whilst I don’t want to sound like ‘happy thoughts’ are the way forward, thinking positively and questioning negative thoughts can have a positive impact on day to day pain experience and overall recovery.
Another useful strategy may be to set goals and challenges appropriate to our current situation. Not big long term goals (which are also important to have), but short term, daily goals, and challenges that keep us focussed on being productive. There are countless materials, texts, videos, books on Goal setting. If that is something you have not tried, give it a go as it is one of the most recommended Psychology strategies for recovery.
And remember that it all fails sometimes and we find ourselves stressing, breaking down, crying and not being ok on particular days. Dealing with injury and pain is not easy and some days are harder than others. Being accepting and forgiving ourselves for not being ok is one way to take a positive outcome out of a really bad day.
Please leave me your thoughts in the comments?
What is your coping strategy when it comes to dealing with pain?
Considering the term ‘athlete’, the majority of people might picture an Olympic medalist or a top-level Basketball player. Nevertheless, I would like to turn your attention to the athletes that may not come to mind as often, the dancers who train for hours every day on their stamina, grace and flexibility; and the acrobats that can take your breath with their strength and agility.
Did you know that a typical contract at the world-famous Cirque Du Soleil can include around 450 performances per year? (Menard & Halle, 2014)
Dancers and Acrobats present a unique population of athletes with very strong emotional bonds to their form of physical performance art. Like athletes, their occupation is an imbedded part of their identity and experiencing adversity* such as a physical injury can be a life changing experience. Following the adverse experience of an injury, the rehabilitation process is influenced by Psychological factors, which can in turn have a major impact on the rehabilitation timeframe and outcome.
If you
are a teacher, or a performer yourself, then the following blog is for you.
I will look at
the Psychology of the Performing Arts,
the Psychological factors that influence the rehabilitation process,
the potential for adversarial growth
and how Sport and Exercise Psychology can have a useful application for the Performing arts.
*Adversity – refers to negative life circumstances that are associated with adjustment difficulties and distress (Howells, Sarkar, & Fletcher, 2017, p. 150).
Performance
Psychology in the Performing Arts
Below are a few Performance Psychology traits and
phenomena, inherent to the performing arts based on the work on Dr Kate F. Hays
and her colleagues (Hays &
Brown, 2004; Hays, 2002). Inevitably there are several
crossovers with the Athlete performance world, however there are a few unique
aspects to the Psychology and Psychopathology of the Performing Arts.
Competition: Whilst there are Skill competitions in the performing arts world, the more common type of competition is casting for a role, or a contract. Acceptance in dance or circus schools can be particularly competitive. However, a key difference is that success in a competition does not in itself ensure the linear progression of an artist’s career.
Relationship with the audience: Whilst in a sport performance the audience has little to do with the athlete’s performance, in the Performing Arts world relationship with and the judgement of the audience is an integral part of the performance.
Vulnerability: In order to achieve the crucial relationship with the audience, a performer must be in a state of vulnerability. Leaving themselves at the mercy of the audience (or jury panel) and their subjective judgement of the performer based on a single performance.
Performance Anxiety/Stress:Arguably Performing Artists would experience significantly higher level of performance related anxiety and stress, due to the added vulnerability of their role. In certain pathological cases, Stage Fright can lead to substance and alcohol abuse in order to cope with the added pressure of performing.
Quest for Perfection: The Performing Arts world is dominated by Talent, Aesthetic and Technical Standards. Artists that do not exhibit these in a subjectively judged performance, can have a hard time securing work or a place on a training course. Also, standards around body shape, fitness and flexibility in Dance and Acrobatics tend to lead to pathology like Eating disorders, Anorexia and Mental health disorders.
Performing skills with minimal training: In some cases performing artists are required to perform skills with minimal training due to demands set by the competitive situation. In which case performers are often left vulnerable to failure and/or injury (Hays, 2002).
Overuse Syndrome and Minor Injuries (Cumulative Stressors): Similarly, to professional sports, performing artists like dancers and acrobats, can experience injuries due to repetitive strain of the same muscle (Hays, 2002; Hays & Brown, 2004). Also, minor performance related injuries and strain can accumulate over months and years during an artist’s career. This would affect career longevity even in the absence of serious injury.
Developmental background: Dancers and Acrobats, similarly to a lot of athletes, start practicing from an early age. Their age combined with all the above performance pressures can present developmental difficulties and pressures for young performers. They are likely to build a strong identity around their art, as well as experience extreme levels of involvement in their art from parents and family, or complete disengagement and lack of support. Also, Student performers have been evidenced to report higher symptoms of mental, physical and social pressure, compared to older, more established professionals (Donohue, et al., 2018). This can be due to fewer stable working opportunities within the performing arts and less opportunity to practice performing in front of an audience and general ease of performance (Hays & Brown, 2004, p. 64).
Adversarial
Growth and Performance
As mentioned above, an adversity is a negative life event that can cause coping difficulty and distress. In Performance Psychology exists the notion that being vulnerable to pressure and adversity can be a key element in building resilience and coping experience (Fletcher & Sarkar, 2016). Put simply, one must experience adversity beyond what they can cope with and grow as a result of the experience. Trauma (in this case injury) can be an experience of learning about one’s body and effective functioning; re-evaluation and enhancement of social relationships; and building a new perspective (Fletcher & Sarkar, 2016).
*Important Note: Although adversarial growth can be beneficial, it should not be used as an excuse to implement unethical and inappropriate adversity with the aim of improving performance.
Psychological
factors of Rehabilitation
Whilst an injury usually has a visible physical
manifestation, the rehabilitation process and outcomes are influenced by
psychological and psychosocial factors. The Biopsychological Model (Brewer, Andersen, & Van Raalte, 2002) and the Grounded
theory of Sport Injury-Related Growth (Roy-Davis, Wadey, & Evans, 2017) highlight several
overlapping categories of psychological factors that influence rehabilitation:
Personality: Performer’s ability to understand and express emotions; their creativity and problem-solving approach; their ability to remain resilient and confident.
Coping style: Performer’s typical thoughts and behaviours in response to stressful demands. Coping styles can be ‘emotion-focused (e.g., meaning making, emotional venting, seeking support for emotional reasons, and/or turning to religion) and problem-focused (e.g., planning, active coping, and seeking support for instrumental reasons).’ (Roy-Davis, Wadey, & Evans, 2017).
Perceived social support: Awareness and appreciation of the social support available. Having a strong support network can aid coping and personality, reassuring the performer in moments of doubt and facilitating positive responses.
Knowledge and prior experience: Drawing on experience and lessons learned can help recognition and acceptance of an injury as part of the occupation. Sometimes, comparing with ‘worse’ event that have been overcome in the past, could provide a sense of confidence that the performer will come back from their injuries physically and mentally stronger (growth focus, rather than problem focus).
An injury can have a big influence on a peformer’s thoughts, feelings and behaviour, this influence can however be moderated and directed by external and internal factors. According to Roy-Davis, Wadey, & Evans, (2017), these factors have the potential to enable positive cognitive processes, and subsequent emotions and behaviours, leading to Sport Injury-Related Growth (SIRG).
Putting the theory in to practice!
What can you do to increase your chances of experiencing Adversarial Growth following an injury?
Acknowledge and work with a potentially shifting identity. There is a deep intimate relationship between a dancer and his/her occupation (Drury, 2018). Injury can have a negative psychological impact for a dancer’s identity. However successful interventions advise injured dancers to also think about their other identities, for example: the parent, the student or teacher, the woman/man, even the artist within another art (writer maybe). This technique can help lighten the crushing load of the present inability to fulfil the dancer identity.
Establish a supportive social network. Injured dancers have reported going through a re-evaluation process regarding their social network (Drury, 2018). For some this takes the shape of finding a group or community where one’ feels they receive understanding and support. For others this means, abandoning relationships that bring about additional burden to their present situation.
Enhance the connection to your body. Following an injury dancers and acrobats could have difficulty moving the same way they did before. That is not to say that beautiful moves cannot be achieved, rather any future movement would be modified by expanding their knowledge about their own bodies. Dancers and circus artists report, developing a passion for learning about their own physiology and finding new ways to achieve shapes within the same art. In some cases, dancers reported changing to a different art form, to discover an altogether new art of movement (Drury, 2018).
Talk about emotions. Studies have found evidence that verbal disclosure of emotions can help promote sport injury-related growth (Salim & Wadey, 2018; Roy-Davis, Wadey, & Evans, 2017). Furthermore, disclosing positive emotions can lead to more positive emotions being experienced in the future (Salim & Wadey, 2018). Nevertheless, this should be executed with caution, in some cases, disclosure of strong emotions can lead to re-traumatisation for the performer. Also, conversation around emotions can be delicate and require a level of comfort within the environment and with the listener, as well as can be sensitive to outside pressure to disclose.
Learn from your past injuries. For athletes and performing artists, injuries can occur more than once and with different severity. Nevertheless, they can always be a setback in performance. Acknowledging that injury can be a part-and-parcel of sport/performance could help with mentally normalising the experience of injury and aid confidence for recovery (Roy-Davis, Wadey, & Evans, 2017). Thinking back to strategies used during previous recovery processes or even non-injury-related adversity, can be a valuable tool. It is not always possible to rely on outside advice, however, reflecting on approaches to recovery based on past experience can help with taking active ownership of the recovery process and have a positive impact on feelings of self-efficacy and resilience (LaGuerre, 2016).
Make the most out of your time. An injury can put a performer outside of their performing environment for the duration of recovery. For some this can be an opportunity to re-connect with friends and family, OR to work on skills or hobbies, that may have been left for a less busy time due to performance commitments (Roy-Davis, Wadey, & Evans, 2017).
Guidance to using the above advice:
This
line of research and practice if in its infancy and warrants further research (Salim & Wadey, 2018).
There
is no ‘one size fits all’ to reaching
the point of Adversarial Growth following injury. Some thrive from enhancing their
social network, others from internal empowerment of the self, or maybe you need
both to reach your goals.
Based
on your personality and experience you may not find all the above points helpful.
Try the things that work for you and
remember to apply the above knowledge from your
subjective point of view.
You
may find that certain strategies work better in certain situations.
The
above strategies can be influenced by situational
factors, such as time, location and other people.
You are not alone, there
could be support networks available to you. If you are struggling, consider
advising with a professional. They could have local knowledge or examples to
help you cope.
Finally!
What
are your experiences of coping with injury?
Did
you go through any of the psychological methods mentioned in this blog?
Please consider leaving a public comment or sharing your thoughts with me via email!
References
Brewer, B. (2010). The role of
psychological factors in sport injury rehabilitation outcomes. International
Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 3:1, 40-61.
Brewer, B., Andersen, M., & Van
Raalte, J. (2002). Psychological aspects of sport injury rehabilitation:
Toward a biopsychosocial approach. . In D. Mostofsky, & L. Zaichkowsky, Medical
and psychological aspects of sport and exercise (pp. 41 – 54 ).
Morgantown, WV: Fitness Information Technology.
Donohue, B., Gavrilova, Y.,
Galante, M., Burnstein, B., Aubertin, P., Gavrilova, E., . . . Benning, S. D.
(2018). Empirical Development of a Screening Method for Mental, Social, and
Physical Wellness in Amateur and Professional Circus Artists. Psychology
of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts., Advance online publication.
Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/aca0000199
Fletcher, D., & Sarkar, M.
(2016). Mental fortitude training: An evidencebased approach to developing
psychological resilience for sustained success. Journal of Sport
Psychology in Action, 7:3, 135-157.
Hays, K. F. (2002). The Enhancement of Performance
Excellence Among Performing Artists. Journal of Applied Sport Psycholog,
14:4, 299-312.
Hays, K. F., & Brown, C. H.
(2004). Unique Aspects of the Performing Arts . In K. F. Hays, & C. H.
Brown, You’re on! Consulting for peak performance (pp. 57-77).
Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Howells, K., Sarkar, M., &
Fletcher, D. (2017). Can athletes benefit from difficulty? A systematic
review of growth following adversity in competitive sport. Progress in
Brain Research, 234, 117-159.
LaGuerre, D. (2016). Helping an
Elite Athlete move from 0 to 100 Post Injury. In J. Cremades, & L.
Tashman, Global Practices and Training in Applied Sport, Exercise, and
Performance Psychology: A Case Study Approach (pp. 28-34). NY: Routledge
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Levy, A., Polman, R., Nicholls, A., & Marchant, D.
(2009). Sport Injury RehabilitatIon Adherence: Perspectives of Recreational
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Menard, J. F., & Halle, M.
(2014). Circus Also Needs Performance Psychology: Facts and Realities os
Consulting at Cirque du Soleil. In J. Cremades, & L. Tashman, Becoming
a Sport, Exercise, ans Performance Psychology Professional: A global
Perspective (pp. 127-134). NY: Taylor & Francis.
Roy-Davis, K., Wadey, R., &
Evans, L. (2017). A Grounded Theory of Sport Injury-Related Growth. Sport,
Exercise, and Performance Psychology, Vol. 6, No. 1, 35–52.
Salim, J., & Wadey, R. (2018).
Can Emotional Disclosure Promote Sport InjuryRelated Growth? Journal of
Applied Sport Psychology, 30:4, 367-387.
High social support and interaction with individuals we feel close to, can raise oxytocin levels in the body. Sharing our time and experience with loved ones can be therapeutic and also help us rationalize our own experiences. This does a good job of lowering stress levels and allowing the body to recover effectively. The same has been found for pleasurable activities.
Sport, Exercise and Performing Arts Psychology 