ABSTRACT
In The Mindful Therapist, D. J. Siegel explored how the practitioner’s mindfulness can affect the quality of collaboration and outcomes. Presence is the quality of the practitioner’s attention and being. Attunement includes both intrapersonal and interpersonal processes, and is how that presence comes to bear on the practitioner’s attentiveness, empathy, and understanding of the client. As such, the practitioner’s connection with values, ability to be in the moment, and awareness and acceptance of inner experiences are keys to building the therapeutic alliance, the most basic factor accounting for treatment success. The importance of the quality of the collaborative relationship as a determinant of therapeutic outcomes has been demonstrated plentifully. A solid collaborative relationship, whether with a team, an athlete, or a coach, requires presence, attunement, and resonance. However, these virtues and skills are placed under considerable pressure when practitioners travel with teams to major games.
