The Mindbuffs Podcast

In today’s episode, Mat and Kayla give you the skinny on types of therapy you might encounter as a client along with the benefits and limitations of each. The goal is to help you (the client) advocate for yourself and provide listeners with insight into past therapeutic experiences. The podcast includes a Q & A with a non-therapist (Minah), who asks the burning questions folks have prior to their first session. 

The weight of performance: How Athletes View Their Bodies

Lindsay is taking the lead on this series debut of the Body image issues in athletes podcast. Having written her thesis on this topic, Lindsay accounts her passion for it on being an athlete herself. Her experience as a competitive basketball player combined with the accumulated knowledge from research and client experience makes her the perfect source to address these issues.

This episode introduces the upcoming conversations that will support athletes in having healthy relationships with their bodies. The conversations will be based on the previously covered premises of dismantling the toxicity in sports and building a fresh and motivating culture. As a sports therapist who noticed the recurring themes of body images in sports, Lindsay felt a moral obligation to shield athletes from these issues. She also plans to educate coaches, caregivers, and sports supporters on communicating effectively with athletes.

The talk evolves to cover the implications of the language of the body in performance settings. This includes how coaches try to motivate players with fear-inducing comments and the long-term impacts it has on them. Mat and Lindsay open up about their own experiences in competitive sports and share how that impacted their relationships with their bodies. The two provide varying perspectives as they experienced opposites on the body shape spectrum. This made for an interesting discussion that you will be glad to have been a part of.

The Power & Control Wheel in Sports series discusses challenges in athletic and team cultures where power dynamics are unavoidable. In this conversation, Mat and Lindsay discuss how intentional and unintentional actions can decrease or diminish the confidence, performance, and well-being of players. Both draw from personal and clinical experience, examining how controlling behavior manifests in athletic spaces. 

In this episode of the confidence series, you'll learn the role that inner voices play in nurturing or breaking down confidence and the importance of self-compassion. Mat and Kayla explore what happens internally when we make a mistake and how our response relates to self-esteem. The discussion elaborates on the f-words of stress response (fight, freeze, flight, fawn, feign and flop), leaving space for big feelings, and how to move through difficult emotions and experiences without becoming stuck. Enjoy improved self-awareness with your two favourite confidence coaches. 

Fit at any cost: Eating Disorders in Sport

For the upcoming Eating Disorder Awareness Week, which runs from February 1 to 7, these three athletes and Mindbuffs psychologists, Alex, Ana, and Lindsay, address the stigma and taboo surrounding eating disorders. All three, former or current competitors in different sports, share their experiences with specific sports cultures and the impact on athletes' health and performance.

Acting as the host is Alex who brings to light the silence around eating disorders and body image issues in sports. She leads the discussion down a path of vulnerability and empathy that many athletes will resonate with. Previously a competing figure skater herself, she unravels the toxic culture within the industry by unpacking her experiences.

Lindsay talks about aesthetic and non-aesthetic sports and the mind-blowing evidence that contrary to popular belief, athletes in aesthetic sports struggle less with body image issues than those in non-aesthetic sports. As a basketball player herself, she recalls when unsolicited backhanded compliments were harmful and why it is important for society to not project into athletes. 

Ana chimes in that it’s hard when athletes are healthy but society does not idealize their bodies as normal. She later elaborates that as an Olympic-style weightlifter, she knows that her body is healthy but she often struggles with how people can perceive her body as different depending on the social context. She mentions perfectionism as a cause of body issues in athletes and explains how perfectionism can serve a good purpose and when it can be detrimental.

Through research-backed evidence, lived experiences, and the well-informed minds of sports psychologists, this conversation needed to be had and all athletes should hear it. Listeners will see eating disorders and body-image issues through a compassionate lens to have a healthier year.

In this episode, Sport & Performance Psychologists Mat de Moissac and Kayla Unrau explore the importance of connection, the loneliness epidemic, and how shaking up your social groups can be an excellent way to orient your life around your values. Recalling lessons learned from recent experiences, they discuss why this topic feels personally important and what research says about just how many friends it takes to be inoculated against loneliness. 

In this episode of the confidence series, we discuss the roles that our priorities, self talk, and community play in building the foundation of how we see ourselves. Mat and Kayla also explore how an athlete’s ability to recognize and meet their own needs can support confidence development and how reframing performance anxiety in the moment can build a history of self-belief.

Registered Psychologists Mat de Moissac and Kaya Unrau talk about what confidence really means for athletes and how it can be harnessed for optimal performance. They break down various types of confidence, explaining how each plays a role in an athlete’s journey and discuss the relationship between confidence, adversity, resilience, and mastery. 

Join Registered Psychologists Mat de Moissac and Lindsay Piper for part 2 of their in-depth exploration of coercion in sport. Building on their previous discussion, they cover how coercion presents in athletic environments and the implications for athletes’ performance and mental health. The conversation proposes steps that coaches and organizations can take to enhance athlete safety and create a culture where everyone thrives. 

This week, Registered Sport & Performance Psychologist Mat de Moissac and Certified Mental Performance Consultant Shawna Shuster continue their conversation on the role of appreciation in a successful workplace culture. They explore how genuine acknowledgement and consistent appreciation can transform your work environment, enhance employee engagement, and build a resilient team. Learn how to build an ecosystem of appreciation with practical strategies that are sure to elevate your bottom line.