The Inner Athletics Research Map (Higgins, 2018) explores how people people perform and flourish in life, work, and sport, and the role of psychology, philosophy, and physiology in their stress management and recovery process.

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In 2018, I created this map to capture my broader areas of interest and research in these areas, particularly in relation to fitness, yoga, and martial arts. Informing this research is the science and philosophy of Positive Psychology and Exercise & Sport Psychology, and coaching/training approaches.

My first wave of research studies are exploring cognitive, affective, spiritual, social, somatic, and kinaesthetic aspects of motivation, and the role of movement, exercise, and sport in character development. They suggest that love of movement is a character strength while motivation to practice is driven by a desire to self-develop and self-actualise, and for some, to escape suffering and/or self-transcend.