Mindfulness, a purposeful and nonjudgmental awareness of internal affective states, is emerging rapidly in the field of occupational therapy and medicine, but has not yet gained credibility in the education of the physical therapy profession. Some students lack the self-awareness needed to act on professional values, which prevents them from acting on the Generic Abilities during clinical education. In reflective practice, students are taught self-assessment, but this is often inaccurate, because it does not take into account the element of stress and relies on past experiences, which are lacking in the novice student. This qualitative, retrospective, phenomenological study explored the lived experiences of eight physical therapists between the ages of 25-30,using semi-structured interviews, to explore internal barriers prior to failure in a clinical education course, transformative experiences during remediation, and internal strategies upon successful course completion. Thematic analysis revealed three main themes. "Disconnect" occurred in the pre-failure phase, as participants relied on perfectionistic thoughts. They approached the clinic in an outcome oriented way, just like they approached multiple choice tests, which prevented a connection to patients as human beings. This time period revealed concurrent behaviors consistent with mindlessness. "Reconnect" occurred post-failure, as participants worked with new clinical instructors (CIs) during remediation and learned that they needed to ask questions rather than cover up perceived deficiencies. This time period revealed concurrent behaviors consistent with mindfulness. In practice, participants continued to seek "connection" with colleagues and patients, but they did not have an internal relationship with themselves, which may be a hindrance to quality patient care. It is recommended that CIs learn about maladaptive behaviors so that they can identify problems in young student clinicians as they arise. Based on these findings, pedagogical strategies can be employed to promote intrapersonal relationships in students, which supports more accurate self-assessment through mindful practice. Future research is needed to uncover how students seek out and apply external feedback versus internal feedback; how a CI can offer meaningful external feedback that does not threaten the high achiever; and how faculty can foster more accurate self-assessment within a core curriculum built on evaluative criteria. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]