 cathal
Author & Speaker Cathal O Briain is a native of Dublin, Ireland, and currently resides at his home and practice in County Kildare. He is a certified Hypnotherapist, Psychotherapist, and Hypno-Analyst.
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As you have already learned, imagery, also called visualization, or mental rehearsal, is a technique for programming your subconscious to respond as programmed. It involves using the five senses to create the desired experience in your imagination before it has actually happened. It is a mental workout that approximates reality, because all that is missing from the picture is the motor response of the muscles. By imagining a previous experience of winning, you can program your mind to expect the same by focusing on these images in hypnosis.
Imagery can be used before and during rehearsal and competition. The tennis player may spend fifteen minutes in mental rehearsal before a big match, visualizing a perfect performance, set by set. Just before they serve, imagery can again be used to pin-point exactly where the ball is going to land.
Imagery is where you think in images instead of words. By allowing perception to become more visual, you are less distracted by thoughts that often interfere in the form of words. Paying close attention to detail in your imaginings helps increase the likelihood of your subconscious carrying out your intentions in reality, as does adding rich colour or feeling the cricket bat in your hand. Some athletes get nervous purely on account of the crowd capacity where they are performing. By imagining the crowd supporting you, and what these people will look and sound like, unrealistic fear can be significantly reduced on the day of the big event through self-hypnosis. When imagining, it’s important to see events unfolding as if you are looking through your own eyes, rather than observing yourself from a distance. Feel the feelings that come with being in the zone, even if this means imagining sweat on your body. See yourself in full flight, exerting just the right amount of intensity, at just the right time. See the end result, hear the crowd erupting and feel the trophy in your hand. The more senses you involve, the more instilled these images become in your subconscious. Repeating the same images daily in hypnosis will keep your program positive and up-to-date. Post-hypnotic suggestions and cues will help maintain confidence, motivation, and focus. Here are some examples of the type of post-hypnotic suggestions you can use;
● “The sound of the crowd relaxes me deeply.”
● “The more I run, the more energy I feel.”
● “When I breathe deeply, I concentrate.”
● “Each time I train, I get better and better.”
● “The tougher the opposition, the stronger I become.”
The Benefits of Using Self-Hypnosis in Sport
● In the same way breath, suggestion, imagination, concentration, belief, and expectancy are central to hypnosis, so too are they central to sport. It’s all about preparation, and what better way to prepare than to relax in trance each day.
● Improved confidence, motivation, stamina, mind-body connection, focus, perception, intensity, energy, self-control, self-discipline, self-awareness, physical strength, time management, balance between work, family, social and sport life.
● Faster recuperation and recovery time.
● Ability to control pain.
● The ability to get into the zone quickly and easily.
● By mentally rehearsing training and competition in hypnosis, you significantly increase the likihood of achieving your goals in reality.
● Hypnosis can be used to generate desire and interest, where the incentive to train or compete may be lacking.
● By looking after your emotional needs, you are looking after your sporting needs. Hypnosis provides such a platform for emotional healing to take place, where anxiety, worry, and stress can be reduced or removed.
● Hypnosis keeps the digestive system relaxed and stress-free. This is important to the athlete whos diet can sometimes be very strict. Certain protein enriched foods can irritate the bowel, but stress will almost certainly aggrivate an existing problem.
● Hypnosis brings all the appropriate muscles into play, so that outbursts of energy are channelled into the right areas of the body.
● When you visualize a making a perfect movement or action, the muscles needed to accomplish that action begin moving in the correct way. With practice, these mentally rehearsed movements are easily transferred to the tennis court, golf course, swimming pool etc.
● When concentration and relaxation are total, the mind naturally slips into a heightened state of awareness. This is what gives certain athletes the edge over others. While many people use concentration and relaxation techniques to improve their game, few use their mental abilities to quite the same degree as those practicing self-hypnosis.
Mental Training for Mental Toughness
Mental training should cover a wide variety of skills and not be restricted to just performance preparation and competition. Conditioning the mind involves getting the most out of training sessions, dealing with setbacks, recovering from injury, combating fatigue, and coping with sickness and frustration. A strong mind can help the body recover quicker, so by staying mental fit, you stay physically fit also. For the athlete approaching a big event they are not yet mentally prepared for, a lack in self-belief could give rise to psychosomatic symptoms, such as poor concentration, cramps, or injury. The subconscious must be convinced that there’s nothing to fear and that competition is a challange to be pursued and won. If it has not been convinced, it may then attempt to sabotage the athletes plans by creating barriers in an effort to keep them away from the event. This act of sabotage happens at a subconscious level, and so, must be rectified there too. Hypnosis has been proven a useful tool for overcoming such mental obstacles, because it paints a clear picture in the subconscious of what success looks and feels like, and how it should be replicated into reality. By removing unrealistic fear and bolstering your belief system, you automatically begin increasing self-confidence, possibly the most essential component for achieving success in sport.
"Powerful Mind Through Self-Hypnosis" By Author Cathal O Briain MICHP - Book Release: 28th of May, 2010
