HOW HYPNOSIS WORKS IN SPORTS
Sports psychology has been around for many, many years, even as long ago
as the 1950's, Soviet Olympic teams were employing the services of hypnotists to
greatly enhance their athletes performances, and in the modern day, sports
hypnosis is a rapidly expanding area of interest the world over.
Without any doubt, it is the mind that holds the determining factors over just
about all of our performances and behavior, and so it is in mastering the mind,
that the sports-person has the greatest chance of performing at their personal
best.
We have all heard statements like....."His mind's just not on the game
today"....Or perhaps, we might have known someone who excels at their sport
when training, yet crumples under the pressure of competition. Just like those
people who drive perfectly with their tutor, yet get so nervous with the test
examiner, that they fail miserably.
So hypnosis can play a major role in helping the sports-person prepare
themselves mentally, and that preparation will typically include a whole package
of approaches, naturally tailored to the sports-persons requirements, and will
nearly always include methods designed to:
Overcome self-doubt, mental rehearsal, positive visualization, encourage rapid
healing from any injury, increase confidence, increase motivation, perspective
changes, develop single mindedness, increased concentration and focus, eliminate
negativity, promote positive expectation, reduce performance anxiety, increase
self belief, etc.etc!
Here are two examples of how hypnosis has successfully been used to enhance
sports performance.... A basketball coach who called upon a hypnotist to see if
his teams skill could be enhanced in any way. The hypnotist sat half of the team
down, relaxed them, and instructed them to visualize throwing shot after
successful shot, at the basket. Meanwhile....the other half of the team, were
practicing throwing their basket shots for real.
The coach noticed that the players who were simply visualizing throwing
successful baskets, were displaying tiny micro-muscular movements in their arm
and leg muscles, even though they were apparently relaxing. These tiny muscular
movements were taking place because the players were actually establishing new
neural pathways in their brains, encoding the mental/physical information needed
to produce successful basket shots, directly into their muscles!
After they had experienced this process several times over several days, the
team had improved their actual basket shots by nearly 50%, while the players
who'd simply practiced shots at the basket, had barely improved.
Hypnosis is not a magic bullet, it will not, and can not, turn a talent-less
athlete into a superstar......hypnosis will however, amplify the athlete's
inherent talent and abilities, providing a means whereby the athlete can access
as much of their own talent as can be possible.
Finally, all sports, even not-so-physical pursuits like darts, pool, golf,
tennis, running baseball, bowling, and many other sports will require mental
factors of strategy and concentration, which naturally involve the mind, and as
hypnosis is a mind oriented approach, it can quite literally assist anyone, and
everyone, to get the best out of themselves and their individual activities!
So what are you waiting for?
Don't let the competition beat you to it !