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Improve Sports Performance
Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan and Greg Louganis use visualization before events. These three top athletes are from different generations and from different sports but they are widely considered to the best in their sport and they use mental imagery in order to improve results. Louganis would visualize somebody else performing a dive and when he could see it carried out perfectly, he would imagine himself performing the same dive. Tiger Woods imagines himself producing the perfect swing and playing the perfect shot immediately before doing exactly that. Bunkers or obstacles don't exist in his mental images.
Professional sports teams are using meditation classes and martial-arts techniques to improve the minds of their players. In the Olympics, when fractions of a second mean the difference between a gold and silver medal, athletes have long used mind-body exercises. Soviet Olympic teams as long ago as the 1950's were employing hypnotists to greatly enhance their athlete’s performances.
Boost your Body's Healing Power with Hypnosis
Both Hypnosis and Biofeedback can help an athlete’s performance by increasing concentration and focus, eliminating negativity, promoting positive expectation, reducing performance anxiety, increasing self belief, mental rehearsal, positive visualization, encouraging rapid healing from injury, increasing confidence, increasing motivation, perspective changes, developing single mindedness and learning how to intentionally enter “the zone”.
Consider biofeedback as exercise for the brain. Used by itself or to enhance other techniques such as relaxation, imagery drills and focus. The brain states needed for good performance in specific sport skills have been identified (Collins et al, 1990, Knottinen & Lyytinen, 1993b, Rossi & Zani, 1991, Salazar 1990).
Use of biofeedback to assess and train specific sport skills is where major improvements in performance can occur. In task specific situations, like shooting, archery, or golf, biofeedback can be used to reinforce the productive brain state.
Since imagery has been found to be beneficial for improving sport performance it would seem reasonable to use biofeedback in imagery assessment and training. The alpha brain wave has been shown to correlate with imagery.
In assessing the EEG’s of the visual and kinesthetic imagery of elite swimmers low alpha, 7-9 Hz, was predominate.
Also biofeedback and hypnosis provide an excellent way to work on depression that typically comes with injuries and from negative experiences in sport - performing poorly - ‘losing’. Negative experiences may not only affect the sport performance but may have life-long consequences on self-confidence and esteem.
The degree of depression, chronic fatigue or eating disorders in sport can interfer with attention and training capabilities. Many of the symptoms of these disorders are considered ‘normal’ and are often dismissed by athletes and coaches. They can be successfully treated with biofeedback.
Whether you are a competitive athlete or recreational exerciser, recovering from injury can keep you from your sport. How you respond to treatment and speed of recovery is controlled by your mind, your involvement in the recovery process, and keeping a positive outlook. This is where sports hypnosis can help.
The mind and the body are linked. Your mind tells your body what movements to make and your body tells your mind what it is experiencing. The mind is the most powerful computer in the world and it can help your body to achieve amazing things. It can give you sporting excellence and achievement.
Soviet research proved that athletic excellence in sports and martial arts is keyed by mastery of tension and relaxation.
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