Hypnotherapy and
Hypnosis articles
Hypnotherapy, NLP and Sports Psychology
When Kelly Holmes had just won the first of her gold medals in the last
Olympic games, an interviewer asked her what had been going through her
mind as she was running. She replied “The only thing you can think
about is crossing that line – you just have to focus on winning –
if you think about falling, tripping, failing, you’ve lost.”
What Kelly was talking about here, was the mind-body connection; the enormous
power that the mind has over the body and how, if we want to succeed in
anything – be that sport, business or relationships, we need to ensure
that we are engaging our mind in a positive way.
Take
the test
Just imagine there is a 15cm wide plank of wood placed firmly
on the floor and you had to walk along it without wobbling or falling off.
Most people would find this a very easy thing to do. Imagine the same plank
of wood elevated by a metre and some people would find this much more difficult
and if elevated by 30 metres, most people would find it impossible. It’s
the same plank of wood, so what has changed? Once the plank is elevated,
negative thoughts start to come into mind – I might fall, If I fall,
I’ll hurt myself really badly, I’m no good at heights etc etc.
Being able to control negative thoughts and emotions is the basis of
sports psychology and this is done employing various psychological tools,
such as NLP and Hypnosis.
Learning these tools is an exciting and empowering way of improving the
level of your sport, whether you are simply someone who wants to get better
at your chosen sport or you are a professional.
What is NLP?
Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) utilises the Mind-Body connection that
exists in everyone by using various techniques such as mental imagery, modelling,
inner dialogue, accessing and anchoring to create positive states. It’s
well known that successful sports men and women incorporate the use of imagery
and mental rehearsal into their practice routines and this can make all
the difference to the quality and level of their sport.
The mind-body connection
If we have a negative thought, we will get a negative emotional response
and consequently our body will react by tensing up or feeling weak. In other
words, there is a strong interconnection between the thoughts we have, the
emotions that this thought generates and the reaction in our body. By learning
how to control and over-ride negative thoughts, access positive emotions
and visualise yourself performing in the way you want to, your ability in
your chosen sport will increase enormously.
How is hypnosis useful?
Hypnosis is the ultimate tool for harnessing the power of the mind-body
connection. Contrary to the popular belief that an individual under hypnosis
is under someone else’s power, hypnosis enables an individual to relax
both mind and body. We can all do this naturally. Ever been driving your
car for a distance only to “come to” and realise you haven’t
been thinking about your driving or your journey at all because your conscious
mind has been absorbed by thoughts totally unconnected with driving? If
you have experienced this, then you have put yourself into hypnosis! The
good news is that in this state of hypnosis, you will have been driving
to a very high level of performance. The reason is that once we have learnt
how to do something, this is then stored in the subconscious mind –
hence you can still drive perfectly well without consciously thinking about
it. Hypnosis occurs whenever the conscious mind is focused on something
and then the subconscious mind is open and highly alert.
Sports hypnosis can be of particular benefit to:
- Building Confidence
- Managing Emotions
- Increasing Motivation
- Improving Concentration & Focus
- Overcoming Mental Blocks
- Performance Enhancement
- Competition Nerves
- Sports Injuries
Did you know people work and learn better when
they are relaxed?
Arreed F. Barabasz researched the effect of hypnosis on airline pilots in
a Boeing 737 full motion simulator. He found that pilots in a light hypnotic
trance showed increased attentiveness compared to those who carried out
the same tasks without hypnosis.
A hypnotherapist creates the state of hypnosis by speaking in a soothing
voice, playing background music and giving suggestions for the mind and
body to relax. Once the client is relaxed, positive suggestions of how well
the client will perform in their sport, how easily he or she will overcome
tension how easy it will be to exclude negative thoughts and distractions
will be accepted by the subconscious mind. As with anything else, the more
this is practised, the stronger the belief becomes and so the body responds
to the positive thoughts and feelings.
“Belief, in sport, is everything and hypnotherapy can greatly increase
your inner beliefs”
Step One: Why do you want to improve your performance?
Knowing the level of commitment and input you can put into your chosen sport
is the first step to creating a positive approach to your sport. You may
be someone who wants to follow your chosen sporting activity as a hobby
but get greater satisfaction from it by doing it really well. If you know
there are other commitments in your life that you have to give time to,
such as family, friends and work, then you need to set aside a realistic
amount of time that you can dedicate to your sporting hobby. Obviously it
will take you longer to achieve the excellence you desire but failure to
take other commitments into account leads only to frustration, arguments,
negative thoughts and stress which in turn will prevent you from achieving
your goal. On the other hand, if you want to be a world-class performer
this requires complete and thorough dedication and training and practice
must become the centre point of your life.
So, the starting point to producing excellence without frustration and stress
is to recognise how much commitment you can give to your sport and clearly
setting out your goals.
But remember, whether you just want to
be a skilled amateur or a top professional, these skills and techniques
will bring about huge improvements to your performance.
Step Two: Goal Setting
Once you have decided why you want to improve your performance, you need
a plan in order to achieve your goal. One of the most effective ways of
setting a goal, used by professionals in sport and business is the SMART
method. Your goal should be written down so that it is:
A good goal would be:
I want to reduce my golf handicap from 28 to 20 over the next six months
by practising for at least (x number of hours) per week by focusing on
the weakest part of my game – putting - and by using positive visualisation
and mental rehearsal before and during my practice games.
Step Three: Visualisation
“They can because they think they can” - Virgil
The people in life who are successful, are so because they believe they
can succeed. No more is this true than in the field of sport as exemplified
by Ernie Els. Before he hits the ball, Ernie imagines himself performing
the perfect swing and hitting the ball in exactly the right spot. There
are no bunkers and obstacles or failure in Ernie’s game of golf,
because they are absent in his mental imagery.
So a powerful way to improve your game is to spend some time visualising
yourself performing perfectly. This is an activity that can be done anywhere
and any time. The more frequently you see yourself performing well, the
more this belief will be embedded in your subconscious mind. If you find
this difficult at first, then visualise an expert in your field, preferably
someone you admire, performing as you would like to. This is known as
Modelling. Once you have mastered seeing someone else carrying out the
action perfectly, then substitute yourself doing exactly the same thing.
Step Four: Mental Rehearsal
Mental rehearsal is similar to visualisation but it is creating a bigger
picture involving forward planning. For example, it may involve seeing
yourself leaving home, feeling calm on the journey, easily coping with
any delays or problems, arriving at the sports venue, able to keep out
distractions, getting changed, and then going through the whole sequence
of your sporting event, performing magnificently.
This is where a hypnotherapist can help enormously as you can discuss
with him or her beforehand exactly what you need. They will then create
the right state of relaxation for you and take you through a pre-prepared
script. All you will have to do is listen and allow your subconscious
mind to take it on board!
Step Five: Self-Hypnosis
Learning how to put yourself into hypnosis at will, rather than just accidentally
“drifting off” is another important skill that a hypnotherapist
can teach you. Under hypnosis, you can learn to calm your nerves, replace
negative thoughts with positive ones, employ visualisation and mental
rehearsal all of which will be stronger and more heightened because you
are in hypnosis. Once you have mastered this skill, it can be employed
in all sorts of situations; in business situations, undergoing tests or
interviews, going to the dentist, flying, changing habits – any
situation in which you would benefit from being in a calm, relaxed state
in control of your thoughts and emotions!
Back
to Articles
