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Have you ever wished that you could be more consistent in your chosen sport? Perhaps your game flows smoothly during practice, but somehow seems to let you down when things become more competitive? And what’s going on on those days when everything just seems to fall into place?
Sports Psychology
Sports psychology certainly isn’t a new or unfamiliar concept. Soviet Olympic teams were using it in the 1950s, and today, most professional teams or players employ a psychologist or coach to influence the mental factors affecting performance.
So you’re probably already aware that mental rehearsal is considered a vital ingredient for sporting success – and any form of mental rehearsal is, in effect, hypnosis. What’s not so well known is that it’s how you mentally rehearse that makes the difference. It’s quite possible to mentally rehearse success the wrong way!
In this article, we’ll look at the right way to use hypnosis for sports improvement.
The Psychology of Power
In his book, The Psychology of Power, J.A. Hadfield describes an experiment in which he tested subjects’ strength by having them grip a dynamometer, under three different conditions of awareness. In normal, everyday consciousness, the average grip was measured at 101lb. Subjects were then hypnotized and given the suggestion that they were very weak – the average grip fell to just 29lb. Lastly, subjects were given the hypnotic suggestion that they were very strong – and the average grip was then measured at 142lb. This is an almost 50% increase in strength!
Hypnosis doesn’t just improve brute strength. It can also be used to improve technique.
Colonel George Hall was a USAAF pilot who was shot down over North Vietnam in 1965. Captured by the VietCong, he was incarcerated in a POW camp for seven years. Throughout his long captivity, he escaped into his imagination and imagined playing golf. He relived in his mind the perfect days that he’d enjoyed on the course, the smell of the grass, the sunlight on his skin, and hitting the perfect shot, time after time.
One month after his return from the war, Col. Hall played in a tournament and shot a 76. His long years of mental practice had improved his game. Why? Because he’d practiced success.
Practice Makes Perfect?
Col. Hall’s story teaches us something very important. Practice doesn’t necessarily make perfect. You could practice all day every day, but if you consistently miss, all you’re doing is becoming very skilled at missing. The saying should really be perfect practice makes perfect.
So how do you practice perfectly?
Researchers Sian Beilock and Sara Gonso tested the putting accuracy of 15 novice student golfers and 13 students with at least ten years golfing experience.
The students completed their putts after one of two imagery tasks: either ten imaginary putts performed as fast and as accurately as possible, or ten imagined putts performed as accurately as possible, taking as long as they wanted.
The skilled golfers then performed real life putts, and demonstrated more accuracy after the fast imagery task than after the slow imagery task. The opposite was true for the novices, who putted more accurately after imagining slow putts.
This fits in with research on the effects of speed on real life actions. Experienced athletes benefit from executing moves quickly whereas novices typically benefit from taking their time and thinking about actions which are not yet familiar.
In another experiment, Australian researchers asked 20 highly experienced golfers to do one of three things whilst taking a putt – focus on three words associated with their technique (eg, arms, weight, head); focus on three irrelevant words, such as the names of colors; or focus on one word associated with how they wanted their action to be, eg smooth.
The golfers then performed in two situations – one for fun and one where real money was at stake. Their performances were only adversely affected in the real money game and only if they thought about the words associated with their technique. Conversely, their performance improved under pressure when thinking about the irrelevant words and was absolutely at its best when thinking about the positive summary word.
The Flow State
All of these findings show us how to defeat our inner opponent. We can rehearse the perfect game in your mind, just as Col. Hall did in Vietnam. We can make this even more effective by rehearsing at a level appropriate to our expertise – eg, by taking it slowly at first if we have to, just as we would in real life.
Furthermore, we need to switch off unwanted distractions. The golfers in the Australian experiment performed badly when under pressure, both from the circumstances of the game and from their own internal chatter. This would have aroused anxiety, even if they weren’t consciously aware of it. The chemical changes brought about by that heightened emotion disrupted the appropriate muscle tension, interfering with actions that are usually automatic.
Psychologists refer to the state of effortless unconscious skill as the flow state. It can be disrupted, as the Australian experiment shows. But it can also be accessed very quickly, and that can be done through hypnosis.
Process vs Outcome
When you’re game goes smoothly in practice sessions, it’s because you’re not really thinking about anything else, except playing the game, whatever it might be. The outcome is irrelevant.
On the other hand, when you play in a competitive situation and you really, really want to win, suddenly the outcome is very relevant. You stop focusing on the game, and start focusing on the result. Consequently, your performance drops. Anxiety interferes with the neural pathways that control your muscle actions, and automatic things become conscious. You’ve dropped out of the flow state.
To achieve the flow state, we need to get out of our own way.
A Hypnotic Technique For Sports Improvement
The following hypnotic technique brings all of these findings together, and is an effective for sports improvement at any level.
* If you have a particular sports role model or hero, watch a number of performances of them in action.
* Find somewhere where you can relax comfortably for a while. You can even do this standing up.
* Close your eyes, and imagine that your role model is stood in front of you, engaged in their sport. Make this as detailed as you possibly can in your mind’s eye.
* Now imagine what it would be like if you could step into their body, and begin to see the game through their eyes. What do they see, hear and feel?
* Imagine playing the perfect game as your role model. Notice how effortless it seems to them, how distractions or thoughts of the future fade away, and how they simply focus on the game at hand.
* Replay the game in your mind in slow motion, and then at normal speed. You can do this as many times as you choose.
* Take a deep breath and return to the room in your own time, bringing some of that new understanding with you.
I hope you enjoyed this article and if you did I’m sure you’ll enjoy our next article on Hypnosis Tips For Stress Relief.
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