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Hypnosis in Sports
By Chaplin Paul G. Durbin, Ph.D.
The use of hypnosis to enhance sports performance is widely recognized. Baseball, football, basketball, hockey, tennis players, bowlers, golfers, and other athletes practice hypnosis and self hypnosis to improve their performance.
The job of the hypnotherapist is to help the person remove negative mind sets which interfere with his skills and replace those negative thoughts with positive helpful thoughts. Sometimes a player is "trying" too hard and not doing what comes naturally: aiming his pitches, taking his eyes off the ball, and being too tense. A player can have great potential but if his mind is not in agreement, problems arise. The body will not do anything that the mind doesn't allow it to. By proper use of the mind, a player can live up to his abilities.
As you work with an athlete, understand that you cannot be completely familiar with all sports and every aspect of every sport. In order to help a player, you collect information from coaches or experts in the sport. With some knowledge in mind, determine areas where problems are experienced and make a plan to help the individual overcome the problem.
In addition to reaching relaxation, concentration, and self-hypnosis; positive suggestions and imagery are used. Imagery is very helpful and important in improving sports performance. The images should incorporate both seeing the necessary moves and experience the feeling of the muscles smoothly and easily following through with the visualization. Help the client translate his imagery into muscle movement as if he were doing it in reality. Emphasis is placed on doing it right, doing it just the way the client desires. A good suggestion is "You find that you easily keep your eye on the ball as it comes toward the plate, automatically estimating where the bat must be in order to accurately hit the ball. Feel your muscles following through automatically, enabling you to hit the ball." That statement works much better than "You won't strike out." You desire the client to focus on hitting the ball. Focus on the positive.
Self-Hypnosis is very important and can be used while actually playing the sport. The client can reinforce suggestions by use of post-hypnotic suggestion with a trigger mechanism. A batter may tap the plate and experience relaxed concentration. A pitcher may touch the bill of his cap and be focused for his next pitch. A golfer can take a deep breath and exhale slowly as he imagines where his next ball goes.
Have the client visualize himself doing the mechanics of his sport correctly. You may suggest, "Imagine you are succeeding at your sport. You are confident and in control, you see your actions and reactions as natural responses to the competition. You enjoy your sport and you succeed. You feel good about yourself and your confidence is increasing. Go through your mental rehearsal time and time again doing it just the way it should be done and have a positive attitude. You mentally are doing it just right.
Drew's Case History: Drew, a 21 year old college baseball pitcher, came to me to help on his concentration while pitching. When pitching, he was at times brilliant and other times ineffective due to wildness. He would be pitching very good, lose his concentration and began to walk batters. When he lost concentration, the batters would begin to hit the pitches he threw across the plate. It was a vicious cycle which was blocking a promising future in professional baseball. I had seen him pitch many times and believed that he had great potential. I used a self-confidence script with emphasis on concentration and confidence while pitching. I told him that it was important for him to use his ability for imagery. He is to picture himself just as he wanted to be. I told him of the power of imagery to bring about his desires.
Star Wars: One of the most popular movie series to come out in recent years has been the "Star War" movies. I would like to focus on the second one, "The Empire Strikes Back." Perhaps you saw that movie. If you did, nod your head "yes". He nodded "yes". (If "no", I say, "Well, let me tell you about it.")...You may remember in that movie, we continue with the heroes and villains of the first movie. Once again, we find ourselves engaged with Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, and the robots R2-D2 and C-3PO, as they do battle with Darth Vader and the Legions of the Dark Empire.
One of the most fascinating new characters of "The Empire Strikes Back" is a strange little fellow named, "Yoda". The short, odd-looking little individual is the master teacher of the Jedi Knights. The Jedi Knights are commissioned as universal agents of goodness and righteousness.
Luke Skywalker is sent to Yoda for training to become a Jedi Knight, but the training does not always run smoothly. When Yoda attempts to teach Luke to raise Luke's space ship up and out of a swamp through the force of thought and imagery, Luke fails. After Luke's failure to move the ship, Yoda levitated the space ship up and out of the swamp by thought alone. Luke watches in amazement, saying, "I don't believe it!" Yoda responds, "That is why you failed."
The "Star War" movies are fictitious, but the story of Luke Skywalker and Yoda can be looked upon as a parable. Imagery is a powerful source of healing, overcoming unwanted habits, increasing self-confidence, and making positive changes in your life. Imagery consist of vividly picturing in your conscious mind desired goals, objectives, and holding that image until it sinks into your subconscious mind, where it releases great untapped energies. Imagery is based upon the principle that there is a deep tendency in human nature to ultimately become precisely that which one images himself to be. The wise old man of Proverbs states that whatsoever a person thinks in his heart, so is he. Jesus said, "Whatsoever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours." read more›
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I am much more "target oriented" as opposed to focusing on 97 different swing thoughts. As a result, I find myself hitting a very high percentage of fairways. I've lowered my handicap by 20% and I now shoot in the 80's almost 50% of the time I play. Prior to utilizing the program, I might break 90 once a month.
-- Ken Alterwitz, Loomis, CA |
