Sports Hypnosis. Using hypnosis to improve your game and get in the flow.
Any athlete will tell you that their mental state in training and competition, be it negative or positive, will impact their overall performance.
Sports performance is in the mind as much as it is in the body. In order to be at the top of your game, you need to develop and continue to work on, a winners mindset.
In this post we are looking at Sports Hypnosis and answer a few important questions.
Question 1: Can you be hypnotised to perform better?
Answer: YES
Question 2: If so, is it cheating?
Answer: ABSOLUTELY NOT
Question 3: Why not?
Answer: Because whenever you are in a flow state, in the zone, highly focused, hypervigilant, absorbed, imagining something vividly, you are in a hypnotic trance, an alpha / theta brainwave state.
When time seems to stand still, you are at one with your instinct, an artist into your art, like a rapper freestyling, a dancer dancing, a drummer knocking out beats, an athlete headed for the finish, a footballer going for goal, you are so absorbed in what you’re doing, you perform without thinking (consciously) you’re in “The Zone”.
Athletes, artists, entrepreneurs, scientists, writers, filmmakers, musicians and all highly creative people practice, and aim to perfect getting into and staying, in the zone. A completely natural transformative spot on the alpha and theta border, a place of super-charged learning and creativity.
When you are in the zone, a flow state you are:
- Super focused
- Super intuitive
- Cognitive thinking is enhanced
- You possess the ability to problem solve on the spot, to think outside the box
- Your creativity and intelligence is super charged
- Physical and mental strength is increased
- Speed is increased
- Anxiety is decreased
In hypnosis you are:
- Super focused
- Super intuitive
- Cognitive thinking is enhanced
- You possess the ability to problem solve on the spot, to think outside the box
- Your creativity and intelligence is super charged
- Physical and mental strength is increased
- Speed is increased (mental)
- Anxiety is decreased
If you are a professional sports person, or training to be one, you will practice every day and are likely be in great physical shape, but outside of training, in front of fans and large crowds where your every move is analysed, critiqued and judged, you may occasionally under-perform or make avoidable mistakes. In therapy you can discover and work on any mental blocks that need to be removed in order for you to unlock your full potential and perform at your best.
Most professional athletes, coaches and managers will be open to the idea of reducing stress, improving concentration and enhancing overall performance, and therefore will benefit from clinical hypnotherapy as part of a multi-faceted approach to psychological training.
In clinical hypnotherapy a lot of emphasis is put on mental imagery, aka visualisation or mental rehearsal. This involves using all of your senses (sight, touch, hear, taste, smell) to rehearse your sports performance in your mind.
Research shows that when you use your imagination to visualise something intensely, similar areas in the brain light up, as if you are actually experiencing it, suggesting that visualisation is a powerful tool in training of any kind.
Under the care of a skilled clinical hypnotherapist, athletes can dramatically improve their sports performance, speed up post game recovery, remove negative thoughts, mental blocks, reduce stress and anxiety and anything else that may be preventing them from unlocking their full potential and maintain their winners mindset.
If you would like to know more, or schedule an appointment, get in touch today.
