Sports Performance

Hypnotherapy for Sports Performance

Whilst I am not going to suggest that we can excel at sport simply by using our mental ability without any physical practice, but it is very clear that sporting skills can be enhanced quite remarkably by utilising the power of our mind in a positive way.

The American soldier, Colonel George Hall, was held in prison in Vietnam for 5 1/2 years. He was kept in very difficult conditions that made it extremely difficult to keep fit, and certainly he couldn’t play his favourite sport, Golf. In order to occupy his mind and keep his sanity he played a round of golf over his favourite course back home, inside his head, at least once a day for those 5 1/2 years he was held captive. this was in spite of being kept in solitary confinement most of the time in a cell 8 1/2 feet by 8 1/2 feet.

When he left to go to Vietnam he had played golf with a 4 handicap. 5 1/2 years later he returned and was asked to play a round with some friends. To their amazement, and in spite of his physical weakness, he played to his original 4 handicap. When his friends expressed their amazement, saying that he had not played for 5 1/2 years, he told them that, on the contrary he had played mentally every day over that period and he knew every blade of grass, every bunker and every shot he had ever played.
source: The Psychology of Winning Tape.

This story has entered into legend and illustrates the point, that provided mental practice is conscientiously sustained, skills can be maintained and indeed enhanced.

Tiger woods has famously exemplified the benefits of a clear focused mindset. It is well documented that he used hypnotherapy to enhance his playing abilities from the age of 13. Like all forms of training, mental training has to be carried out conscientiously and with discipline. The ability to train mentally can be learned quite quickly, certainly painlessly, and by everyone.

Sportsmen and women, athletes of all disciplines and abilities are looking inside as well as outside themselves, seeking to develop or utilise the talents and powers that they possess. Of all the methods used to unlock the doors to the powers within each of us, one is now standing out – Hypnotherapy.

To book a FREE initial consultation click here or call Lyanne on 07773 009773

Hypnotherapy allows us to access the additional physical resources we all have inside us, that can sometimes be seen in times of emergency. With practice each of us can boost our normal mind-body levels in so many ways. Hypnotherapy is the practical application of hypnosis towards specific goals. The process of inducing hypnosis is in effect a focusing of the conscious processes to a point where an altered ‘state’ of awareness is achieved. This allows us into the main part of the mind, the subconscious, the large part of the mind that we normally have limited access to, but that is generally responsible for all our thought and behavioural patterns. Everyone can go into a hypnotic trance, and do, many times a day, hypnosis is most effective when the individual is highly motivated to be hypnotised and has a positive attitude towards the process.

Mental Rehearsal builds confidence and concentration, it also becomes an additional training camp and allows us to develop techniques that help our sporting performance, because importantly, studies have shown that when we ‘imagine’ performing an action or technique regularly we develop neural connections in the brain in the same way as if we were physically practising that technique, the muscles remember the action in the same way as the brain.

Hypnosis can also of course help to reduce performance anxiety and nerves, so we can perform under 'stress'. Promoting the visualisation of positive outcomes and having the ability of increased focus and being ‘in the moment’.

To book a FREE initial consultation click here or call Lyanne on 07773 009773