Seeking the competitive edge?

Hypnosis and the Power of Suggestion

The positive effects of hypnosis are not just to achieve maximum effort during competition, but to improve all of the qualities necessary to make a champion athlete.

Hypnosis helps athletes perform at their best because actual neural growth occurs as a result of mental imagery. Hypnosis creates the mental state where they are able to perform at or near their peak.

There are two basic types of imagery rehearsal; process and result. Process imagery is imagining the various physical steps that must be undertaken in order to accomplish a specific task. Then the athlete might imagine the precise outcome they want and then imagine the feeling of elation or success that would accompany winning. This is result imagery. Teaching athletes self-hypnosis is perhaps the best way to have them perform mental rehearsals before their activity.

Because hypnosis is a process of focused attention, it can enhance concentration on a physical activity. First, it is important to eliminate distractions in nearly every sport, reducing the effect of sound, sight and physical distractions which surround an event and can thus impede concentration and performance. By preventing distraction, athletes perform at a higher optimal level.

Affective control, as it relates to athletic performance, is the control of anxiety and emotion. With low emotional engagement, performance tends not to be very good. As motivation becomes greater, performance improves. Yet, performance begins to fall as too high a level of tension interferes with the execution of the task. Anxiety often occurs as a result of stress.

When hypnosis is used to help control anxiety, it allows for individual differences as well as the situational demands in the sport performance. The goal is to have the excitement and anticipation of competence and competition create just the right amount of energy and engaged focus for each athlete to achieve their best performance.

Mental relaxation affects greater mental alertness. This type of mental alertness is a positive feature, and it produces better physical and mental reactions as well as better physical coordination.

Relaxation techniques can be used for cognitive restructuring, for mental practice and for visual motor behavioral rehearsal. Since physical tension is counter-productive to athletic performance, relaxation becomes an important goal.

Specific, reasonable and realistic goals are improved with the use of hypnosis. Reasonable and realistic goals are the result of using mental training or hypnosis over time. The best results are achieved when mental training and hypnotic induction accompany regular physical workouts and practice.