Self-discipline
We all need discipline to help us stay on track and achieve our goals. your goal may be based on sports performance. I remember when I represented my school in the relay race. The four of us trained weekly. Not only were we perfecting our physical performance; we were also focusing our minds on successfully working as a team and achieving our best. There was no room for doubt or negative self-talk.
Although I didn’t realise it at the time; I was using my imagination and creating positive mental images. As a result; these helped me to keep my mind focused on successful outcomes. This was helping me combat my nerves in readiness for sports performance.
The power of positive mental rehearsal
Scientific research shows us that mental rehearsal and visualisation can affect the chemical responses in our bodies; helping us to produce the feel good hormone serotonin. This drives us to succeed. Added to the positive chemical mix of neurotransmitters are dopamine and endorphins, giving us a big energy boost and enabling us to push ourselves further on a physical level.
In turn, we are also building and strengthening very useful neural pathways. These help pave the way to success; as we actively practice what we need to do to achieve this. Muscle memory can also become more ingrained through repetition and the perfection of certain moves. Because we are also developing the skills needed to stay positively focused; less helpful neural circuits that generate unwanted responses such as self-doubt, can more easily be controlled.
Positivity and self-empowerment
As a solution focused hypnotherapist, pro-action and positivity are key components of the therapeutic process. These skills are also required for peak physical performance in whatever sport we choose. Solution focused hypnotherapy can be very effective for emotional regulation. In a pressurised situation; for example serving at match point in tennis, keeping your cool is essential. Possessing the ability to stay in control is the mark of a champion.
Visualisation can be a powerful tool
By delving into our tool kit of inner resources; we can feel more in control of our thoughts and emotions. Therefore, we are able to keep a mindful focus on the present. This creates a useful space to concentrate on a preferred future. This process that can be enhanced through visualisation. Such heightened focus can help to produce strong and enduring ways of thinking and intensify the expectation of attaining success.
Successful sports personalities
Often referred to as the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time, Muhammad Ali is a significant and widely celebrated sports figure of the twentieth century. Behind the scenes, he was successfully using visualisation to focus on how he would fight his opponent, rehearsing every detail; move by move and through each round of the match. When he was confident he could defeat his opponent, he would announce this to the World in a press statement, even stating the specific details of how he would do it. When matched with his skills and talent, his desired outcomes invariably came true. Visualisation can add real power to the realisation of our goals, whatever they might be.
In the Melbourne Olympics of 1956, accompanying the Russian team were several hypnotherapists to help with the process of visualisation to help the athletes create images of the exact movements they wanted to achieve.
Our subconscious may be hindering our sports performance. Hypnosis helps to lock these actions in to our minds on a subconscious level. Having the confidence to then trust that the subconscious mind knows what to do and has done this many times over can help with the ability to enter into the flow of sporting excellence. By reducing anxiety and increasing positivity, we can challenge and override any negative thoughts such as negatively forecasting or overthinking. We can still remain in intellectual control, whilst trusting the subconscious to get on with it.
We can train our brain
Positive mental rehearsal is intrinsic in solution focused therapy, as well as the ability to be calm and mindfully aware in the present. Research carried out on Buddhist monks using brain scanning equipment, shows that meditation alters activity in the brain.
This mental training produces enduring changes in the brain. It’s amazing and potentially a life changer, or in the world of sport, a game changer to think that a positive mental state is a skill that can be trained. Just as we train our bodies, so we can get our minds on board and train them to perform well in sporting contexts and potentially in all areas of our lives, or whatever we bring our minds to bear upon.
The exciting potentials within neuroplasticity
I am forever excited by neuroplasticity! This means our brains have the potential to change. There is the capacity for areas and circuits in our brains to rewire in ways that can enhance the way we think and therefore function in our lives. This can also include sports performance. We can take responsibility for the thoughts we create and adopt new ones because we know that neurons that fire together wire together and we can therefore create new neural pathways that better serve us. We can all tap into this amazing ability and take responsibility for our brains!
A little bit about me
Emma Victoria Tranmer MA (Hons) PGCE HPD DSFH Member of the AfSFH, fully accredited Clinical Solution Focused Hypnotherapist.
I specialise in helping people overcome anxiety and stress related issues. Having undergone hypnotherapy myself , and seeing the amazing benefits it has brought for me, I enjoy helping others do the same. Working as a hypnotherapist is incredibly rewarding and my love of learning and personal growth means I am always looking at ways to further my own professional development and skills in what I do. Hypnotherapy can help with a wide range of issues and I see clients with varied challenges like sports performance, addictions, phobias, disturbed sleep, panic attacks and depression.
Book an Appointment with Emma
You can take positive steps to help you attain a hopeful perspective so you can move forward. Hypnotherapy can help you find the tools and inner resources to do this; step by step. Become the confident, healthier, happier you!
At Emma Victoria Hypnotherapy I offer a FREE Initial Consultation where you can meet me and find out more about what I do. This will also give me the opportunity to understand where you are in your life right now and what you would like to achieve.
There may be something else that you, or someone you might know, is struggling with right now. Give me a call on 07550 098029 to discuss in strictest confidence.
My social media is bursting with useful ideas, articles, inspiring quotes and much more…
https://www.facebook.com/emmavictoriahypnotherapy/
https://twitter.com/EmmaTranmer
https://www.instagram.com/emmavictoriatranmer/
Take positive steps, now, to feel calmer, happier and more in control.