Perfect Your Sport! Perfect Your Life!
PERFECT YOUR SPORT
PERFECT YOUR LIFE
Elizabeth Mahaney, Ph.D
&
Harriet Raitano, Ph.D
Title ID3407620
Title: Perfect Your Sport Perfect Your
Life
Description: Maximize your sports performance with this
practical and easy to follow
manual.
ISBN1449575838
EAN-139781449575830
Primary Category:
Sports & Recreation / General
Country of Publication: United
States
Language: English
Search Keywords: self help; sports
performance; goal achievement; self hypnosis
Contributors:
Authored by
Elizabeth Mahaney Ph.D.
Authored by Harriet Raitano Ph.D.
Table of Contents
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PG |
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Dedications |
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Acknowledgements |
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1 |
Introduction |
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2 |
Neuro-Linguistic Psychology |
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3 |
Breathing Techniques |
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Breathing for Tension Relief |
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*Breathing and Counting |
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*The Sighing Breath |
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*Letting go of Tension Breath |
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Breathing to Control Symptoms |
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*Core Breathing for Injury or Soreness |
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*Breathing for Headaches |
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Breathing for Awareness |
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*Abdominal Breathing |
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*Deep Breathing |
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4 |
Relaxation Techniques |
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Progressive Muscle Relaxation |
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Relaxation By Release |
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Quick Relaxation |
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5 |
Visualization |
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Square Eye Movement Technique |
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Metaphorical Visual Images |
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6 |
Self Hypnosis |
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Anchoring |
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How to create a script |
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Hypnotize Yourself |
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Trance Activity |
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Reinvent Yourself |
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Controlling Anxiety |
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7 |
Putting It All Together |
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Food Hygiene |
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Sleep Hygiene |
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Pain And Illness |
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Stress Hygiene |
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Daily Practice for Optimal Sports Performance |
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My Committed Action Plan Journal for 30 days |
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About The Authors |
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DEDICATIONS
To all of the individuals who have worked so diligently at improving their sport and lifestyle and who had the courage to ask for and accept guidance through a rough yet exciting adventure. Keep up the healthy, self-care, and focus! Perfect your sport! Perfect your life!
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
To Marvin and Linda, for their computer skills, editorial expertise, creativity, and guidance during the launch of this book.
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Many professional athletes are using the power of psychology, hypnosis, and neuro-linguistic programming to enhance their sport and to overcome obstacles in their game. Sports training can be greatly enhanced by using your mind as well as your physical body to go to the next level. Imagine playing your sport with increased stamina, more energy and a positive attitude. Soon, just thinking about your sport and employing triggers that you will learn in this book you will have the power to overcome obstacles, pass barriers, and create a more positive state of mind. You will have much stronger motivation and enthusiasm for sports training. Each time you put on your gear you transform into a champion. In this book you will discover a new Gateway to winning and staying at the next level. The mind is very powerful and it is an important part of achieving your goals and dreams. Your subconscious mind is powerful enough to alleviate pre-competition nerves and remove any self-doubt because you will learn to use it to develop self-confidence. Your sport performance style will get better and better, your form will reflect your efforts and you will develop increased mental stamina, focus, and attention. When you play your sport you will be able to out smart your opponents with your new talent, strength, focus, and your ability to predict your opponents moves will be more accurate. The logical left side of your brain will flow in harmony with your artistic right side creating a better mental team. Implanting the proper messages into your subconscious mind is the best way to create maximum performance for training and playing your sport.
A
great percentage of any sport is mental. Mental comes
before physical, and that is why this program will help. This
program will become your secret weapon.
Doing
this on a regular basis allows you to:
Achieve your full potential.
Fine-tune your techniques and overcome technical flaws.
Maximize reflexes, speed and responses.
Overcome setbacks and injuries.
Increase confidence.
Overcome intimidation or self sabotage.
Increase calmness before and during performance.
Heighten reflexes and become more powerful.
Learn how to deal with stress or pressure.
Utilize Self-Talk, recognize negative thoughts and replace them.
Dispel any FEARS.
Anchor feelings of confidence.
Develop peak performance triggers.
Focus like a laser.
Concentrate on your movements.
Using specific imagery the tools & techniques of winning the mind game are applied to sports. These include focus, concentration, emotional & thought management, as well as programming the subconscious mind for high-level performance in your particular sport. You will learn how to interpret your body physiology on very deep levels, allowing for stress management and an increase of focus/flow/flexibility of thought & body programming. In other words your mind and body work together like a fine tuned engine. Every cell in your body will be in harmony with your mind, you will focus like a laser.
Attention is given to imagery designed to enhance skills related to your sport including body positioning, specific plays, foot placement, focus, flexibility, team strategy, breathing, decision-making, & endurance. We also recommend high level nutrition (macrobiotic) so that your mind and body are going to the next level together. Original imagery allows the listener to "experience sports performance inside champion athletes" thereby programming the mind for change on very high levels.
When two opponents of equal physical ability compete against each other, it is the player who is the keenest mentally who has the edge. This is why mental training is so important; it takes your game to the next level. This give you the advantage over competitors that only train physically. Mental training will take your sport to the next level you will be a winner.
Few seem to realize it is the mind that controls the body, and training your mind as well is essential if one is going to perfect their sport. That is the point of this book; perfecting your sport, increasing your skills and eliminating fears. Your mental game holds the map to your successful future.
Some of the most powerful mental training methods for transforming sports performance are visualization and hypnosis, as these work together at the absolute control center of your game - your subconscious mind - which controls all bodily movement and stores your training and experience in your vast memory bank.
Learn how to perfect your sport and you will perfect your life! The techniques are the same. We create our own reality. If you see it, you will have it! When you learn visualization properly you are actually giving your subconscious mind the map it needs to achieve your goals and perfect your sport. You can apply these same principles to your life; learn to see it and you will own it.
During visualization you are completely relaxed and your unconscious mind can be vividly programmed so that peak performance skills will be available to you during the game. If you can see it you can do it, it all starts in your mind.
A very important part of subconscious mapping is repetition. If there is a move you are trying to perfect, watch it. For example, if you are having trouble with your follow through in golf, find a clip of your favorite golfer and watch his follow through over and over. As you watch it your mind will record the intricacies of his game and his style will be incorporated into your own map of the game. The player’s map will become part of your own neurology. Repetition helps anchor your style and technique so that you can perfect your sport.
If it is a simple matter of visualization, then why aren’t all athletes perfecting their sport? Well, it isn’t a matter of simplicity; it is a matter of discipline! You must learn the techniques and practice them over and over in order to perfect them.
See it; Improve it… See it; Improve it… See it; Do it!
Visualization and mental training methods influence the subconscious mind, the area of our mind, which delivers instinctive, automatic and brilliant results. This is far more powerful than attempting consciously or manually to orchestrate every action or movement during our performance.
When a player is 'zoning', their conscious mind becomes more highly focused on the game because it is in sync with the map of the unconscious mind is available when needed. This in turn causes the body and mind to work together like a beautiful symphony. This quiets the normally busy, chattering mind, eliminates fear and allows the more powerful subconscious mind to run the performance the way a computer runs software.
This allows your movements, thoughts and technical ability to flow in a way that can never be matched by conscious thought unaided by the unconscious map. The unconscious mind effortlessly increases speed, accuracy and power.
This is not to say that your body is performing without instruction - on the contrary, it is simply getting its instructions from a far more powerful and reliable source. This is how the conscious and unconscious mind work in tandem during competition.
The conscious mind is focused on the game and the unconscious mind is fine-tuning all the movements and plays. The unconscious mind provides the map and all the muscles and nerves in the body follow. The more you practice the mental game the deeper the groves in the mind become and the clearer the map to perfect games becomes.
Though mental training techniques are proven to work and are used in virtually every sport around the globe, some people remain unconvinced until they try them. Then they realize how dramatically mental gymnastics can influence their performance.
This works, of course, because it's the mind that controls the body, and not the other way around. So the old saying practice makes perfect has credence here from the perspective of mind and body working together to achieve goals. See it, see it, see it and you will have it.
Sound is also an important part of perfecting ones game. As you repeat, in your mind, what it is you want to accomplish in your sport your words are converted to pictures. These pictures reinforce the message to your brain to keep it vividly aware of your goals. In this case the goal is perfecting your sport. If you hear it, you will see it if you see it, you will have it. Hearing is just another sensory approach to our brain’s map, another way to strengthen the unconscious map to perfect our goals.
If one was asked to not think of a big pink elephant wearing a ball cap they would immediately conger up the image of the elephant. You have to see what it is you are not supposed to think of in order not to think of it. All request to our minds are converted to pictures or symbols and stored. Once you see it you have it and the more you see it the easier the recall becomes.
CHAPTER 2
NEURO-LINGUISTIC PSYCHOLOGY
How do we use our minds? And what does that even mean? Well, let’s look at things that you hear and are familiar to you. For example, you have a conscious and unconscious mind.
To understand the unconscious mind let’s use the ship and captain as our analogy.
Suppose you are a captain of a ship. The captain is in control of the entire vessel, which means in certain parts of the ship people are cleaning the deck or preparing meals. In the engine room people are maintaining captains orders as to engine speed. So what is really going on here is the captain is controlling the entire ship without having full conscious awareness of every detail each second. The human brain functions similarly. Your conscious mind is the captain. Your unconscious mind is the ship. For example, as you read these words; your heart is beating, you’re breathing, your eyes are blinking. All of these bodily functions are going on, for the most part, out of conscious awareness.
The vast majority of our actions and information input is out of conscious awareness… stored in pictures and symbols in our brains. This information is available to us in a split second. Example:
As you are reading this chapter, stop for a moment, close your eyes and think about a large jetliner coming in for a landing on an airport runway. You see it coming in, see the wings, notice the nose, hear the engines roaring, and see the smoke coming off the tires as it touches down. Now, think about what you just saw, notice how you immediately saw the jetliner in relatively good detail. All the detail you were able to retrieve is actually stored in your unconscious mind. So how often do you actually watch jets landing? Palpably not that often and yet you just observed relatively vivid detail with little effort. That is because your unconscious mind is always busy recording information that will be stored for use when called upon.
One of the most important features of the unconscious mind is that it doesn’t think it only makes associations. So, when you give your unconscious mind a command, it complies. In this case you asked it to see a jetliner coming in for a landing and there it was. Your unconscious mind performed the task for you. Now let’s go a step further, the unconscious mind follows a request in great detail.
Let’s try another example; Imagine cutting a very sour lime in half, smelling it, squeezing it, and taking a bite out of it- Your face slightly puckers. More than likely you can feel the sensations in the sides of your mouth and tongue. That is because the unconscious mind makes an association with a picture that you have created with your mind. The end result is you have a light taste of lime in your mouth and perhaps you are slightly puckered. The reality is there is no lime and you only pictured this in your mind, however your unconscious mind only made associations that elicited a physical response.
Therefore, to a degree, the unconscious mind provides the same sensations you would get if you actually bit into a lime. The mind works with pictures. It is all about pictures. We get to where we are going with images and we are able to motivate ourselves by picturing or visualizing what we desire.
The mere act of this lime exercise elicits a rather vivid response. Again, the unconscious mind doesn’t think, it only associates. So, when you present a picture to the unconscious mind, it reacts as it would as if you had really bit into the lime. So, achieving superior end results with the unconscious mind is about presenting clear visuals. To further understand this concept, let’s talk about neurolinguistic psychology and hypnosis.
Think of neurolinguistic programming (NLP) is as the name applies- brain language. When you understand the language of the brain; you are able to program your brain for a positive outcome.
NLP and hypnosis are essentially the same concept. Why? Because in both approaches to the mind you are maintaining a focus and you are using brain language. Brain language goes on all day long. If you pay attention, you will hear the thoughts going on.
“Wow, I am going to be late.”
“I just made it on time.”
“I hope this goes well.”
“What am I going to make for dinner?” Etc.
These are the kinds of thoughts that race through your mind all day.
When you start paying attention to this language, you start taking control of your life.
So, if you are getting ready for a function, you let your self know mentally what steps you need to follow be on time. You then state: “I will be on time”. As simple as that sounds, it is how the brain works. If you present guidelines to your brain to attend a function and be there on time- that is exactly what you will accomplish.
Now, look at a watch or clock with a second hand. Close your eyes for five seconds. Now open your eyes. Where is the second hand? Has it been 5 seconds? You will be amazed to see that your eyes open right as the second hand moves to the fifth second. The brain has an uncanny way of telling time. So, if you tell your mind that you will be on time, in all likelihood, you will be on time. It is self-talk that makes or breaks your punctuality. See it, say it, do it.
NLP and hypnosis are means to achieving your goals and using visualization to become relaxed and focused on a desired outcome, thereby achieving a positive change.
NLP is, simply put, the language of the mind and senses working together. Hypnosis is the umbrella which encompasses NLP and all models that help you run your mind’s programs more efficiently and allows you to integrate your senses from past to present to future. Understanding the difference between the conscious and unconscious mind and how to reap the benefits of understanding what this information provides is the purpose of this book.
Our brains did not come with an instruction manual so it takes time to grasp the workings of the mind and it’s multi-media capabilities. Once you began to understand how much you can accomplish by harnessing the powers your mind holds for you, you have the key to achieving our goals.
See it, have it. If you see it in your mind you can do it in your sport. If you do it in your sport you have done it in your mind. There is a fine line that separates the two functions. However harnessing the power of your mind is a fast track to perfecting your sport.
Let’s go ahead and release all of those misconceptions and misunderstandings about hypnosis that have been acquired throughout the years. Many individuals may be apprehensive about hypnotic techniques due to the lack of knowledge and understanding of the therapeutic advantages of hypnosis. Here are the facts about hypnosis, plain and simple.
What hypnosis is NOT:
∅ Hypnosis is not mind control.
∅ Hypnosis is not magic nor faith healing.
∅ Hypnosis is not sleep nor does one loose consciousness.
∅ Hypnosis cannot make you do or say anything that you would not normally do or say unless you freely choose to do so.
∅ Hypnosis does not weaken your will power. It actually strengthens it.
What hypnosis IS:
⊕ Hypnosis is the ability to achieve desired goals by completely focusing.
⊕ All Hypnosis is self-hypnosis.
⊕ Hypnosis is deep relaxation with an acute sense of awareness.
⊕ Hypnosis is similar to meditation and dream states.
⊕ Hypnosis utilizes the power of positive suggestion and thinking. Anyone can reject a suggestion if it does not correspond with their belief systems.
⊕ Anyone can be hypnotized.
⊕ It is believed that the more intelligent one is, the easier they may be hypnotized.
⊕ Hypnosis allows clients to use their own minds to make desired changes.
Just as medicine combines both art and science, so does hypnotherapy.
After a session of hypnotherapy clients may feel profound relaxation and peace. Hypnosis is a feeling that must be experience to fully appreciate.
Hypnosis is evolving into a well-respected practice and today certified hypnotherapists, doctors, psychologists, and law enforcement professionals use it. This technique is utilized in a variety of ways. For instance, pain management, stress-related disorders, anesthesia, psychotherapy and memory recall, to name a few. It is also used as a tool to help manage a wide range of phobic, anxiety and other psychological disorders.
Studies have shown that intelligent people are actually easier to hypnotize. It doesn't matter if you're skeptical of the process... the fact you're trying hypnosis shows you have an open mind. The results will prove themselves!
Hypnosis is a soothing state similar to the state we enter before falling asleep. Everyone experiences hypnosis. For example; when you are driving and several minutes go by and you are off daydreaming you still manage to safely arrive at your destination, or you are reading a book or watching a movie and you are fully lost in it, perhaps even showing emotion. These states could also be described as flow states or hypnotic states.
Hypnosis is a totally natural, completely safe method of self-development... and can help you achieve goals you never thought possible!
CHAPTER 3
BREATHING TECHNIQUES
Now that we have a clearer understanding of our conscious mind, it is time to start the process of using it properly. In order to achieve our goals we must first see the end result that we desire, clearly. The details of each play that you are trying to improve are very important in order to perfect your sport and achieve a positive outcome. Seeing the final outcome is paramount in taking your game to the next level.
How do we start? Step one is to learn how to totally relax in order to release all stress in your body and recharge your mind. Research has found that the ideal state for learning is when the brain is in a relaxed, but aware state.
So, when we say relaxed, we do not mean asleep. We mean relaxed, focused and aware.
Once you start to allow yourself to relax you will be able to focus more clearly. At the point of relaxation brainwaves run at about 8 to 12 cycles per seconds or hertz.
This is called the alpha state.
This compares with the 'normal' state of 13-25 hertz, which is called the beta state. We are in beta state most of our waking moments as we go about our daily lives.
At the other end of the spectrum we find, just below the alpha level, the theta state, which is even slower than alpha, and an even deeper state of relaxation.
In alpha state you are somewhere between being fully awake and being asleep. When you are in alpha you can focus your energy on what you have set as your goal. With practice you can actually start reaching theta where you can develop an even stronger map to orchestrate your visuals.
Breathing is a very important part of the relaxation process. Many, rather most, people have a tendency to hold their breath from time to time. Breath holding lets the brain know that something isn’t quite right which sends a message to the adrenal glands. This causes a change in blood PH and we start to drop adrenalin into our blood stream causing our cortisol levels to rise. This is all part of stress. It is unhealthy and causes aging and damage to the cardio-vascular system, among other negative health issues.