Sport psychologists have developed many tools to help improve the performance of modern athletes. One particular tool is under-utilized because it is takes specialized training for the athlete and the trainer. This tool is hypnosis.
The following illustrates some of the challenges of using hypnosis in the performance arena:
Compare these two pictures:
1. A man on stage-Hypnotized by focusing on a watch swinging back and forth. Notice him barking like a dog-not knowing he's even acting this way.
2. David Cone-pitcher for the New York Yankees. In 1999 he threw a no-hitter. David Cone was focused. David Cone was in "The Zone".
Both of these pictures are about "focused in the zone" performance. The man barking like a dog is demonstrating stage hypnosis. This is what most people think about when they hear the word hypnosis.
Performance Hypnosis, however, focuses on performing in the zone so the athlete is able to block out all distractions and be fully absorbed in the task at hand. In the case of David Cone, he was perfect in the self-hypnotic aspects of his pitching which led to a no-hitter. However, being fully absorbed in the zone is not easily accomplished. Note that there are usually only a couple of no-hitters thrown in any one major league baseball season.
DYNAMIC RELAXATION
Every athlete who competes also strives to understand the keys to their performance in the zone. Most athletes can not tell you what they do to get in the zone but they know when they get there. Most athletes have difficulty staying in the zone as well.
All coaches know a player performs best when they are relaxed and the muscles are not working against themselves due to undue tension or anxiety. Often times a coach will yell to the athlete, "Relax!" But this is as ineffective as yelling to the swimmer, "Swim faster."
If a coach can not provide the tools to swim faster then coach's comments like these are useless. If the coach does not teach the athlete relaxation tools to use under pressure, then yelling, "Relax" is useless as well. In fact it may even create more performance anxiety because the athlete does not know how to operationalize the coach's statement.
Hypnosis is generally defined as an altered state of consciousness, a trance. In a trance state a person is focused and is able to block out distractions and stay relaxed. Most often hypnosis takes place in a clinician's office where the goal is to provide relaxation as a counter to debilitating anxiety. Medically, hypnosis can help a person become very absorbed (focused); it can also be used to help dissociate from pain. This is very useful in helping people pull away from the pain of chronic illness such as cancer or even the intense pain of childbirth.
Usually hypnosis is learned in clinical settings. The typical scenario is that of a patient lying on a couch with the lights dimmed, learning to block out distractions. This form of clinical hypnosis is difficult to transfer to something as active as sport performance. One can not take the couch and light dimmer switch out to the pitching mound. The umpires would object.
To denote a more active style of hypnosis, this author has coined the phrase: Performance Hypnosis. Performance Hypnosis uses the category of hypnosis known as alert trance. Performance Hypnosis utilizes the properties of clinical hypnosis but makes the power of focus available while one is in an active state. Learning Performance Hypnosis can help provide one of the keys to entering the zone. Then the athlete can maintain dynamic relaxation during an athletic performance.
In order to create the power of Performance Hypnosis, the athlete must first learn how to obtain the state of dynamic relaxation. This is best done in the traditional way learning to use and reinforce the following steps:
1. Relaxation induction
2. Fractionation as a deepening procedure
3. Moving down a path to Performance Relaxation Zone
4. Using visualization to experience a place of total relaxation (beach or mountain are very common)
5. Use autogenics to build belief that one can change how the body feels (creating the feeling of heaviness and lightness)
6. Use post hypnotic suggestion to teach rapid induction so one can return to the Performance Relaxation Zone (rhythmic breathing and eye roll)
This procedure is taught in the office so the athlete can develop confidence in the establishment of the state of dynamic relaxation. This procedure is also put on audio tape so she can practice it during the week to continue to build confidence in her ability to reach the state of dynamic relaxation.
DISTRACTIONS TO PERFORMANCE
Dr. Robert Nideffer of Enhanced Performance Systems (San Diego) has been the pioneer in demonstrating the relationship between attention styles and performance errors. If one understands the type of attention errors the athlete is likely to make, then the performance consultant can help design a performance intervention.
The mental distractions the athlete is going to face are usually among the following:
EXTERNAL DISTRACTIONS: The athlete is tuned into the environment around the playing surface. He may hear the shouts of crowds and be distracted. He may react to the trashtalking of his opponent and be distracted. He may be watching the cheerleaders or the cameras and be distracted from the game. These styles of distractions will clearly detract from the performance of the athlete. The coach will often have to re-direct the player's attention to the situation at hand.
INTERNAL DISTRACTIONS: The athlete is listening too much to the self-talk in his head. It could be negative self-talk such as 1) "I don't think I can make this shot," 2) "The coach will yell at me if I miss" or just coaching strategy such as 3) "If they get an indirect kick I am supposed to charge the ball after the first touch." When the athlete is too caught up in the mental processes or self talk the performance is going to suffer. This mental distraction is disturbing the automatic processes of performance the athlete has spent many hours perfecting in practice. This mental error of performance is often known as "paralysis by analysis."
QUICK INDUCTIONS
When one uses Performance Hypnosis to enhance the possibility of entering the zone of optimal performance, these types of mental distractions can be minimized. The athlete is able to do a quick hypnotic induction and return to his higher level of focus. Two important principles of Performance Hypnosis are useful in this instance.
First, the Performance Hypnosis intervention must be something that is quick and powerful to refocus the athlete. As an example, the tennis player who has had a difficult game can use the ninety-second changeover as a time to refocus. When he sits down on the bench he can do a quick eye roll induction and take himself to the Performance Relaxation Zone. He can spend 45 seconds there and experience himself returning to the state of dynamic relaxation. When he returns to the court he can physically feel the difference in his body. It is relaxed and his mind is sharp.
The reason this works is he has established a foundation of dynamic relaxation by learning Performance Hypnosis in the office and practicing with an audio rehearsal tape everyday. The tennis player is confident he can use the quick induction to get to this relaxed state because he has done it thousands of times and he knows it works. He has built a powerful belief that he can relax even under intense pressure. He has been able to feel the physical difference of being in the state of dynamic relaxation thousands of times in practice and in game situations. Consequently, he believes he can do it under the pressure of performance.
FRACTIONATION
The second important hypnosis principle at work is called Fractionation. Fractionation is the hypnotic principle which states that if a person is in a heightened state of trance (absorption) and is interrupted but then is allowed to return to the trance state then the depth of the trance will be even more powerful. This is a great principle to understand in athletic performance because there will be many challenges in the game which will try to pull the athlete out of the zone.
If the athlete knows what to do to continually return to a higher level of focus then she is more likely to stay in the more efficient state of high level absorption. Understanding this principle can help the player be mentally sharper at the end of the contest than she was at the beginning. This may be part of the principle at work when a pitcher continues to get better and better as the game progresses to the late innings. This is an essential skill to possess if one is going to ever pitch a no-hitter.
PERFORMANCE HYPNOSIS TRAINING
When you are ready to add Performance Hypnosis to your performance tool bag, where should you turn to receive this training? There are two choices. One is the stage hypnotist or lay hypnotist who has taken a short course in hypnosis and has no professional mental health background. The danger with this type of trainer is they know some techniques but are not well versed in the intricacies of human behavior. Consequently their performance interventions will be very shallow and you may even end up barking like a dog.
The better choice is a professional who is certified in clinical hypnosis by a professional organization like the American Society for Clinical Hypnosis (ASCH). In order to reach the certification level, the practitioner must be at least a master's level health care provider and complete required annual continuing education. The training received by ASCH is focused on integrating hypnosis into their professional practice.
The athlete would also want a professional who is experienced in sport psychology. One way to affirm this is to check if the professional is a member of the Association for the Advancement of Applied Sport Psychology (AAASP). This would provide the best of all worlds as the athlete would learn Performance Hypnosis from a professional who knows the power of the mind as well as the intricacies of the sports world.
While preparing for your next athletic encounter be aware of the tools you bring to help you reach the highest state of focus and performance:
1. Use your car keys to get you to the match.
2. Use your watch to time the match.
3. Use Performance Hypnosis to help you stay focused and move to a higher level of performance.
Published on AmericasDoctor.com Jan, 2000
