Diaphragmatic Breathing:

Often times when an athlete becomes anxious (nervous), the person stops breathing. This is a typical mistake but one that needs to be avoided. By breathing we are breathing oxygen to our brain so that we are able to take all the information from the environment and make appropriate decisions and actions. This usually results in a reduction of the anxiety since the more information we have at our disposal the less anxiety an athletic situation can generate.

This exercise teaches the athlete to relax through diaphragmatic breathing. The diaphragm is the muscle that separates the chest cavity from the belly. Essentially when it contracts it creates a space in the chest causing air to rush in and fill this space. When it expands it forces the air out of the lungs. When we are at rest we do not use all of our lungs. Think of your lungs having three parts: top, middle and bottom. At rest, we are typically using the top, and maybe some of the middle of the lungs. When an athlete is in an anxiety-provoking situation, we may not use any part of our lungs since there is a tendency to stop breathing. By filling the lungs completely we are providing the maximum amount of oxygen to our body thereby allowing the brain to function properly and thus reduce the nervousness we feel. At first, it is important to put your hand on your stomach in order to ensure that you are using all three parts of the lungs. Once you understand what this feels like, you can stop placing your hand on your stomach.

It is also important to breathe in a specific way for this exercise. After you have practiced this exercise for a while and seen its benefits, this will act as a signal to your brain that it is time to relax. First, breathe in slowly through your nose for five seconds. This will maximize the amount of oxygen to your since your nose contains capillaries that begin the process of oxygen absorption. Next, hold the breath for a split second and breathe out slowly through your mouth for five seconds. Your mouth does not have the same capillaries as your nose so this too helps to maximize the oxygen absorption. If you breathe out through your nose, those capillaries will absorb waste gases such as carbon dioxide and negate the benefit of having breathed through your nose.

The more that you practice this exercise the better it will work. Initially, it helps athletes out to use imagery (see below) before they engage in diaphragmatic breathing. Once you have gone through the imagery exercise move directly into diaphragmatic breathing repeating it five times with your eyes closed. You want to breathe in through your nose for five seconds, hold it a split second, and breathe in through your mouth for five seconds FIVE times. Once you feel that you have gained some confidence in using the technique (typically about a weeks time but it may be more or less depending on how often you practice) you can drop off the imagery portion of the exercise and just do five repetitions. As you gain more mastery over it, you will want to reduce the number of breaths that you take. Most athletes usually drop off one repetition each week., but again some people master it faster while others are some what slower. The goal is to eventually be able to control anxiety with just one repetition of the exercise.

At first you will want to practice this technique twice a day. Typically, athletes find that in the morning and early evenings are good times to practice. Mornings are good because you may have a lot of anxiety about events that are coming up that day. Evenings are also a good time because this exercise should alleviate some the anxiety that you may have developed as a result of athletic events that have happened that day.

Finally, it is important to realize that different events cause more or less anxiety depending on their importance. For example, taking a baseball player taking the position on the field may be a one breath event, bunting to move a runner into scoring position might take three breaths to quell the anxiety, batting with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning might be a ten breath event. If the exercise does not help to reduce your feelings of nervousness, try doing another repetition, the event might be more important to you than you thought.

Imagery

Sometimes as athletes we find ourselves in situations that make us so nervous or upset that we were someplace else. The reason why we do this is because we think it will replace the negative feelings that we are experiencing at the time with more pleasant emotions. Most athletes have experienced a time in their lives when they felt completely relaxed; perhaps it was a day at the beach or at a park. Imagining ourselves in that relaxed situation frequently works to reduce our anxiety about upcoming sports events or situations. This is because in theory your subconscious will remember the relaxed feeling that you had at that time and bring it into your present consciousness.

There are a couple of important points to remember when using imagery. First, you should find a quiet place to do it. This is because your brain is able to direct attention to a limited number of events. When there are noises around us, a portion of our brain is working to decode these noises. Imagery, like so many other things, works best when all of your attention is on the task at hand.

Second, you should use self-statements in order to tell yourself how relaxed you are. Our bodies are easily fooled with enough practice. You can talk your body into thinking that it is relaxed by making self-statements such as the following: I feel very warm, very relaxed, calm, and at peace. You should try to make these statements throughout your imagery exercise.

Finally, try to make the scene as real as possible. This is done by including as much sensory information as possible. You want to try to use as many of your senses as possible. For example, if you choose a beach scene as your relaxing image, then you would want to include the following senses: touch (feel the sand on your back, the feel of the towel), smell (smell of the salt air or sun tan lotion), sight (the sights around you such as the blue sky, the color of the sand and ocean), sound (the sound of the ocean waves, children laughing, and the seagulls). By making the relaxing self-statements mentioned above after you go through each of the senses, this will facilitate your becoming relaxed.

The more that you practice this exercise, the easier it will become for you to relax. Different people have different experiences, so try to make the scene as personal to yourself as possible, that way it will seem more real.

Here is a brief breakdown of what to do:

• Close your eyes
• Imagine a relaxing scene from your past
• Use different senses to try and make the scene as real as possible
• Make relaxing self-statements alternating them with your use of senses.

Definition: When you have trust, faith, assuredness and belief you have confidence. Now confidence in yourself reflects the belief and certainty you have in your ability to be successful in a particular athletic situation that requires a particular task. A synonym for confidence is a self-belief.

Theoretical Models of Confidence

The initial theories of self-confidence were based on theories of motivation developed by McClelland and Atkinson. They believed the motive to achieve success and the motive to avoid failure are primary considerations of whether a person will approach or avoid an achievement situation. These ideas are very much related to the construct of self-confidence. The confident athlete will have high motivation to succeed and high expectation of success.

The theory of Self-Efficacy offers another perspective to an athlete’s belief of competence and likelihood of success at a presented athletic event. High levels of self- efficacy at a competitive situation will create enthusiasm and self-confidence. The level of self-efficacy will determine whether the athlete will approach or avoid an achievement situation. In competitive athletic events, the higher the level of self-efficacy the higher the performance achieved and the lower the emotional arousal.

Self-Efficacy is enhanced by successful performance, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion and emotional arousal. If an athlete focuses on performance accomplishments it enhances both efficiency and subsequent performances. Preparatory modeling of athletic tasks tends to increase athletic performance as well. Verbal persuasion is a very low contributor to improving performance levels. Lastly, the control of emotional arousal, like physiological symptoms of anxiety, does not by itself increase self-efficacy.

Techniques in Developing Confidence with an Athlete:

1. Make positive statements that emphasize the qualities and attributes.
2. Act in a confident manner by imitating a confident performance.
3. Create reward comments and deliver them with emphasis, directed at and immediately following a successful accomplishment or attempt at an athletic task.
4. Offer immediate feedback which relays information about a performance – of an objective nature like time it took to do an event or subjective like improvement of skill.
5. Set goals that are accomplishable. This involves working on skills that are already strengths, fine tuning aspects of a sport that you are already good at and setting new tasks to add to your repertoire.
6. Focus on thoughts that reflect physical preparedness and readiness. Examples include facts about training and support ideas that arousal is a sign of an athlete’s competitive edge.
7. Frame instructions in a positive style (i.e., do it this way). Do not deliver information in a negative manner (i.e., don’t do this or that).
8. Visualizations can be used to picture the re-living of a successful athletic action or seeing a forthcoming event.
9. In analyzing a particular performance, it is best to think of it as a result of ability rather than effort. Ability is a more stable factor than effort.
10. Focus on the abilities that are superior to your competitor’s skills.
11. Emphasize the athletic skills that have resulted in success rather than the success itself.
12. Get into the mind-set that expects success (previous successes and preparation for the athletic event).

Techniques to build self-confidence maybe helpful to one athlete, but not to another. In fact, a technique could be so wrong that it becomes disastrous to the self-esteem of the athlete. Should one of those techniques continue to be employed by a couch, bad feelings may create interpersonal conflicts between them. There is no technique that is more important than knowing the personality of the athlete. In order to teach a particular self-confidence building technique, the couch needs to believe in its effectiveness. Therefore, self-evaluation as well as evaluation by another couch could be helpful in applying the correct techniques to the right athlete. In other words, the couch needs a couch. Putting together a couching staff that will be honest with each other can eliminate the “getting stuck” phenomenon.

One of the best sources of information regarding what techniques will work with which athlete is the athlete him/herself. The athlete knows himself better than the couch because the athlete has lived with himself longer. The couch should be open to feedback from the athlete. Ask the athlete what has worked or not worked in the past. A closed off couch will likely create an impasse. The couch/athlete relationship needs to open and mutually helpful. An athlete can help a coach become successful. As an athlete matures, techniques that work may go through changes.

Summary:

1. Know your athlete. Know yourself. The more specific you knowledge, the more likely helpful confidence building techniques will be chosen and employed.
2. Performance profiling helps athletes generate their own skills inventory and characteristics that are useful in enhancing their own performances.
3. Coaches and athletes should have similar viewpoints so that mutual goals and objectives are set.
4. Monitoring performance successes and failures early in training can highlight problems before a disaster strikes.
5. Despite bad performances there is always something positive to highlight.
6. Athletes should employ only those techniques that make them feel good.

Many of us have heard of professional athletes who are in the midst of a slump but can not figure out how to correct the problem. In some instances, you may have heard that the individual turned to the technique of hypnosis in order to correct it. Perhaps you now find yourself in a similar situation and are looking for anything to help you break out of that slump. Maybe you are just looking for that extra competitive edge that leads to a peak performance. Whatever the reason, hypnosis may have beneficial effects for you. However, it first is important to understand exactly what hypnosis is.

What Is It?

Hypnosis is a temporary, trance-like state, which is characterized by the individual being exceedingly suggestible. If a hypnotized individual is told that he can not move his arm, then he will act as if that limb has been paralyzed. Typically, people enter this state with the help of another individual (the hypnotist) but some people can hypnotize themselves (self-hypnosis). It is important to note that a trained professional should conduct deep hypnotic induction (if you are interested in receiving a referral simply contact us using the link at the bottom of this page). This is not to say that self-hypnosis can not be conducted.

Hypnosis effects memory such that if the subject is asked to forget everything that happened during the trance, the individual will comply but will respond to suggestions planted during the trance. This is called a post-hypnotic suggestion. For example, an individual can be given a post-hypnotic suggestion to bark like a dog while he is under the trance whenever the hypnotist coughs. The applications in the realm of sport are limitless. However, there are many misconceptions about hypnosis. Some of these are listed below along with a clarification for each.

• “People who have been hypnotized are just sleeping.” This is not true. Although, hypnosis has been called sleep-like based on its superficial features, it clearly is not a state of sleep as evidenced by the brain wave patterns, which do not resemble that of sleep. The person is usually quite relaxed but is quite alert, although attention may be very focused.
• “Anyone can be hypnotized.” Again, this is not true, although some hypnotists would have you believe differently. In reality, people differ with regard to their hypnotic susceptibility. Like many psychological variables, hypnotizability is distributed normally, meaning that most people are moderately susceptible with about 5-10% of individuals being highly susceptible or not susceptible at all.
• “You can make people do anything you want while they are hypnotized.” Once again, an unequivocal not true is the correct response. Under hypnosis people can not be made to engage in actions that would go against their moral beliefs. In general, people who are hypnotized are not mindless robots that can be totally manipulated by the hypnotist. They maintain considerable control over their behavior and will refuse to comply with suggestions given to them if they are indirect moral conflict with them.

How It’s Used

While hypnosis in sports is useful, it is not a cure all. Although case studies involving efforts to enhance performance in athletes by means of hypnosis appear to be universally successful, it is important to understand its uses and limitations. Discussed below are those areas where hypnosis has been empirically studied including pain management, anxiety, exertion, and exercise.

Perhaps the greatest success of hypnosis has been in the area of pain management, either by reducing it of eliminating it. It is such a powerful technique that hypnosis has been used as an anesthetic for surgical procedures. It seems to work by focusing the individual’s attention on something other then the pain, often a sensation in another part of the body. Another method is to have the individual imagine that the painful area has been deadened with an anaesthetic such as novocaine. Although the mechanism by which it works is not clear, it works for many pain sufferers, regardless of whether the pain is acute or chronic without the negative side effects of addictive drugs.

Many people have heard the term “getting up for the game.” Sometimes you can even get too “up for the game.” You might be asking yourself how this is possible. Researchers have found that there is a zone of optimal functioning, and that this zone is based on the individual’s optimal state anxiety level in pre-competitive settings. In other words, if you can duplicate how you felt before your previous successful performances, then you will be in this zone. Athletes are asked to recall their pre-competitive state anxiety levels in terms of their thoughts and physiological responses. Individuals to get them back into that zone of optimal functioning can then use self-hypnosis. If individuals are unable to recall what this zone is like then hypnosis by a trained professional allows the individual to recall what this feeling was like.

Have you ever noticed that some individuals don’t give their all when they are on the playing field. It’s like they are consciously or unconsciously saving something for the next time that they play. If you are one of these individuals and would like to change this, self-hypnosis may be of help. Individuals who are not accustomed to performing at maximal level usually experience gains in muscular strength and endurance when administered suggestions in a hypnotic state. It is important to note that hypnosis without suggestions for enhanced performance did not influence muscular strength or endurance.

The technique can even be used in exercising. Perception of effort during exercise can be systematically increased or decreased with hypnotic suggestion even though the actual physical workload is maintained at a constant level. This means that on those days when you feel that you have no energy, you can use self-hypnosis in order reduce your perception of the workload that you are doing. You can even make your body believe that it is exercising when you are resting. Researchers have found that hypnotic suggestion of exercise in the non exercise state is associated with increased cardiac frequency, respiratory rate, ventilator minute volume, oxygen uptake, carbon dioxide production, forearm blood flow, and cardiac output. These metabolic changes often approximate responses noted during the actual exercise conditions of individuals. Of course the level of hypnosis needed to achieve this is so deep that a trained professional should only attempt it.

Clearly, there are many uses for hypnosis within the field of athletics. Whether you want to use it for pain management, anxiety control, maximizing exertion or exercising, the effects can be dramatic. At times it may be necessary to consult a specialist in this area (again contact us for a free referral using the link at the bottom of this page). However, in many instances, you can achieve the benefits of the technique. Look for the how to’s of self-hypnosis in the next issue of Psyched – Athletic Performance Enhancement.

It is a good idea to let you in on how creative visualization works to enhance your performance. If you’re like most athletes, without a logical explanation, there is not as much motivation to practice an alien skill. So, this article is dedicated to building an understanding bridge between the creative visualization and your improved performance.

Neurology plays a significant role. Whenever we take an action, whether it be playing a note on the trumpet, stirring the garlic and oil, picking your nose, or shooting a jump shot from the top of the key, a specific set of linked electrical charges are set in motion in your body. When we try an action for the first time, the body “decides” which neural pathways governed an action in the past most similar to the one being tried in the present. It fires that neural pathway. The pathway is made of cells called neurons.

After an action is attempted, we evaluate how well we performed it. Assuming it wasn’t as good as we would like it, our neurons will fire in a slightly different way next time so that our performance is improved. When this new pattern of firing gets repeated many time over, it will automatically occur the next time we are asked to perform that action. Now, the great advantage of imagery is that we can imagine the action and the same neuron firing occurs as if we were actually performing the act. It is just not as strong.

One of the great advantages of imagery is that it can be practiced anywhere at any time. You can practice it before taking the foul shot; you see the arc to the ball and the swish of the net as it goes in. After you miss one free throw, you can use imagery to see an accurate toss and thereby strengthen the neuron firings that create accuracy. This process can be employed with any skill required to play in your sport. The first step is to acknowledge some skill that you are not doing well enough. Then imagine yourself performing the skill to perfection. Finally, go and perform the skill again while imaging its perfect execution.

If you are trying to learn a new skill, it is helpful to imagine it before practicing. The one difficulty with this approach is that you will be relying on your own thoughts about how to perform it. You could rely on a teammate’s or your coach’s advice. A better approach is to ask someone who performs the skill exceptionally well to perform the skill in front of you. While watching him demonstrate it, ask what it feels like to do the action. Immediately afterward, imagine yourself trying the skill. Slow motion instant replay provides an opportunity to watch professionals perform the skill on a very high level. Then close your eyes and imagine that you are performing the skill. The more senses you use the more effective your imagery will be in improving performance.

Carl Lewis has won many gold medals at the Olympics for the 100 meters dash and long jump events. When he was asked how it feels to have run100 meters in less than ten seconds, he noted that it was “not my first time. I have run under the ten seconds many times over in my mind.” Imagery can help repeat goals already achieved, achieve goals that have never been reached before, prepare for a game or training session, preparing to make a speech, confronting someone who has treated you badly, etc. You will gain confidence the more you practice imaging these activities.

If you are recovering from an injury, imagery can facilitate the process. First, you can keep up your skills even though you are not able to play. Just visualize yourself playing the sport. Relevant muscles and neuron passageways will stay in shape. When you are healed enough from the physical injury, you will more likely return to a high level of performance at a faster rate. Your confidence level will be higher. By imagining yourself making the moves that are necessary to play the sport and feeling the movement of your muscles as you do it, you will feel more confident that you will not re-injure yourself during the game itself. Finally, medical studies have shown that if you can imagine the injured part of your body healing, it will occur at a faster rate. If blood flow and warmth can be applied to the injured area, it will heal faster. Athletes were trained to imagine blood flow and warmth going to the area. Greater blood flow and warmth were recorded than with athletes who were not trained to image.

Let us go through another image enhancement exercise. Follow these instructions. Go on a series of walks and take note of all senses in your experiences. Completely go over every part of the scenes after you are finished. Try to have complete control of your image. Practice. Practice. Practice and your control of the image will get better. Then move to more complicated activities like swimming, rowing, shooting a jump shot, etc. Again, execute the activity and then imagine the entire scene. Now you are ready to deal with your sport. Play an aspect of the sport. Then imagine playing it perfectly. Have the image unfold at the same pace it happens in real life. Be patient! Practice! Be disciplined! Run through the images before going to sleep and as soon as you wake up. Eventually, you will end up imagine winning a championship it your sport.

We have all heard about “the zone,” that mythical place where one can do no wrong. When in the zone, you know you are there and you know you can’t miss a shot, the mind and body are united in their purpose. A visit to the zone is unforgettable. Some athletes report experiencing a state of focused energy, or a transcendent state of well being, or an altered sense of time, or being “on a high.” The runner’ high is well know and the most recognized example of peak moments or being in the zone. It is characterized by an unexpected euphoric sensation, in which the athlete feels an increased sense of well-being, enhanced appreciation of nature, and transcendence of the barriers of time and space. Well exactly what is the zone? How can athletes to find it at will?

There are many variables that contribute to an athlete functioning in the zone. The experience of an athlete in competition has both physical and mental components. In order to enter the zone consistently, an athlete must master both components. The five keys to opening up the zone are physical ability, focus, confidence, calmness, and excitation.

• PHYSICAL ABILITY – The most important variable in entering the zone is the athlete’s ability to make the physical, technical, and strategic demands of their sport automatic. These are improved by only one thing, hard work during training. Nothing can replace the hours upon hours of practice that are required to make physical skills automatic. Technique must be honed, so that the athlete does not have to think during competition. A strategy must be set before the match. Quality performance results from quality preparation. If the preparation of an athlete’s physical abilities is there; then the zone may be close at hand.
• FOCUS – The second ability necessary to performing in the zone is the ability to shift concentration from a broad to narrow focus. We often hear individuals complaining of external events detracting from their performances. When in the zone, athletes report a lack of awareness of these minor distractions. Focus in the zone means that your attention is fully preoccupied with the task at hand. Try the following exercise using a red laser pointer to improve your ability to shift concentration smoothly. Lie on the floor facing upwards with your eyes open. Have a friend turn the lights out and make the room as dark as possible. You should focus your eyes on the center of the ceiling but keep your peripheral vision on all corners of the ceiling (broad focus). Have your friend shine the pointer in one corner of the ceiling and focus your attention on that spot. Your friend should then strobe the dot and you should count the number of times that it was flashed (narrow focus). As you become more adept at this exercise, the difficulty level can be increased by speeding the drill up or adding background distractions such as music or crowd noise level. This exercise will help you to focus only on those cues that are relevant to the task at hand.
• CONFIDENCE – Confidence is a commonly used psychological concept that can be defined as “a feeling of assurance or certainty, especially concerning oneself.” Playing with confidence means both being relaxed and having positive expectancy about your next performance. Positive expectancy and confidence are key features to the zone that are symbiotically related. A critical aspect of confidence is the expectancy that you will hit your next shot well. This can be achieved through actual physical practice or through mental rehearsal or positive visualization. Positive visualization is a basic imagery technique proven to enhance performance and we see it is a key feature of playing in the zone. Try imagining yourself executing your sport’s skills perfectly. For example, if you are using mental rehearsal to improve your basketball free throw shooting ability, imagine the ball going through the rim touching only the net not bounding off the back board and then in. If you are using it for putting on the golf green, then imagine the ball going right into the hole not just close to it.
• RELAXATION – As an individual is having a peak athletic performance, a great deal of anxiety is often produced as a by-product. Thoughts like “I’ve never played this well, I wonder when I’m going to fall apart” or “I can’t keep this up for ever” are common and can producer levels of anxiety that will lead to a deterioration in performance. In order to combat this another imagery technique is useful. Imagine yourself pulling a little basket behind you. It is attached to you by a ten foot rope. Every time you have an anxiety producing thought visually place it in the basket behind you so it is permanently removed from your body. Keep placing those negative and fright-producing thoughts such as “I wonder when I am going to mess up!” in the basket outside of you and when you develop this habit you will start to maintain your ability to stay calm. Remember the athlete’s conundrum – “The more relaxed I am the better I play and the better I play the more relaxed I am.”
• EXCITATION – Ironically just as calm is a necessary ingredient to getting into the zone, excitation is as well. There is a certain level of intensity that is necessary in order to perform well. Too little or conversely too much intensity will hurt performance. Excitement is felt when you are about to defeat an opponent or best your former personal record. In this context, excitement relates to aggression. One technique that is often used is to remain silent during competition. It is effective because it removes the player from the psychological interactions usually experienced during the round. When this is done, it is far easier to feel less guilt or conflict about acting aggressively about winning and you remain in the zone for longer periods. This very useful technique is surprisingly difficult to put into effect and you will find that most amateur athletes are more concerned about their social image than their performance and will not take the risk to be seen as cool or aloof by remaining silent.

The zone is the pinnacle experience. The zone is that unique place that indicates one is in the right physical, emotional and mental space. It represents the absence of all that we dread in life. No fear, no worry, no problems. The individual feels at peace, one in body and mind. The zone is part gift and part grit. It is the reward given to those who spend the time necessary sharpening the skills to consistently perform at a level few achieve. In order to enter it consistently, one needs to learn to think kinesthetically and visually and use the five keys to open up the zone: physical ability, focus, confidence, calmness, and excitation. Making use of these will allow the athlete to arrive at that very pleasurable and unforgettable place known as the zone.

Being in the Here and Now is a cliché used often in this culture. Few of us have experienced it – been able to spend significant amounts of time there – enter it by intention. Part of the human condition is to struggle with worrisome, frightening and anxiety provoking thoughts. They are connected to past events and the anticipation of negative outcomes. If we can keep our focus on the present, we discover that we have greater use of our strength, endurance, and skills. This is the condition we want to be in when playing any sport.

Learning from the past can have a very positive effect on your athletic performance. “What does he throw me when I get him deep into the count? Last time he got me out on an inside heater. He will try it again. “On clay courts, she likes to lob me cause I don’t have great footwork and tend to get caught at the net. If I charge the net too frequently, she’ll catch me. This golf hole always looks closer than it is. So, I will take a full swing. If he is already dribbling and decides to go to the basket, he hates going to the right. So, don’t go for the fake in that direction. As Bill Russell (the Hall of Fame Center for the Boston Celtics) said, “I got most my rebounds before the shots were even taken.”

Focusing on the past can also have a very negative effect on your performance. It can develop destructive attitudes towards certain situations. For example, a golfer saying, “I never get it over this creek and onto the green.” Or, every time I play the French Open, I just can’t get past the second round.” The past here is treated as a sense of negative destiny. The athlete approaches the present event as an inevitable failure. All biological functioning tightens up and, low and behold, history is repeated and the belief in failure is reinforced. The past is not being used as information to help the performance.

Over confidence can set in as well. Let’s say an athlete has been successful each time. ” “No problem! This is a piece of cake.” Doing the things that created an outstanding performance are not activated. Performance can drop off and defeat slips in. We must remember to stay present in the here and now. Sometimes it is more difficult to remember this when we have been winners than losers.

Another distraction is the “creation and watching” of an internalized fantasy of our golf ball sailing through the air – getting that extra lift from the over spin – then tearing down the fairway – leaving us with a small chip to the green. We see our opponents’ mouths drop open in total amazement. Sometimes these images can be so vivid that, when we “wake up” and see that the ball is still on the tee, we are shocked. Or, you are running down the sideline as the ball, in slow motion, floats into your arms. Then you are jumping up and down in the end zone with the ball in one hand. It is only then that you notice that your team hasn’t broken the huddle yet. You didn’t even hear the play that was called.

Visualization of an activity can be very helpful in producing a great performance. If you cannot imagine yourself hitting a backhand in tennis, it may be almost impossible to perform. Before you hit a bunker-shot, it is necessary to “see” your club passing through the sand and up into its normal arc. And a diver visualizes his/her legs and arms doing the twists and turns to make the two and a half gainer in the tuck position. Yes! These are all helpful – not in the moment of doing the event. You must be able to clear your mind of these distractions and enter the moment. Whatever you have used to learn the skill must be consciously put aside. It is time to play the game -be in the Here and Now.

Ah you say, “Easier said than done.” Right you are. If you haven’t taught yourself how to be in the “Here and Now” it is very hard to attain it at the time needed – and that time is the moment of activity. It is a skill like any other. It takes practice. But, if you have learned how to get there or here as they say, you will have at your command great power. Being in the here and now means that you are not there – you are here – not in the future or past – you are in the now. How do I train myself to do that? Try the following techniques.

Create a ritual before every action. You see many, if not all, great athletes have one. Chuck Knobloch steps out of the batters box, unwraps and raps his hitting gloves, rubs the barrel of his bat and steps back into the batters box. Tiger Woods stands behind the ball. He makes a mental line from the ball on the tee to where he wants it to go. Then he walks in an arc to stand beside the ball and takes two practice swings. Tiger moves closer to the ball, looks down the fairway once, takes two deep breathes and, then and only then, begins his stroke. These are rituals that help get them get into the here and now. If it doesn’t work, the athlete may step away for a moment and begin the ritual over again.

Learn to breathe. Being able to follow your breathing into your abdomen is very grounding. Take a few seconds and follow your breath through your body. Learn to do this by practicing it many times a day. Do not worry. No one will know you are doing it. Train your body to breathe deeply. If you are able to focus on the passage of air in and out, you will be in there here and now. When you are about to perform your body will know how to do it and you will be very present for the action of the moment.

Ground yourself! Take this literally! Feeling fully and strongly planted on the ground brings you mentally and physically into the moment. Often you see baseball players dig into the turf, feeling the ground beneath them. Golfers will sway and then come to a complete stop before the putt. Again this takes practice. Take a rolling pin with handles on each side. As you sit at home doing work at your desk or watching TV take your shoes and socks off – place one foot on each handle. Roll the pin back and forth. Focus on the feeling of your feet touching the pin. If you take a walk during the day, focus on your feet as you take each step. What does it feel like? Focus on it. You will be in the here and now. You can practice this anytime you move. It will calm your nerves and bring you to the task at hand in a strong and present manner.

When you are in the here and now, the likelihood of being in the Zone increases exponentially. One major factor of being in the Zone is being present without effort. Everything becomes easier to do. It just flows. We are fully attending without strain or stress. It just happens.

Finally, have faith that you have learned what is needed – that at the time of action your body will do what it needs to do for best performance. So, even though it may seem contrary or paradoxical, you must feel that you have put in the conscious practice time necessary – you have sized up the situation you are in – and now it is time to turn it over. Think of Indiana Jones’ and the Holy Grail. Indy must cross a chasm. In order to do so, he must take a leap of faith. We must have that faith that the bridge is there and ready to get us where we need and want to go.

Some people do not know what it means to “visualize.” They become worried because they can’t “see” a mental image or picture when they shut their eyes and try to visualize. You do not have to mentally picture an image. While one person can see a clearly defined image, others report not seeing anything at all – are just thinking about it – imagine looking at it – become aware of a feeling impression. These are all more than acceptable. Your way is your process of imagining. Do not feel inadequate!

If you still are unsure about what it means to visualize, read slowly through the following exercises.

1. “Relax. Think of your locker room. Remember some familiar details of it, such as the color of the lockers, how bright or dark they are, the size of the room, the tile on the floor, the length of the benches, where the showers are. Now, imagine yourself walking into the locker room and taking a seat on the bench in front of your locker. Can you see? What do you see?”
2. Recall a pleasant event that has occurred recently. It is best if there was a positive physical sensation involved: a dinner plate, a beautiful painting, watching a baseball you hit sail out of the park, diving into the cool water of a swimming pool, etc. Remember the details of the experience so that you can re-experience the visual sensation.
3. Imagine a heavenly setting in nature like the wild grass in a meadow, looking at the mountains surrounding the lake as your sailboat moves with the wind, the valley below as your bicycle reach the summit of the hill you just climbed. It could be a place you have been or would like to go. Think about the details of the scene.

Regardless of the process you employed to bring these scenes into mind, it is your way of visualizing. We can categorize two different approaches to visualization. In the Receptor Approach, one simply relaxes and allows the visual images to come up in its “natural” state. In the Active Approach, the person willfully selects and creates what we wish to imagine down to the finest details. It is good for you to be able to activate either approach.

Although “visualization” and “imagery” have been used interchangeably in athletics, they are quite different. Visualization refers to the sense of sight. So, when you see a picture in your mind, you are visualizing. Imagery indicates a use of all the senses. If you are imaging there is a picture in your mind, a smell in your nose, a feeling in and about your body, sounds in your ears, and tastes of flavors in your mouth. Imagery is thought to be of greater benefit because it incorporates all the sense. Visualization is easier for most athletes. It will take a lot of practice to become an efficient imager.

Let’s practice mental imagery. First, as is always the case, get yourself into a relaxed state of mind. Imagine you are at your favorite baseball field.

See

1. The white clouds floating along the blue sky
2. The marked line running down the first and third base lines
3. The dirt going around the infield
4. The two dugouts
5. The crowd circling the entire field
6. The umpires behind home and at each of the other bases
7. Team mates and opposition players

Hear

1. The shout of strike by the umpire
2. The ball hitting the catcher’s glove
3. The cheering of your team as you cross the plate
4. The screaming of the crowd as your hit sails out of the park

Smell

1. The tar on your bat
2. The cut grass
3. The smell of your glove

Feel

1. The ball hitting the sweat spot on your bat
2. Your hand touching the base as you slide in
3. The excitement as you step into the batters box
4. Your leg muscles as you stride to hit the ball

Taste

1. Swigs of Gatorade as you take your seat in the dugout
2. The salty perspiration as it drips down into your mouth

Use these senses to develop an image of you running down a long fly ball in the gap between centerfield and right field. See, feel, and hear yourself racing across the outfield grass with grace, reaching out your left arm as you track the flight of the ball, leap up the outfield wall and feel the baseball fall into you mitt just as it is about to disappear. Hear the roar of the crowd as you look in your glove and show the white ball to the umpire. Sense the excitement, as you become aware that the cheering fans are looking at you.

As you performed this exercise which sense was easier to use when creating the image? Which sense was more difficult to use? You might want to try the exercise a few times before deciding. The most accessible sense is the one you ought to predominantly use while imaging. If the hitting instructor is trying to teach by using a not so accessible sensation, let him/her know what works better for you and ask him to include it in describing the skill to you.

Go back to that great moment when you were playing the sport. As you review the action, does it seem like you are watching a video of it or are you looking through your own eyes as the action unfolds. If you are watching a video, it is called imaging externally. Imaging internally is the term used to identify seeing things through your own perspective. Research has showed that internally imaging is more powerful than external imaging. Again, it is important to practice from both points of view.

&npsb Hopefully, you have developed a small sense of competence in this mental technique. If you are frustrated, do not give up. Frustration will get in the way of relaxing. As you already know, relaxation is the first step in the imaging process. Until you get some direct tangible evidence of its power, you may remain a doubter and somewhat resistant to the process. Just stay with! The results will enhance your performance. We will get into more detail about it, in our next article on Creative Visualizaiton.

Let’s begin by getting on the same language page. For the sake of this discussion, Anxiety will be defined as an individual’s worrisome doubts regarding her/her ability to cope with a given situation. Two more definitions will help get us even further down the path toward an appreciation for the role that anxiety plays on performance. State Anxiety is considered to be situational in nature. Trait Anxiety is a world-view that a person brings to a situation in his/her environment. The interaction of state and trait anxiety impacts our abilities to perform.

There has been significant research on the effect of anxiety on performance. Statistics have shown that anxiety has a U-shaped curve impact on performance. If there is no anxiety about doing a particular activity, performance is poor. As anxiety begins to mount and reaches a middle range, performance scores increase. Passing the mid-range of anxiety and continuing to increase, performance drops off again. At the highest levels, performance is about at the same level as when anxiety was not present. The two points of greatest surprise are that no anxiety seems to be a detriment to performance and moderate anxiety is very helpful to performance. The fact that high anxiety is a detriment to performance fits into our common system of logic.

One short story might illustrate these ideas. A few years back, I was to appear for the first time on a call-in radio show. All the classical signs of high anxiety were effecting me: dry mouth, temples vibrating, hands shaking, perspiration under arms and on palms, etc. When I entered the studio, I was instructed where to sit at the octagon table. Microphones and headsets were in front of each seat. After selecting a seat, the host walked in and introduced himself. I watched myself reach out and shake his hand. I listened to us chatting for a few seconds. Then I asked him if I should take a Valium because I was very nervous. He noted that it was not a good idea – it was the anxiety that would give my voice life needed to come across to the listeners. He suggested that I use my imagination to put myself into an environment that was familiar to me. So, I decided that I would “make” everyone at the table as well as the listeners that called in be members of my group. Having had much experience running groups, I immediately felt some degree of reduced anxiety. This technique allowed me to use moderate levels anxiety to perform at my best. How did I know this you ask? I took the audiotape of the show home and played it on my stereo. The tape revealed someone who made complete sense and was very present throughout.

Let’s get back to sports. It is the bottom of the ninth with two out and my team is trailing by a run. We have men on second and third. Our best hitter has come to the plate and I am on deck. Their manager has gone to the pitching mound with the catcher. They are discussing whether to intentionally walk the batter. What do I hope they choose and why? If I want them to walk him so I can get the game winning hit, I enjoy the anxiety (excitement) of being in the midst of the dramatic action. My anxiety is being used in the service of performance. On the other hand, if I hope they pitch to him, my anxiety signals probable disaster ahead – it is too high and performance will be negatively effected. If I don’t care whether I hit or not, there is too little anxiety and probably my performance will suffer.

High trait anxiety athletes will attend more to information related to state anxiety. In other words, athletes with an anxious or insecure view of the world will have a strong tendency to concentrate on facts that create anxiety in the immediate situation. Try this! An athlete views management as making personnel decisions on a “what have you done for me lately” philosophy. There will be a high level of anxious vigilance regarding all the immediate situational factors (dampness, wind, clouds, time of day, outfit, past events, etc.) that might impact the degree of my success This would produce large amounts of state anxiety as well. Performance would be dramatically reduced. High trait anxiety athletes who experience high state anxiety will find their performance debilitated.

Low trait anxiety athletes attend away from situational threat related information. They have a great capacity to screen out those factors that could make the challenge more difficult. The old TV-show, MASH portrayed surgeons in the middle of a war zone. Regardless, they still had the capacity to ignore the situational anxiety elements and focus on the task at hand. Jackie Robinson comes to mind as well. He faced all sorts of situational threats and hate. Yet, he still was able to put these situational factors aside and play at a very high level. Monica Seles had been assaulted on the tennis court. It took her a few years to get past the understandable situational anxiety created by being on the court again. Because it was such a traumatic event, it increased her trait anxiety. It was impossible for her not to focus on the situational anxiety factors. Occasionally, there are major traumatic events that impact athletes and their ability to ignore situational anxiety factors are permanently damaged. As a result, they may never regain their old performance skills. Herb Score (pitcher – Cleveland Indians) was one of those athletes who was permanently effect by a line drive off the bat of Gil McDougall (Infielder – New York Yankees). The ball hit Herb Score in the head. From that moment he was not able to throw to home plate comfortably. The possibility of it happening again became overwhelming (trait anxiety).

Can an athlete’s anxiety levels be altered intentionally? Certainly! Relaxation techniques that are worth trying are hypnosis, meditation, and deep breathing. Creative visual imagery is a very powerful and successful method for changing the experience of life circumstances. I worked with a golfer who had a block regarding any hole that had a water hazard. No matter how hard he tried to swing “normally”, he kept hitting his golf ball into the water. He tried not seeing the water at all. It became like not seeing the pink elephant in the living room. We created an image of a vacuum tube that went from his ball to the other side of the water. His responsibility was just to get it inside the tube. The suction would take it the rest of the way. Another golfer with the same problem saw it like his digestive system. His job was to chew, swallow and let nature’s natural motions move it to the other end. I know it may be a smelly image. But, he liked it and his shots were going over the water. Don’t knock whatever works! It reduced his state anxiety.

In summary, anxiety (trait and state) can be a support or a hindrance to athletic performance. If we become familiar with the nature of anxiety, we can use it for us. Don’t treat it as your enemy! It is just energy! Learn how to manipulate it! Approach it with wisdom. Anxiety will be yours to do

“I don’t feel like working out!” We’ve all had that thought at one time or another. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends that every American adult should accumulate at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity such as brisk walking or gardening over the course of most, and ideally all days of the week. Indeed, physical activity has been identified as a behavior with potential benefits for improved physical and psychological health in men and women of all ages. Despite the fact that we began an exercise regimen, many of us often stray away form it. Why is that? The truth is that different people don’t work out for different reasons.

Individuality is one of the traits that is most valued in our culture. However, according to researchers people fit into one of five categories when it comes to working out: precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance.

• Precontemplators do not exercise and do not intend to start in the next 6 months.
• Contemplators do not currently exercise but intend to start in the next 6 months.
• Prepapers are exercising some but not regularly (3 or more times per week for 20 minutes or longer, or accumulating 30 or more minutes per day 5 or more days per week).
• Individuals in the action stage exercise regularly but have been doing so for less than 6 months.
• Individuals in maintenance exercise regularly and have done so for 6 months or longer.

In order to stick to your work outs, it is important that you identify which of the above five categories you fit into so that you can choose which intervention strategy is best for you. When there is a mismatch between your category and the intervention strategy, the likelihood that you will maintain you exercise regimen decreases dramatically.

Several points need to be made which apply to individuals in all of the categories. First and foremost is the importance of believing in yourself. This helps to increase the likelihood that you will continue to work out. Making positive self-statements such as “I can do it!” or “I am a warrior!” are useful statements for increasing this belief in yourself.

Secondly, it is important to plan your goals. You should set up short term and long term goals. While these will differ depending on which category you fit into, they are useful for everyone. Individuals who are just starting to work out might set up a short term goal of walking 3 times per week and adding 5 minutes onto their workouts every week. They might make a long term goal of walking 5 days a week. Individuals on the higher end of the scale might set up a short term goal of running 5 days per week and adding 5 minutes every week to their time. Regardless of your specific goal, it is important to have one.

Finally, never under estimate the value of journal keeping. You might write in your long and short term goals along with a log of the actual activity and the length of time that you participated in it for. This is a useful activity since it allows you to see how far you have come.

Precontemplators need some event in their life to get them thinking about exercise. All to often it is a warning from a health professional about the need to start exercising. Research has shown that exercise provides protection against coronary heart disease. It also helps prevent colon cancer in men, reproductive cancers in women, obesity, and other chronic diseases such as osteoporosis in postmenopausal women. Perhaps the need to be a role model for an obese child is sufficient to move individuals to the next stage. As always, consult with your physician before beginning any exercise regimen.

A contemplator must first ask “What’s in it for Me?” There are many physical benefits such as weight control and lowering the risk of heart disease, but there are also psychological benefits as well. These include the reduction of depression and stress. Just the social benefits of working out alone are enough to achieve these improvements. You may meet some new people in a class or improve your relationship with a significant other by going for a walk and spending more time together. Finally, individuals in this stage need to look for ways to increase activity levels in their everyday lives. For example, take the stairs instead of the elevator or park the car at the end of the parking lot.

An individual in the preparation phase should make use of the short term and long term goal setting strategies described above. It is particularly important to reward yourself for achieving your goals. You might want to buy yourself flowers or a new piece of clothing for increasing the amount of time or the frequency with which you exercise. You may also find that you need to use time management skills to fit your new exercise lifestyle into your schedule. Perhaps you could ride an exercise bicycle while watching television or take the dog for a brisk walk or light run in the evening rather then the leisurely stroll you take. Maybe going dancing with your significant other or kids instead of going to a movie is what tit will take for you. Whatever ever you choose to do, read up on it at your local library. There are plenty of good resource books for any activity that might interest you. Why try to reinvent the wheel?

Individuals in the action category need to figure out how to keep it going. You have probably already experienced the health benefits (i.e., weight management and increased energy) as well as the emotional benefits (improved mood). You should focus on trouble shooting problems that could lead to relapse. Perhaps the biggest problem to deal with is boredom. You should combat this by participating in a variety of sports such as switching from running to swimming to bicycling. You may also want to try and gain social support by finding people who you can be active with or are supportive of your lifestyle. There are many clubs that you can join, take advantage of them. Another common problem is to set goals that are unachievable, which inevitably leads to feelings of failure. Make sure that your short term and long term goals are reasonable. Finally, don’t forget to keep rewarding yourself with both internal rewards like praise or external rewards like flowers.

Individuals in the maintenance stage have undoubtedly experienced the benefits of working out. The key question for them is similar to that for those in the action stage, how to keep it going. Continued self-rewards and setting reasonable goals are important strategies to use. Typically these individuals relapse when they become injured. It is therefore important to guard against injury. Read up on how you can do this for your individual sport. If you do become injured, look at your rehabilitation time as being a work-out rather than rehab. You won’t believe the difference that this makes mentally. Finally, stay in tune with your sport during that time. Put things around the house that remind you of exercising. Remember to set reasonable goals for yourself when you are able to return to your sport of choice.

Regardless of the category in which you fit, we are all in danger of receding back. It is important to be aware of this and do what you can based on the stage in which you find yourself. Remember to use strategies that are tailored to your category. Otherwise, they will not achieve their full impact on you. You would think that the physical and emotional benefits of exercise would be sufficient to keep us all going, unfortunately they are only part of the solution.

In order to perform an action at a high level, it is necessary to visualize (imagine) yourself going through the motions. Watching others do a sport well can be very helpful in the implanting of a visual image. If you watch children play, they are often imitating professional sports figures. One well-known professional athlete told me about watching TV as a child when Sandy Koufax (pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers) wound up to throw. He stood in his living room and performed the same motions – from the wind-up to the follow through. He did this for every pitch. Not only were his muscles learning the motion – also his mind was developing an image of what it looks like for a left hander to throw a great curve ball and strike batters out. He could here the crowd roar as the catcher threw the ball down to third base. Sometimes he closed his eyes in class and visualized the same behaviors. Little did he know, he was creating and practicing a visualization that would have huge payoffs in performance later on in life.

This article will illuminate the way in which athletes can learn to use creative visualizations in ways that enhance their performance. Creative visualization uses your imagination to create what you want in your life. Anyone can visualize or imagine. It is a natural ability that we are born with. It uses a basic human energy whether you are aware of doing it or not. Athletes have used this power of creative visualization in an unconscious way. When an athlete is having difficulty with a sport, some negative concepts might be getting in the way of success. After a problem has persisted for a while, he may automatically and unconsciously expect and imagine lack, limitations, difficulties and problems. So, what we are going to describe and teach is a conscious approach to the use of this incredible power for positive results.

The ability to create an idea or mental image is imagination. First, we are going to help you construct a clear image – something you want to occur – in your athletic life. You might imagine hitting out of a sand-trap and coming to a stop close to the hole, taking a toss from your shortstop and throwing to first for the double play, beating the opposing guard and tackling the quarterback, hitting a back-hand across court against a powerful server, etc. Second, you will continue to focus on that idea or picture regularly, giving it a positive charge until it becomes a reality that you can observe.

Imagine you are having a difficult interpersonal situation with a coach that is very aggressive. It is important for you to create a more harmonious condition. The initial step of the method is to relax into a deep, quiet, meditative state of mind. The second step is to imagine you and the coach are communicating in an open, honest and easy manner. Third, get a sense that your mental image is possible – experiencing it as if it is already occurring. Last, repeat these steps as often as possible. If you are sincere about your desires to get a better relationship going with your coach and open to change, you will notice the relationship is improving, the coach is becoming an easier person to get along with and the problem resolving itself completely.

An important point should be made here. The technique of creative visualization CANNOT be used to control the behaviors of other people or make them do something that they don’t want to do. An athlete cannot make an opponent miss a foul shot, hit the tennis ball outside the court, drop a fly ball, miss a putt, etc. Creative visualization works to eliminate our barriers to achieving what we want for ourselves in life. An athlete must have the desire to enrich their experience and knowledge as well as a mind open to trying something new in a positive way.

Understanding certain interconnected tenets of creative visualization is important. Some of these may seem a little odd. Try to read them without judgment.

1. The Physical Universe is Energy. The tangible world is made up of energy – not matter.
2. Energy is Magnetic. Energy of a certain type is attracted to a similar energy.
3. Form Follows Idea. Thought is a form of energy. Before we create something, we have a thought about it. “I will lob the ball.” The idea is like a plan, which directs physical energy and creates behaviors. As an athlete if you hold an idea close to you for a long enough period, it will manifest itself in a physical form. This is true whether it is a positive or negative idea. If you hold the thought “I can’t hit a second serve with power”, you will always have that problem. The opposite is true as well.
4. The Law of Radiation and Attraction. The translation of this law is that we will bring into our lives whatever we think about most, believe in most, expect and/or envision will happen. If an athlete is negative and fearful, insecure or anxious, that very kind of experience or situation will be attracted into his/her life. If that same athlete changes thoughts into a positive attitude, events and people of a more positive nature will surface.
5. Using Creative Visualization. It is important to start using creative visualization at specific times for specific goals. Do it before the game begins as part of the getting ready process. Maybe another good time could be the morning of the game. Also, select a highly identifiable goal. K.I.S.S. stands for “keep it simple stupid.” The more complex and general we make our goals, the harder they are to achieve. It may take some discipline. But, keep your goals within range and you will likely find success. The success will breed more success.

Summary: Part I is an overview of some basic principles that govern create visualization. As an athlete, we hope you have gotten a taste for the potentials of this technique in the enhancement of your performance. In the two parts to come, you will read about this technique in greater detail and offer opportunities to try it out under our guidance.