Hypnotherapy Blog

Hypnotherapy and sport...gaining an advantage

2011-03-18T04:42:00.000-07:00

Sports Psychology is nothing new, but in recent years it has definitely become more and more central to the performance and training regime for professional sportsmen and women. The mind has such a huge influence over our body, on all levels. You only have to try to type while someone looks over your shoulder and you see what a difference it makes to your accuracy and speed, and it’s exactly the same with sports performance at all levels, not just the professionals.

Everybody has seen football players miss the vital penalty kick, or a tennis player serving a double fault at high pressure moments. Their physical ability has not decreased at these moments, but their mental game suffers because of the pressure that they feel and this distracts them from being able to perform at their full potential.

Tiger Woods is another example of the impact of the pschological element of sports performance. Tiger was at the top of his game and profession, utilising mental coaching and control with fantastic results. After the trouble with his personal life, and the scrutiny and stress that followed, his game suffered. He was not physically injured, but the distractions in him mind have made his physical performance suffer. I have no doubt that Tiger will return to the top, when he has fully dealt with the problems in his private life. He will then be able to focus fully on his game and recreate his previous amazing form.

I see amateur and pro golfers in my work within the field of Sports Performance Coaching, and one major difference between the two groups is not an innate talent for golf. Pro golfers invest in their mental game, they understand the need to develop and practise the psychological aspect of their game. Physical skill will only get you so far. There’s no point in having a fantastic swing on the driving range, but not being able to rely on it in a competition. Not being able to putt or chip well when you’re being watched by other golfers is a common problem, but you can learn how to focus on the task at hand so you can utilise your skills in any situation.

Journalists and commentators talk about ‘The Zone’ when pro sportsmen and women are performing at the top of their ability. What is The Zone? Where is it? How do you get in it?

The Zone is just a state of focussed concentration. Where all expectations, sounds, analytical thoughts and worries are all pushed out of the conscious awareness, so the body is free to perform the sport without the hindrance of distractions. Getting in The Zone is not just luck or a random event. It can be learnt.

I can teach you how to get into this elusive Zone, using relaxation and visualisation techniques, so you can get out of your own way, leaving expectations, analysis and fears out of the equation, so you can performance to the best of your ability regardless of the situation you find yourself in. If you can pot a difficult shot on the snooker table when you’re practicing on your own, then there’s no reason why you can’t do it again to win a competition, if you are in the right frame of mind….

I teach my Coaching clients how to relax, and trust their own abilities so they can focus on the task in hand and this stops them being held back by worries, distractions and self-criticism.

Visualisation is also a fantastic tool. Professional goal keepers can often be seen before kick off, standing in their goal and saving imaginary balls. By practising the movements and visualising the events of the game, the mind is preparing itself for the match. Mental rehearsal is just as good as phyiscal rehearsal. By visualising successful performance, the mind is preparing itself to recreate that outcome, just like a sef-fulfilling prophecy. And, the same goes the other way. If you predict a poor performance, you are settting yourself up for failure....

Sports Performance Coaching is not just for golfers. It can help players of any sport focus on improving their game so they achieve the best possible performance.

Golfers - Can improve thier concentration, rely on thier swing to be consistent and reliable, eliminate distractions, and cope with competition pressure.

Fighters – Focus on refining skills and eliminating anxiety which affects reaction times, movements and posture. Remaining focussed on strategy and timing.

Tennis Players – Target specific situations which negatively affect their game, such as service game, tie breakers or playing in front of an audience.

Footballers - Eliminate distractions from a crowd, remain certain of their abilities in high pressure situations such as penalties, free kicks, and stay focussed on tactics and strategy regardless of how the match is going.

Runners/Cyclists/Triathletes – Commitment to training and goal setting. Coping with race stress.

Coaching can help anyone who suffers performance anxiety, performs below par when being observed by an audience or in a competitive situation, or suffers recurring issues with a specific element of their sport in a competitive environment.

So...how can you change your behaviour?

2011-03-17T03:50:00.000-07:00

Change is a constant in out lives, and striving to keep things the same is an ongoing battle. Human beings like things to be predictable, so we create patterns, habits and rituals as a way to maintain equilibrium in our lives.

Habits form when we repeat a certain behaviour over time. It becomes accepted as the norm and then we continue to go through the motions, repeating the same behaviour over and over again, until a good enough reason to change crops up. Just wanting to change a behaviour usually isn't enough to bring about a long term change. Just think about the diet industry. People who want to lose weight become seduced with a new diet they read about in a magazine, they buy into the concept, resolve to change their behaviour in line with the new regime. But...does it work? No. If it did, then all overweight people would go on a diet, lose their excess weight and that would be the end of it. They would be slim for the rest of their lives.

What actually happens is the behavioural change required for the diet it too drastically different form their learnt behaviour patterns and after a few days or week the old habits sneak back in. This is not just a case of poor willpower. The habits and rituals of overeating or snacking are deeply embedded in the subconscious. These habits were developed for a reason, and just trying to ignore them is incredibly difficult. People overeat for many reasons, such as emotional triggers, low self esteem, boredom or just shere habit. Without dealing with these habits on a subconscious level, it is very difficult to ignore them.

This is one of the reasons why diets don't work. By denying their subconscious habits an outlet, dieters are relying on willpower alone to stay on their new regime. This means that they feel deprived and are often constantly thinking about the foods they can not eat, and as we all know, if something is off limits it becomes instantly the most desirable thing in the world.

Sound familiar?

Hypnotherapy can help people to establish new, healthier habits, and retain control of their behaviours rather than just automatically acting out their habits without any conscious decision making. Making some small changes makes a big difference over time. And, small changes are easier to action, than big drastic changes such as living on salad or cutting out all carbs.

By taking responsibility for every choice you make, you can decide if each decision is leading you towards or away from you goal. The dieters often find that when no food is classed as off-limits, it is easier to make healthier choices as you dont obsess about it Also by changing the way they actually eat the food, by chewing slowly and putting the knife and fork down between each mouthful, it is much easier to identify when they are full, and this drastically reduces the amout of food they consume. By eating very slowly, the full signal form the stomach becomes easier to identify and act upon.

The principle is simple.

Eat whenever you are truly hungry.
Stop when you are full.

That's how naturally slim people eat. They don't live on salad and diet food. They eat pizza and chocolate if they want it, but they eat a smaller amout. They are able to leave food on their plate if they are full.

By accepting that food is fuel for out bodies, and that we should only eat when we are hungry, we can override the habits of overeating and mindless snacking, as there is no threat of having to go without.

Clients often say to me, what if I leave food on my plate at lunch, but then feel hungry again mid-afternoon? My answer is simple, If you are hungry, you have something to eat. Listen to your body and respond to its needs.

By knowing that you can eat whenever you are hungry, your subconscious mind can relax about food, so you don't feel deprived.

By knowing you can have a piece of chocolate if you want it means that your subconscious wont focus on chocolate as an off-limits food and provide you with cravings for it.

By eating slowly and paying attention to the food on your plate it means you enjoy the food more and feel fuller quicker, as you are no longer shovelling food in mindlessly and ignoring the messages for your body.

By making small changes, you can make a real difference. Feeling in control is the key. Fad diets remove the element of control, so even if people do succeed in losing weight, they tend to put it back on again when they start eating normally again. They haven't learnt how to be in control.

Hypnotherapy can help dieters to feel in control of their eating habits, eat healthily and lose weight as their body moves towards a healthy, appropriate weight. If they occasionally fall off the wagon and eat too much curry in a restaurant, so what? Just start again the next day.

Life is for living, not for dieting, and hypnotherapy can teach people how to eat to live. Not live to eat.

Are you a smoker because you always have been?

2011-03-15T03:23:00.000-07:00

I treat a lot of clients for their smoking habit at this time of year. And it is a habit, not an addiction, which is an important distinction for the clients to understand. The urge to smoke is psychological, not a physical need such as alcoholism or heroin addiction, whereby the body becomes dependent on a substance in order to function. I use the example of going on a longhaul flights, and most smokers agree that they can go for most of the flight without thinking about smoking, because they know that they can't. they only start to crave a cigarette towards the end of the flight when they know the opportunity to smoke is near.

When smokers first start to smoke, it's not that enjoyable, and as a former smoker myself I can remember thinking "Is this it? It's grim" the fist time I sparked up (aged 14). Trying not to cough and trying to look cool were my top priorities, and if you asked me then if I enjoyed it, the answer would be an unequivocal 'NO!'.

But...I persisted and sooner or later like all smokers, I found myself hooked. My subconscious mind had interpreted my prolonged smoking behaviour as an indication that I wanted to smoke, and as a result my subconscious supported the behaviour by giving me cravings and developing smoking behaviours and rituals to reinforce it.

All smokers in the developed world consciously know the risks and implications of smoking, but subconsciously they do not accept them. Hypnotherapy can help to resolve this conflict by informing the subconscious mind of the risks and realities of smoking. By telling the subconscious mind that you no longer want to smoke because of the dangers,cost, smell etc the cravings and rituals developed over the years can be replaced with more healthy and appropriate responses. It's not a magic cure, but it does change the way you perceive smoking, so you can choose to stop smoking.

My Smoking Cessation therapy consists of an hour long interview and 45 minutes of hypnosis. The questions I ask are tedious, however by uncovering all the habits, patterns and rituals a smoker has, I can tailor the hypnosis exactly to their needs, targeting problem areas to give them the best possible chance of success.

Everyone has their own beliefs about why, when and how much they smoke. I've heard it all. But what I find really surprising is how much they enjoy it. Most clients will start by telling me they do enjoy it, but when I get them to break down their daily routine, cigarette by cigarette, and then ask them "Which ones do you really enjoy, from start to finish?" most clients will chose one of two, usually first thing in the morning, after their evening meal or a fag-break from work. They often tend to surprise themselves by giving this honest answer. But, the reason they are surprised is because they have never consciously thought about this question before. They are smoking because they smoke. Like a wind up toy, they are just going through the motions without any conscious decision making. It is HABIT.

I help people to break habits all the time, the vast majority of my work involves helping someone to stop doing something that has a negative effect on their lives or to start doing something that will have a positive effect on their lives. Once my smoking clients realise that they aren't enjoying it as much as they assumed, it is easier to bring about the change in their behaviour.

More next time on behavioural change!

Gina

It's not all about clucking like a chicken...

2011-03-14T11:10:00.000-07:00

I'll be blogging about hypnotherapy and performance coaching news, developments, applications and research, as well as bringing you information and dispelling the myths and fallacies that surround my profession.

In the years I have been a practicing hypnotherapist I have come across many views, opinions and fears regarding what I do for a living. Some clients want to see it as a magic wand which can solve all their problems for them, some worry about what could "go wrong" but most are receptive, motivated and intrigued by the process.

I get clients from all walks of life, and speaking to so many different people has shown me that most people have the same issues and the same problems. They all want the same thing; to feel in control of their behaviours, their choices and their feelings. Autonomy is vital for well being.

People don't want to be in control, they need to be in control.

Also, I have found that British people can embrace the process of therapy, be open and receptive to applying themselves to change. So many clients have said to me during the session "This is like therapy". They had not made the connection before. By talking to a professional about their lives and their goals and their current issues they can feel more empowered, more in control. And that's progress, even before they've been under hypnosis.

The stigma of 'therapy' is decreasing in the UK. I'm not sure we'll ever reach the level of treatment that happens in the US, but there has been a cultural shift in the way people perceive a drive for personal improvement and development. The shift in people's attitude to smoking is a prime example of how things have changed. Smoking has become stgmatized, marginalised and socially unacceptable. The vast majority of clients I see for Smoking Cessation therapy don't even smoke inside their own homes anymore, and that shift in attitude happened recently and rapidly, and it goes to highlight how things change. More on smoking next time.

Thanks for reading.

Gina