Sports Hypnosis « Hypno Journal

Archive for the ‘Sports Hypnosis’ Category

Hypnotherapy for golf on ABC 12

April 14, 2010

See Marc Jacobson’s 4/13/10 video story, “Improve your mind, improve your golf game” on ABC 12—Mid-Michigan’s local station.

Here’s an excerpt from the online transcript:

The weather is warming up, and for many of us, that means it’s time to hit the golf course.

After a long winter, hitting the green isn’t necessarily an easy thing to do.

A potential solution could be hypnotherapy.

Hitting a little white ball straight down the fairway is easier said than done.

“It’s like Zen and the art of golf. When you’re totally relaxed, your mind relaxes and everything is easy,” said John Tomlinson from Tomlinson Medical Hypnotherapy.

Tomlinson is a certified medical hypnotherapist. His four-session Mental Side of Golf program is designed to break golfers free from their two most-common problems. “If you fix inconsistency and self doubt, the same thing with business, if you go into a sales meeting with self doubt, you’re not going to make that sale.” Read the rest of the transcript or watch the video here.

Posted in Hypnosis in the News, Sports Hypnosis | Leave a Comment »

Hypnosis for Golf

April 8, 2010

In his 4/5/10 Time Magazine article, “Tiger at the Masters: An Ultimate Test of Toughness,” Sean Gregory discusses the challenge Tiger Woods faces as he returns to golf. He includes the advice of hypnotherapists in the excerpt below.

When Woods was a teenager, he worked with a hypnotist to help place his mind in the proverbial zone. And given his recent revelations that he’s reconnected with Buddhism, it’s fair to assume that Woods is doing a fair amount of quiet introspection. Do more of it, say the psychologists. With practice, you can enter an altered, hypnotic state on the golf course, though not to the point where you’re barking like a dog on command. “You are aware of what’s going on,” says Ken Grossman, a Sacramento, Calif.–based hypnotherapist who has worked with many athletes. “You’re not out in left field.”

For example, Jennifer Scott, a golf hypnotherapist from Phoenix, suggests staring at some object on the course — perhaps a leaf on a fairway tree — and taking a deep breath while waiting to take a shot. “Your eyes are very powerful,” she says. “If you’re darting your eyes back and forth, you lose focus.” Summon the subconscious and give yourself a mantra. “Think peace, harmony, relax, relax,” Scott says. “The golfers I teach love those words.” Denise Silbert, a hypnosis expert from La Jolla, Calif., recommends selecting a physical trigger, like holding a golf ball while walking down the fairway, which will signal your brain to slow down. “As I hold the golf ball, I feel a calm energy,” Silbert says. “I let go of the conscious riffraff, I’m reprogramming the unconscious mind. The verbiage in my mind is affirming: ‘Fairways of power, greens of solace.’” Are you in a trance yet? For Woods, Scott suggests a less hippie-sounding mental chant, perhaps, “I’m the greatest player in the world, see each shot as it lands.”

While affirming his greatness, Woods should also visualize his most triumphant moments. “I’d have him channel a mental movie,” says Grossman. “While he’s in that relaxed state, he should recall his 2008 U.S. Open championship win against Rocco Mediate. He would want to remind himself he won that with a broken leg, and here at the Masters, he’s not even feeling any pain.” Read the whole article here.

Posted in Celebrities and Hypnosis, Hypnosis in the News, Sports Hypnosis | Leave a Comment »

Olympic moguls skier Shannon Bahrke talks about hypnotherapy

February 20, 2010

Interested in sports hypnosis? See the 2/19/10 article, “Bahrke gets hip to hypnotism” on the NBC Olympic Health and Fitness blog. Here’s an excerpt, which begins with a quote from Bahrke:

“Having that good plan, getting a good visualization of where you’re at, being aware of negative self-talk, and giving yourself positive affirmations-I worked on a lot of those things, but in my heart and soul I didn’t believe it,” she says. “That’s where my hypnotherapist came into play.”

Here’s how it works, according to Randy Shaw, Bahrke’s hypnotherapist in Salt Lake City: Fear in the subconscious mind-instigated by, say, a bad crash or injury-can cause a lack of concentration and lead to a decline in performance. By accessing the subconscious mind and identifying those fears, athletes can overcome them.

“When a bad feeling comes up, it’s connected to another time when we felt like that,” explains Shaw. “What I do is help you release what happened in the past so that it has no power over you in the now.” Click here to read the whole article.

For hypnotherapists out there, I highly recommend training materials and programs by Bahrke’s hypnotherapist, Randy Shaw and his collaborator, Matt Sison.

Posted in Sports Hypnosis | Leave a Comment »

Neurofeedback and Guided Imagery for Athletes

February 7, 2010

I found this interesting article posted on Futurehealth.org on 2/6/10: “How Neurofeedback Therapy Can Help Athletes Reach Peak Performance Levels” by Dr. Clare Albright, a psychologist and neurofeedback practitioner in Orange County, CA. Here’s an excerpt:

Whether you are a professional athlete, or simply want to achieve your own personal best at your chosen sport, neurotherapy can help you reach new levels of performance, not just for a few fleeting moments, but more often, and for longer periods, than you have ever experienced before.

The Italian soccer team recently discovered this when they focused on retraining their thinking by using neurofeedback, along with guided imagery and other cognitive restructuring techniques, in a glassed-in room that became known as the “mind room.” Their use of these training methods drew much media attention when they won the World Cup in 2006, largely, it is believed, due to neurofeedback therapy.

Neurofeedback was instrumental in helping these athletes to free themselves from the stress and anxiety produced by self-criticism and by replaying past failures. Many athletes use positive imagery and visualization to center their focus on the desired outcome. Still, it can be a struggle to keep the mind from going over mistakes, in effect reinforcing them, and possibly causing a repetition of the regretted performance. Read the rest of the article here.

Posted in Guided Imagery, Sports Hypnosis | Leave a Comment »

Techniques that help athletes properly channel aggression

December 18, 2009

See Jeff Deitz’s 11/21/09 New York Times article, “Athletes Struggle to Channel Aggressive Nature” for an interesting discussion of the challenges an athlete may face in controlling his or her anger. Below is an excerpt, which suggests helpful techniques.

Champions must learn to control aggression under game conditions. Visualizing what lies ahead is crucial because being caught off guard by unexpectedly tenacious opponents drives the instinctual brain into fear mode, increasing unhelpful aggression. Sports psychologists offer many tried-and-true techniques, including attention-focusing exercises, progressive muscle relaxation, guided imagery, meditation, deep breathing and yoga.

Biofeedback studies confirm that physiological arousal is lowered by mental exercise. Finding it, as opposed to losing it, means taking the thinking brain’s strength and agility out of the mental workout room and onto the playing field. Read the whole article here.

Posted in Guided Imagery, Hypnosis in the News, Sports Hypnosis | Leave a Comment »

Hypnosis for hoops banned at high school in Kansas

March 15, 2009

On 2/5/09, USA Today published an article titled, “High school hoops coach told to stop hypnotizing team.”

The gist of the story is this:

The St. John High School boys basketball team was in a slump, and their coach decided to bring in a hypnotist. He did the prudent thing and sent permission slips home. All the boys’ parents signed but one, Merlin Spare, who happened to be a member of the school board.

Spare is quoted in the article: “I am a coach myself and I try to teach kids to be visionary and believe in what they are doing. I think a person who is solid on their feet doesn’t have to do this. I think it is something a person could rely on and become hooked to.”

I can understand a coach/school board member being ignorant when it comes to hypnosis. I can even understand an entire school board’s ignorance and decision to ban it. What is most disheartening is the response USA Today got from University of Kansas sports psychologist, Scott Ward, “When I think of hypnotism I think of someone going into a comedy club and being hypnotized to cluck like a chicken. It’s not used in sports with the leading athletes.”

Sigh. I would expect a sports psychologist to be more sophisticated.

Here are the facts:

Sometimes athletes get rattled.

A sports hypnotist simply helps athletes tap into their potential and gives them tools to help them stay relaxed and focused, regardless of external pressures and distractions. They employ some of the same techniques of sports psychologists, for example, having the athlete mentally rehearse their game.

Leading athletes have been using hypnosis for years.

See USA Today’s 2/18/09 article, “Tour of California leader Leipheimer helped by hypnosis CD.“

See Associated Content’s 2/24/07 article, “Hypnosis: Even Tiger Woods, Kobe Bryant, and Shaquille O’Neal Use It.“

See the 7/30/07 American Chronicle article, “Using Hypnosis in Athletic Performance.”

See the New York Times 12/29/98 article, “VITAL SINGS: Performance for Athletes, Better Focus with Hypnosis.“

Posted in Sports Hypnosis | Leave a Comment »