Sports Performance Hypnosis

There is an impressive body of evidence to support the way the mind influences and effects sporting performance and the physiology in general.

In sports, it might occur in an important competition, we all saw how Rory McIlroy lost his healthy lead in the US masters in Augusta in 2011, before recovering mentally and showing some amazing resilience to go on and win the 2011 US Open golf major in tremendous style a few months later.

Those of us in the UK in particular may be familiar with the 1985 World Snooker championship final (watched by 19 million viewers past midnight) whereby the seemingly undefeatable reigning world champion Steve Davis missed a chance to cut in the final black ball in the final frame before Dennis Taylor potted it. The pressure on both players in that final frame was massive and clearly effected their ability.

We have seen how tennis players struggle with those important points in big championships, we saw how young Emma Raducanu wowed the crowds at Wimbledon in 2021, only to withdraw from the tournament, mid match with breathing difficulties - I imagine the pressure of the occasion had some considerable impact. Fast forward a few months and she won the US Open. An impressive turnaround.

There is some debate about how much of sporting performance is due to physical or mental preparation. It’s long been said in the channel swimming world that it is 80% mental. When you consider how bit a physical feat it is, that seems remarkable. In my experience that’s about right. If I think about my own performance, my best swims have been when I’ve been in mental tip top condition. Most, but not all, of my unsuccessful swims have failed due to some mental element.

Mental preparation is everything.

Yet why is it that we spend such a small amount of our training on mental preparation? Granted that the process of training can also have psychological benefits, but I think we can do better than that.

It’s quite incredible the level of impact that the mind can have on physical performance. I’ve seen people struggle with physical pain which has clearly first been created in the mind. Like the swimmer who had a dreadful shoulder pain that miraculously disappeared when he was distracted by a seal in the water.

It is a rare occurrence to encounter an athlete or sports person who spends a great deal of time and effort on their psychological skills and mental side of training. Let's make this clear – the presupposition here is that the psychological side of training is just as important as anything else when it comes to sporting performance. The athletes at the very top of their game are the ones who know this more than the rest and that is often why they are there.

Let’s think about Roger Bannister, famous for his achievement of being the first man to run the four-minute mile: On the 6th May 1954 he ran the mile in 3 minutes and fifty-nine seconds. Many runners had got close to that time, but many questioned whether it was actually possible.

Swedish runner Gunder Hågg had run 4:01.4 and his fellow runner Arne Anderson had run 4:01.6. Their countryman and sports psychologist of the time (when Hågg had held world records at one mile, two mile, three mile, 1500m, 3000m and 5000m), Dr Lars-Eric Unestahl, had openly stated that perhaps Hågg and other runners were convinced that the four minute mile was impossible and therefore there was a mental barrier stopping runners achieving it.

Bannister was confident it could be done and even later wrote:

“Though physiology may indicate respiratory and circulatory limits to muscular effort, psychological and other factors beyond the ken of physiology set the razor’s edge of defeat or victory and determine how close an athlete approaches the absolute limits of performance.”

(Bannister, 1956 & 1981)

Once Bannister had run the sub-four minute mile, many others followed in rapid succession and it made sure that runners and other athletes started to look at their psychology as an important way of becoming a better runner or athlete.

The evidence is clear for the application of psychological skills and strategies for advancing sporting performance.

HOW CAN HYPNOSIS HELP?

There have been studies across numerous sports including basketball, golf, soccer, racquet sports, precision sports, endurance & strength sports all showed a positive impact of using hypnosis.

Uses include:

• Reduced perception of effort despite actual effort remaining constant

• Influencing heart rate, respiratory rate, oxygen uptake, blood flow and carbon dioxide production

• Increased recovery rate

• Reducing anxiety & blood pressure

• Overcoming pain

• Improved self efficacy (judgement of own ability)

• Improved self-talk

• Mental imagery

• Creating a peak performance state

• Increased muscular strength

• Mobilise effort & strength on demand

• Recovery & injuries

• Create a sporting mantra

If any of these seem like they could be useful to you, get in touch now for a free 20 minute consultation to discuss your sporting plans.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

We have choices of how to work together:

• Masterclass: I’ll teach you how to use self-hypnosis and then we’ll work through a series of techniques that are applicable across multiple sports

• One to one: We’ll work through the areas that are most applicable to your sporting goals

RELEASE YOUR FULL SPORTING POTENTIAL

You’ve invested a lot of time in your physical preparation and that’s only part of the formula for success. Why not work on the hidden 80% to enable you to achieve more success than you ever thought was possible?

HOW WILL WE WORK TOGETHER

Masterclass

In our first session I’ll teach you how to use self-hypnosis and we’ll have a hypnotic session of our own. Further sessions will answer any questions that you have and work on a specific topic.

You’ll receive full written guidance documents on each of the techniques that you learn

You’ll hear about the evidence to support each of the techniques that we work through.

You’ll have a facebook group to enable conversation throughout our time together and you’ll then be moved into an alumni facebook group a the end of the masterclass where the conversation can continue between all of you.

One to one

Before we meet you’ll complete a questionnaire which we’ll discuss in our first session. We’ll create a plan for four further sessions, each one focusing on the areas that are particularly relevant to your planned event.

Also in the first session I’ll teach you how to use self-hypnosis and provide you with a full guide.

In each following session there’ll be a written document to refer to after our session and we’ll talk through the procedure to be used.

I’ll be available to answer any questions that you have between sessions.

After our sessions you’ll be invited to our facebook alumni group where you can continue the conversation with like-minded people.

It’s your time now…

And I can’t wait to help you break free of these self-limitations …

Are you ready to make a step change in your life with one of our Master Classes? If the answer is YES, use the form below to find out when the masterclass is running next. Speak soon!