Mental focus in Sports Performance
In a radio interview with Dame Kelly Holmes, she said that if you were to get the top 10 athletes of any discipline in a room together, there would be very little to choose between them in terms of athleticism and ability, but there would be a profound difference in terms of their psychology that would differentiate the winners from the losers.
In short, psychology is everything when it comes to performance. And if ever a reminder were needed that reaching goals and chasing dreams is an extension of self-belief, then what better example of that could we find than Eddie the Eagle, whose self-belief in the face of mockery, derision and downright obstructiveness, has recently been immortalised in an excellent film.
With Hypnosis, we focus on the mental aspects of sport performance so that we can improve the physical, because the way we think and what we believe about ourselves and the world can affect all areas of our lives, including sports. When we improve our positive mental attitude with regards to sport we have a far greater chance of enhancing our abilities. Hypnosis is one way to help you to reach peak performance.
Many sports people will come to hypnotherapy because they can’t focus on their sport. For example, they become distracted easily. An injured athlete after recovery fears damaging himself again so holds back during the competition.
An important part of improving performance is in mental rehearsal. Hypnosis can be used to learn and increase ability to fully imagine being successful with all aspects of your sport that needs improving. Whether it is to help recover from injury or to help refocus.
It has now been proven that practicing success in your imagination can produce better results than in real practice. Why? Because it’s easier to be successful and replicate that success in your mind. Hence helping the sports person to develop mental rehearsal and self-coaching skills is essential to improvement and continued self-management.
The point about performance is that at its core there must be a strong, robust confidence in your ability or talent. There is no room for negativity and self-doubt. Any hypnotherapist will tell you, our expertise is very focused on building and consolidating positive self-belief and confidence through mental preparation.