Who should use hypnosis to improve sports performance?
All sports enthusiasts, regardless of skill levels, can take advantage of sports hypnosis. You can be a beginner or world-ranked professional and still benefit from the skills taught through hypnosis. Depending on your area of concern, the hypnotist may work with very basic or complex skills. The hypnotist will also work with you to focus on the emotional aspects of the game (for example, do you need to increase concentration and focus to block out the opposition while doing your moves?).
Which type of athletes should use sports hypnosis?
It is widely known that some famous golfers, boxers, football payers, dart players, hockey teams and Olympic teams have used sports hypnosis to enhance their performance. Any athlete who wants to excel in their game should use hypnosis, and this applies to ringette, swimming, bowling, running marathons, video gaming, fishing, diving, kayaking, dancing and the list goes on.
How does thinking about something help to improve my skills?
In hypnosis, we work to strengthen the mind-body connection to help clients create reflexive actions that flow smoothly when the player needs it the most.
Research has shown that mental rehearsal can actually increase muscle growth required for a sport and decrease the reaction time for performing the sport. While there are several theories on why this works, one general idea is that as we rehearse the activity, we create the neural pathways and networks in the same way as if we had actually practiced physically. As we strengthen these pathways, the skills becomes more innate, more natural. It becomes easier to use those skills when we need them without having to think about what to do next. It is within our nature to develop patterns and habits that make carrying out tasks easier.
A perfect example of how a skill become innate is the simple fact that we do not have to think about walking, it just happens naturally. Try this: take a moment to walk across a room think about walking, think about having to move each muscle and then move it, shift your balance, counter balance with arm movements and continue thinking about each step and each counterbalance move as you make the short trek from one side of the room to the other… notice how much harder and time and energy consuming it is when we think about each step! Now, of course, we do not do that in day-to-day walking, we basically let our reflexes (subconscious minds) do the work for us. This is the type of engraining that hypnosis offers!
Did you know that many athletes have performance anxiety?
Instead of hiding the fear of performing in public, hypnosis can help remove the fear and increase confidence while decreasing negative thoughts. Too many athletes choke under the pressure by using hypnosis you can build focus and put yourself in the "zone" so that you can perform at your peak. You can leave the self-doubt for other people and go into competition self-assured and relaxed.
How do I use your services?
If you are looking for sports hypnosis in Ottawa, Nepean, Kanata or Orleans, you have come to the right place! You can either visit me in my office or I can come to you. Not from this area? Contact me to discuss using Skype for sports hypnosis or arranging special events or training for you or your team.
For more information, visit my blogs at: http://www.derrickbarnes-hypnotist.ca/get-your.html and http://www.derrickbarnes-hypnotist.ca/using-mental.html
