Imagery for the Super Bowl XLIX Teams

Photo courtesy of Microsoft Office

Super Bowl XLIX is just a few days away.

No doubt the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks are preparing for the big game by doing practical things like creating and practicing offensive and defensive strategies to defeat the opposing team. The athletes are probably powering up by drinking water and eating protein and other high-energy nutritious foods to build muscle and increase stamina; hopefully, they are also able to get adequate rest (sleep) so they can be focused and sharp on game day.

 I wonder what they are doing to mentally prepare for the game. I am sure that New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick and Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll are giving their respective teams pep talks to help build up the players’ confidence in their prowess on the field. Following are some imagery exercises I would guide them through before they walk onto the field to further increase their confidence so they can focus on the game and earn another championship ring.

·                     Tune out all of the negative discussion, comments and analysis about your team and NFL politics that you may overhear around you. These things have already happened; now it is time to focus on the game you are about to play.

 

·                     Take a minute to relive how confident and enthusiastic and joyful you felt when you won your previous Super Bowl championship. When you have a good image of this experience, draw a deep breath and feel the power, excitement and confidence that washed over you when you made that snap, threw/caught the touchdown pass, ran the football all the way to the end of the field for that touchdown. Release any lingering negativity or doubt as you exhale that breath.

 

·                     Allow your body to do what it already knows how to do. You have successfully done each of these plays thousands of times in practice and during other games. You did them to win your league championship. You did them when you won your last Super Bowl title. Your body knows how to do each of these things, so keep your mind/thoughts out if your body’s way.

·                     Every time you are in possession of that football, notice how every muscle in your body is feeling stronger. Your confidence in your ability to score (or assist that score) a touchdown grows exponentially. You know that you can run faster, throw further, jump higher, block more effectively than your opponent. You catch that football out of the air as if it was already in your possession, and your confidence in your ability to help win this game is twice as strong.

·                     As you play, you know that you are throwing/kicking/catching/running that football the way you have trained all year for this moment to do. You are also throwing/kicking/catching/running that football with all the joy and excitement of that child in you that has always loved this game, dreaming of this moment to win another Super Bowl championship.

·                     Remember: You are already a champion many times over! You are competing in this championship because you earned the right to be there, through the various competitions you have won during the past year.

Good luck, teams!

 

 

Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.
© 2015

Two Sides of the Same Coin

 

 

Photo courtesy of Microsoft

Are you able to turn a stressful situation
into an advantage?
 

                It is easy to go off course during a project. You don’t know what to say when someone asks you a question during a presentation at work. You forget how to play a piece of music at a recital for which you have spent months rehearsing. Time seems to stop as that crucial event and the split second in which “it” occurred are burned into your mind and memory, forever. But time continues to march on and, you still have your life to lead and that project/performance/game, etc. to complete. When your focus is disturbed, are you able to maintain your composure and carry on as if nothing is changed? Will you use the disruption to your advantage, or will you freeze and miss out on later opportunities to recover because you are still focused on what has already happened?

                I saw both scenarios play out tonight while I watched the Super Bowl. The Denver Broncos lost control of the football to the Seattle Seahawks in the first 10 seconds or so of the game. Seattle quickly took advantage of their “advantage” and kept powering through the game. You could see their athletes’ confidence grow with every play. Football players are big guys, anyway; however, Seattle’s players literally seemed to get physically bigger every time they scored a point or got an inch closer to the end zone. They had more spring in their step on the field and on the sidelines. Conversely, the Broncos were stuck in an endless loop of that first scrimmage. I could see the frustration and disappointment on the team’s faces and, more importantly, in their demeanor. Each time a pass was intercepted or one of the Broncos missed or dropped the football, everyone on that team seemed to deflate a little bit more and their opponents got that much bigger.

 

                Two sides of the same coin.

 

 

 

                Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.

© 2014