Tuning it Out

 (This blog was originally posted on February 20, 2014)

Photo courtesy of Fotolia

As the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, drew to a close, I marveled at the athletes’ incredible physical and mental prowess. To even qualify to participate in an Olympic event, they had to be at the top of their game—a national or even a world champion or finalist in their sport. (Hard as qualifying to compete in the Olympic Games must certainly be, qualifying for them seems like it would be the “easy” part.) Once these athletes made their nation’s Olympic team, they all would have had to face off against similar-ranked competitors of other nations—and then then their teammates—on the world’s stage. There would be no time to revel in the excitement and honor of being an Olympian, representing and earning medals for their nation. Similarly, there would be no room in their training regimen (nutrition, rest, training, training, training, competition, etc.) to feel nervous about the athletic challenges to come. No matter what went on around them, whether they felt sore from yesterday’s competition or elated about having earned a career “best” in the preliminary round, these athletes had to remain focused on the job ahead of them. They had to continue to give their all (and a lot more) to score that winning goal, the highest/longest jumps, the most beautiful spins, the fastest runs down the mountain slope, half-pipe or chute. There would not be time to ruminate over mistakes they have just made or whether that triple-triple jump combination in their ice-skating program sufficiently intimidated their top-ranked opponent. So, how do these athletes keep it all together to bring home the gold or silver or bronze?

When I work with hypnotherapy clients to help them achieve their athletic goals, the first thing I do is reinforce and/or build their self-confidence about their skills and talent in the sport. If a person has won prizes or championships in this sport before, and/or had to qualify to participate in the upcoming event, I incorporate this information into the hypnotic script. I teach breathing techniques to help the person learn to relax his or her physical body; then, I introduce guided-imagery so the person has an opportunity (or several) to rehearse the event and even work through various competitive scenarios. If appropriate, and with my client’s permission, I may also invite the coach or trainer to help me incorporate sports-specific jargon or instruction about a technique that the person is working on, in the script. I also reinforce suggestions about continuing to follow a healthy lifestyle to support the client’s athletic program (e.g., eating nutritious meals, drinking plenty of water and getting enough rest and a good night’s sleep).

Equally important, I help my clients to tune out distractions during the competition, such as camera flashes, cheers or applause, or being in an unfamiliar environment. In these cases, I use imagery and systematic-desensitization techniques to not only “desensitize” the person to these stimuli, but to create an association in which these stimuli will actually help to increase their confidence in their athletic prowess and double their focus/concentration on what they need to do to succeed in the event. Many athletes are distracted and affected by negative self-talk, or some receive discouraging or disparaging comments from opponents or even teammates, friends, family members or a coach/trainer. In these instances, I first desensitize the person to these kinds of negative messages. Then, I help my client to create powerful imagery to virtually shield (protect) the individual from others’ negative comments/energy, and to dissolve and dissipate negative self-talk before the person even knows or notices that it is going on.

While the client in hypnosis, I include a final suggestion about muscle memory: “Allow the athlete inside of you to give yourself permission to trust your body. Trust your training and all of those previous experiences of success doing [this sport], which you have been doing for so long. Allow your body to do what it does well, and you are doing it even better than you ever have, before.”

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/.

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