Every athlete, from the beginner
to the professional can benefit from using mental rehearsal to improve their
game. This holds true for athletes and competitors in every sport arena including
the weekend warriors or duffers, to the skilled martial artist, dancer, bowler,
dart player, hockey and / or soccer player. Although, this article deals with
sports, these core skills are generalizable to other areas of life (studies,
difficult conversations, work or hobbies).
The benefits of mental rehearsal
include: enhancing learning and skills improvement, improving practice and game
time performance, strengthening the mind-body connection, boosting confidence
and controlling emotional responses. Research has shown that mental rehearsal
can actually increase muscle growth required for a sport. Given the list of
benefits, it is obvious that mental rehearsal can give an athlete a competitive
edge. 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. Unfortunately, many
people do not know how to do practice this technique to maximize their performance
results.
You can rehearse simple or
complex skills, scenarios that you are familiar with, new scenarios as well as
the emotional state that you wish to achieve. Here are the keys for how to practice
mental rehearsal effectively.
The first key is to make the
image as real and precise as possible. Imagine exactly how you would stand,
where would your opponent be, the time of day, and so on. The more details you
add, the more real you can make the image.
In a similar vein, the second key
is to use all of your senses in your mental imagery. Imagine the smells,
sounds, sights, feelings, taste, if applicable, and proprioception (the sense
of how your limbs are oriented in space).
While the third key is
interrelated to the first two keys, it is so essential that it needs to be
listed separately. It is to practice how you want to feel.
During the rehearsal, you should imagine being completely focused on the task,
filtering out all distractions and “being in the zone”. You want to engrain
sensations of confidence, self-control and composure under pressure. Practicing
these feelings will allow you to get into this mind space more easily during
the sporting event.
The next key is to imagine
things happening in real time. If you are learning a new skill you can slow
it down to look at the details and then speed up the image to real-time. You
need to incorporate into your practice rehearsal of the skills at the speed you
will perform them on the field or in the ring.
The penultimate key is to imagine
doing the activity from a variety of perspectives. To do this you should
feel the activity as if you were living it from the first-person perspective
and then imagine watching a video of you doing it from a third-person perspective.
Some people also report success when they imagine the experience from their
teammates or opponents perspective.
The final key is to plan time to mentally
rehearse these keys at a time and in a place where you will not be disturbed.
Just as you devote time to the physical aspects of the game, take time for the
mental aspects of the game. Recommendations vary about the amount of time that
you should practice these exercises and the circumstances vary for each person.
My recommendation is to mentally rehearse 4-10 minutes every day supported by longer
sessions 2-3 times a week.
If you have problems seeing
images (visualizing), do not worry; just “imagining” the sport and the
skillsets that you want to practice works as well. If you find it difficult to
do mental rehearsal on your own, you can seek out MP3s or watch videos of
professionals performing your sport, then close your eyes and imagine doing it
yourself exactly the same way. You may choose to see a performance coach,
hypnotist or other trained professional as they can offer a different point of
view, specific feedback and skills to work on and guide you further through
these exercises.
So go ahead, take time to
practice mental rehearsal and give yourself the competitive edge.
About the author
Derrick Barnes, RSW Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist, uses the latest techniques and evidence based research to help you focus on reaching your goals. His approach combines coaching techniques, solution-focused brief hypnotherapy and mindfulness. Even though Derrick focuses on future successes and not past challenges, he will, upon request, offer various other services such as past life regression or energy work.
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