In the Zone

Wednesday, 1st August 2012

by Trevor Eivers CH; NLP.P

It has come to light recently that Waterford hypnotist Keith Barry has been helping some of the Irish Olympic athletes to enhance their performances at the games, from badminton player Scott Evans to high jumper Dierdre Ryan. But these will not be the first sports people to have benefitted from the power of hypnosis.

Hypnosis is a natural super-concentrated and focused state where sports people can tap into the power of their own subconcious minds, programming themselves for success. Our subconcious mind is really the source of our inner potential. From an early age we are all learning subconciously, whether it’s learning to walk, talk, read or write, or later on cycle a bike. When a top sports person reacts ‘automatically’ to a situation, this is the subconsious mind at work.

Over the years many famous sports people have acknowledged that hypnosis has helped them. Golfer Tiger Woods, Tennis player Andre Agassi, and World Champion boxer, Steve Collins, to name a few. But many top sports people are using hypnosis unknowingly. Have you even noticed tennis Wimbledon Champion Roger Federer, when on top of his game, his eyes glaze over, almost trance like? Putting himself in that super-focused and concentrated state; where all that exists is that tennis ball and tennis court? This is commonly reffered to as being ‘In The Zone’ when the sports person is performing to the best of their abilities and can do no wrong.

Hypnosis can also help build that confidence that separates the winners from the losers. History has shown that the greatest sports people of all time are those who were the strongest mentally and hypnosis is a great tool to achieve this, providing that ‘can’ and ‘will’ attitude, where anything is possible. Another technique commonly practiced in hypnosis is ‘creative visualisation’. This is where the sports person mentally rehearses their desired performance. Research has shown that this can stimulate electrical activation in relevant muscles, and so ‘prime’ those muscles for subsequent physical activity. A top class gaelic football or hurling freetaker will tell you that before he strikes the ball, he first visualises the ball going over the bar for a point. But whatever your sport, remember, if you can imagine it, you can achieve it!

Trevor Eivers CH; NLP.P is a Certified Consulting Hypnotist with the 'NGH', which is an international hypnotism body with over 14,000 members worldwide. He is also a certified NLP practitioner with the Irish Institute of NLP. Trevor is based at The Complete Health Clinic in Henrietta Street, Waterford. Tel: 086 - 8211677.