Participating in sport, may mean working very hard at training the body, you push it, put it through its paces and work for hours to polish the finer points of the game or manoeuvre.

However, all this hard work may not train the mind to be athletic.  Sports psychologists will often indicate that some 80-90 percent of an Olympic athlete’s performance is in the mind.  This involves using the imagination, thought processes and attitude to provide incentive, support, reinforcement and refinement of the physical skills.

To improve the performance, people need to undertake mental as well as physical rehearsal.

It will assist in:

• Increasing the agility;
• Improving co-ordination;
• Improving concentration;
• Refining the techniques;
• Heighten the awareness of body position;
• Eliminate inhibiting thoughts in regard to the performance; and
• Increase the capacity of enjoying the sport.

Visualisation or mental rehearsal is effective because of the fact that as you imagine an activity your neurons fire in exactly the same patterns they would follow if you were actually performing the activity, it also enhances the contractions in the muscles, which result in improved neuromuscular co-ordination.

Through also physically executing the appropriate activities, it brings about an emotional affirmation, as the pictures are formed in the mind, the subconscious is convinced that the desired outcome is possible. The total success of the movement, also brings accompanying pleasure.  By stating the desired goals it also affirms the positive behaviour i.e. “I will be the fastest runner in the marathon”.

If you can think it and say it – you can do it.

Hypnosis in the management of sports enhancement:

Through the use of hypnotherapy and assisting the activation of the mind/body connection, you will be able to overcome the roadblocks that make it more difficult or impossible to reach your goals.  Almost always, the obstacles are conditions that cause some form of anxiety.

Some of the more common ones are:

• Fear of failure;
• Fear of being humiliated;
• Fear of competition; or
• Feelings of intimidation.

Hypnotherapy will assist you to:

• Overcome the fears and pressures;
• Program yourself for the perfect game;
• Program yourself to have a winning attitude; and
• To accomplish a specific goal for personal achievement.

For further information contact us on (03) 5223 2370 or via email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

AMAHS, MASCH, NFH