| effective, enhancing logical, practical strategies for empowerment, self-control, relaxation & hope |  | dr. j's head-cleaners shrink rap & shrink think for practical, powerful healing & hope |
|
and Performance Anxiety in Sports and Other Performance Situations and Hypnosis hypnosis tapes & CDs for optimal performance There is no magic elixir that will make an athlete out of an apple, but for optimization of one's being or not being in the zone the most common sports psychology intervention that I know of is to quiet conscious internal dialogue. Being "in the zone" is often alternatively described as a state of mind where the individual finds him- or herself observing his or her body executing movements or observes as he or she gives a speech. Or it is described as feeling every move or action flow from within somehow. Well-learned complex physical movements are better handled by the cerebellum -- a part of the brain that functions outside of conscious awareness and manages very complicated movements with greater speed and efficacy than the cerebrum where we consciously solve problems and think about what we're doing. The cerebellum has to have experience, though. When learning to walk or ride a bicycle, for example, we're pretty unsure of ourselves at first and with good reason. Not only do we begin the learning of things from the very basic beginnings, we have to use our cerebrum (our consciousness) to concentrate on what we are doing. Our cerebrum/consciousness must know how to walk or ride the bicycle first, and then with practice the cerebellum learns. This is why we can think about all sorts of other things while walking or riding a bike. Doing either while trying to pay attention to what muscles are doing what and when is likely to cause a mis-step or an accident. (Just try to attend consciously to walking and you can see that consciously paying attention to the act of walking actually makes you very clumsy and irregular..) When either the conscious cerebrum can have control or "unconscious" mental processes can have control, the consciousness assumes control whenever attending to a movement or action. Breathing, for example, can be done consciously or unconsciously. When you think about how you are breathing, your consciousness -- your cerebrum -- is doing the thinking and is at least in part managing your breathing. When you think about how you are performing in a sport or any other activity, your consciousness/cerebrum is at least in part managing the performance. Optimal performance of well-learned or "wired in" actions (like walking or breathing) happens when your consciousness is on other things and not trying to have control. The most common barrier to "being in the zone" -- whether in sports, public speaking, sexual performance, or whatever -- is internal dialogue and coincident attempt to consciously control the performance of the various actions involved in the sport, speaking or etc. (When the internal dialogue is negative and predictive of failure, the negativity and gloom also interferes with performance and this problem is called "performance anxiety.") Hypnosis can be very effective in assisting the consciousness of the cerebrum to get itself out of the way so the cerebellum can handle things and to foster the experience of being "in the zone" when performing well learned. Of the Head-Cleaners hypnosis recordings, Performance 2, is designed to tune down the internal dialogue, getting the cerebrum out of the way of the cerebellum. Performance Perfected is also designed to tune down the critical internal dialogue and attentiveness and it is also designed to foster a readiness for optimal action when appropriate. Both were designed specifically to foster the listener's ability to get "in the zone" whether involved in public speaking, athletic performance, sexual intercourse, or whatever. Both performance recordings are intended to foster an intended performance and are not designed to foster long term changes in attitude or ability. Additional helpful Head-Cleaners recordings which are designed to foster long term changes in attitude and anxiety levels are Self To Self Partnering - which focuses on optimal attitude toward one's self when struggling with challenges - and To Be Comfortably Confident - which focuses on increasing one's sense of confidence. 
If you are anxious about your performance because you really haven't studied or prepared, you're probably stuck being anxious. Practicing under the conditions that are as close as possible to the conditions you'll be in when performing will optimize performance. Practicing for a skating competition at a rink half or twice the size of the rink where the competition will be will not be as effective as practicing at the same size rink. The same rink would be best. Practicing for a big 100 question test by looking at ten or twelve test questions every few hours will not be as effective as practicing 100 questions at a time. Imagining performing optimally can be very helpful to performance. Our imaginations -- which do not get much practice in our modern world -- are very powerful tools. Imagining optimally performing actually provides a mental and mini-mental rehearsal that can facilitate best performance. Your brain goes through the steps of the performance, actually sending little signals to the muscles, reinforcing and enhancing the nervous system pathways and mechanics that are used in the mental and physical aspects of the performance. Imagining screwing up can increase screw-ups and diminish performance. Conversely to the suggestion above, imagining screwing up can actually lead to a greater likelihood of doing so.
Study and test-taking in college. Check out the college success strategies article for information on college test studying and test-taking strategies. For test anxiety issues, see Test-Taking Talented, Too - another Head-Cleaners recording specifically designed to eliminate test and study anxiety - and TestAnxietyHypnosis.com, a website focused on test anxiety. |
head-cleaners visitors since Valentines Day, 2001 |
