Sports performance depends on more than physical training. The emotions you feel when you are competing can affect your performance both on and off the field. Positive emotions, including excitement and confidence, can push you to take your game to the next level. Negative emotions, such as anger and frustration, can cause you to choke. With self-hypnosis for confidence, you can learn to master your emotions and get more from your game.
The Physical Nature of Emotions
Your emotions are not all in your head. Emotions cause a physical response that affects every part of your body due to the fight-or-flight reflex. When you feel strong emotions, such as fear or anger, your body reacts physically with increased blood pressure, a higher heart rate, and other physiological changes that help you prepare for a fight or flight. These stress reactions are natural, and they can be channeled into heightened sports performance. For example, that sudden burst of glucose might be just what you need to get you across the finish line in record time.
Still, the physiological changes associated with stress can also have the opposite effect. Feeling frustrated, anxious, despairing, or helpless can affect your ability to focus and sap your energy. Anger can tighten your muscles and leave you feeling clumsy and uncoordinated. Eventually, you start to lose your physical capacity, and your performance declines. Self-hypnosis for sport performance can help you regulate your emotions and maintain your focus until the end.
Self-Hypnosis in Sports
Athletes have used modern hypnotherapy to improve their game since at least the 1950s. Sports psychologist Dr. Bruce Ogilvie tested athletes from high-risk sports such as skydiving and found that they had greater focus and emotional stability than other athletes and tended to maintain a higher degree of control. His groundbreaking work laid the work for the foundation of much of modern sports hypnosis. Today, sports hypnotherapists work to help athletes develop their own focus and emotional stability to maximize their performance, and research shows it works. What can self-hypnosis for confidence do for your game?
One study found that college basketball players jumped and shot better when they used hypnosis. A similar study with college soccer students found that the group using hypnosis performed better than the non-hypnosis group. The hypnosis group also experienced greater self-efficacy. With self-hypnosis for sport performance, you can learn to tap into the same emotional control and focus to get more out of your game, too.
Whether you play tennis or rugby, hypnosis can help you stay calm and focused and keep your head in the game no matter what happens on or off the field.
Several techniques can be incorporated into self-hypnosis for athletes, including positive reframing, mental imagery, visualization, and more. While self-hypnosis for confidence is a deeply relaxing process, sports hypnotherapy is carefully designed to help you feel confident, motivated, and even energized.
Managing Your Emotions with Self-Hypnosis
Emotional regulation through self-hypnosis for sport performance is not about becoming a robot but rather learning to manage your emotions more effectively. In the case of athletes, that means harnessing your emotions and channeling them in a direction that benefits you whether that means become calmer and more centered or “psyching” yourself up and supercharging your energy.
With self-hypnosis for athletes, you can boost your mindfulness, manage your emotions, and take your game to the next level. Visit Renewed Edge Hypnotherapy Centre today to learn more about self-hypnosis or to schedule an appointment with our hypnotherapist.