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Mental Skills for Sports: Guided Imagery to Control Attention & Focus
Oct 29, 2014 3:02 PM
By Jean Bonnyman - FF/S
In the third and fourth meetings for mental skills training, the Golf and Tennis Academies started a theme that will continue for the rest of the year. To consistently achieve in sport at a high-level performance, an athlete must use guided imagery to control attention and focus. If you have ever wondered how the winner of The Masters sinks the final putt to win in front of the world of viewers, he has done it in his mind already countless times.
Anxiety causes distraction and negative thoughts, and to override this requires being able to control your attention. Because our nervous system can’t tell the difference between real and imagined experiences, mental practice works as real practice. The stimulus from brain to muscle just isn’t big enough to cause movement, but the nerve pathways are still the same. This is why you can wake up from a bad dream with your heart racing; your body can’t tell the difference between real and imagined experience. The moment you worry about making a mistake it becomes subjectively true. You have just practiced making that mistake! This is why it is critical to stop negative thoughts, and think positive, rehearsed thoughts and images. There is more to this process, however.
Focusing on mechanics, such as a certain swing, requires a narrow, “feeling” focus. Focusing on executing a plan requires a broad focus, such as seeing how and where you want the ball to go. Athletes need to be able to go back and forth between these two attention styles. External imagery is visually imagining an experience; internal imagery is remembering the feel of any part of your mechanics or experience. Athletes need to be able to go back and forth between these two imagery styles as well.
The point of mental practice is to “program your brain” using these visual and feeling practices. Using a cue word such as “ball” or “target” to run off stray thoughts, athletes can build the length of time they can stay “in the zone” of their game. When it is time to compete, it is a matter of remembering all the perfectly practiced scenarios of the game, and simply recreate it again. Except all this is not that simple, but it is the main idea.
To begin practicing mental rehearsal, start in a quiet, comfortable and relaxing place. Managing anxiety is another topic, so we shall assume you are relaxed enough to do this. Decide what you will recall or create in your mind. You may want to remember that winning performance; think about it in detail and how you felt. Or, you may want to imagine performing perfectly; think about it in detail and how it would feel.
Every time your attention strays, think of your cue word to prompt you back in the zone. Mental practice of whatever it is you want to achieve will get you there if you are persistent and patient, but it takes consistent practice. As you get better at it, you will be able to put your mind where you want it for longer periods in any setting. Feel free to contact me if you want more information on guided imagery, mental practice and controlling your attention.
Anxiety causes distraction and negative thoughts, and to override this requires being able to control your attention. Because our nervous system can’t tell the difference between real and imagined experiences, mental practice works as real practice. The stimulus from brain to muscle just isn’t big enough to cause movement, but the nerve pathways are still the same. This is why you can wake up from a bad dream with your heart racing; your body can’t tell the difference between real and imagined experience. The moment you worry about making a mistake it becomes subjectively true. You have just practiced making that mistake! This is why it is critical to stop negative thoughts, and think positive, rehearsed thoughts and images. There is more to this process, however.
Focusing on mechanics, such as a certain swing, requires a narrow, “feeling” focus. Focusing on executing a plan requires a broad focus, such as seeing how and where you want the ball to go. Athletes need to be able to go back and forth between these two attention styles. External imagery is visually imagining an experience; internal imagery is remembering the feel of any part of your mechanics or experience. Athletes need to be able to go back and forth between these two imagery styles as well.
The point of mental practice is to “program your brain” using these visual and feeling practices. Using a cue word such as “ball” or “target” to run off stray thoughts, athletes can build the length of time they can stay “in the zone” of their game. When it is time to compete, it is a matter of remembering all the perfectly practiced scenarios of the game, and simply recreate it again. Except all this is not that simple, but it is the main idea.
To begin practicing mental rehearsal, start in a quiet, comfortable and relaxing place. Managing anxiety is another topic, so we shall assume you are relaxed enough to do this. Decide what you will recall or create in your mind. You may want to remember that winning performance; think about it in detail and how you felt. Or, you may want to imagine performing perfectly; think about it in detail and how it would feel.
Every time your attention strays, think of your cue word to prompt you back in the zone. Mental practice of whatever it is you want to achieve will get you there if you are persistent and patient, but it takes consistent practice. As you get better at it, you will be able to put your mind where you want it for longer periods in any setting. Feel free to contact me if you want more information on guided imagery, mental practice and controlling your attention.
