Visualisation for outstanding performances

Visualisation is one of the most powerful activities that any athlete or sports team can do to enhance their sporting performances.

Visualisation is using your imagination to run through in your mind a sporting event in advance.

You picture yourself vividly in your sport performing at your peak. Coping with difficult situations, performing EXACTLY the way that you want the outcome to be.

Visualisation will create an intensely realistic pre-experience of an important competition or event. This gives you the feeling of having been there before, with the confidence and competence that comes with it.

There's a saying that goes "Whatever you think - you are"

Whatever you think - your brain will interpret it to be real.

The beauty of the mind is that it cannot tell reality from what is made up. So, whatever you are thinking, imagining and feeling inside, your brain will see those experiences as though they have actually happened.

Also, the brain is full of nerve pathways that control the body and muscles.

By training these pathways in your mind you are in effect training them to supply your body and muscles with the correct execution of the skill.

It is as though you have already completed the event!

Practical uses of visualisation

Visualisation is particularly helpful when:

• You want increase your level of performance
• You want to run through a particular testing event i.e certain opponents
• You want to include performing under certain conditions and stress levels
• You may be injured and cannot get out onto the training facilities
• You want to concentrate on a particular skill and feel the movement of your body actually executing this

How to visualise

Like with anything new, you should start slowly and build up the amount of time that you visualise on a daily basis.

Start by visualising for 5-10 minutes per day.

Find a quiet spot where you are NOT going to get disturbed and do the following:

• Close your eyes
• Relax
• Picture yourself in great detail performing your chosen activity. Notice what you are wearing? The smells around you? The feel of the bat or the feel of your feet on the ground? Take in the surroundings - who is watching? Are their any trees or buildings? What sounds can your hear?
• Imagine that you are a bird looking down at this scene - What do you see? What do you hear? What do you smell?
• Then get back into your body. Imagine yourself within yourself.
• Imagine the movements and the feelings in your body as you perform your best. How are you moving? It is so effortless. You are achieving all that you want.

Most professional athletes can visualise up to an hour a day when leading up to major events.

My recommendation is to start between 5-10 minutes per day and work your way up to a time that is comfortable for your lifestyle and the sporting commitment that you have made to yourself.

Make visualisation a habit. Make it part of your routine.

The results are awesome!

Life Coach