The Olympics started today with the women’s soccer matches. In the coming interviews with the athletes you will be hearing a lot about how the athletes visualize their way to success.
Most pre-school children of all cultures are lucid visualizers (day dreamers) until they start school. Our education system and society depend on left brain communication. Visualizing or seeing mental pictures is a function of your right brain. When you don’t use your right brain as much, you tend to believe that you can’t visualize. Since it is one of our five senses we can all visualize. When I ask you to think about the color of your car, what do you see?
The Power of Visualization
Golfers are notorious for thinking about their missed shots, high scores and the “what if” scenarios on the golf course.
By changing your thoughts and mental images you can create the reality you want. It is like changing your dream. I remember sitting in class as a teen-ager wishing it would snow, day dreaming about skiing down the mountains. I didn’t know then that visualization was a mental technique using my imagination to make my dream come true. I just knew that skiing was what I loved to do, and I saw myself enjoying it by day dreaming.
The power of visualization is used by top golf professionals and Olympic athletes on a regular basis. They visualize, picture, or imagine the positive outcome before taking any physical action. Visualizing your swing and imagining your club striking the ball exactly how you want it to happen will help you be better prepared when you take your shot. Visualizing in your pre-shot routine, the target, the trajectory your shot takes, and the ball landing on your target area will reinforce your images.
Build Trust with Mental Rehearsal
The best time to practice your golf game is at bedtime or before you get out of bed in the morning while you are half-awake. Rehearse what you want to happen that day. Inside your mind is the only place where you can practice perfectly. Scientists have found that this kind of mental practice is actually programming your muscles as you visualize yourself hitting the perfect shot. In addition to visualizing your swing, feel the emotions, and feel your swing using words such as fluid, smooth, and effortless to trigger the complete picture.
Program your mind several times a week with this kind of practice. There is no such thing as muscle memory. All thought originates in the mind. Mental rehearsal gets your mind clearly focused on what you want to accomplish so there is no fear, worry or indecision.
For additional information go to the Positive Mental Imagery website and click on the Archived Newsletters link for the January 2002 newsletter, “Mental Rehearsal.”
Play “In the Zone” With Joan
Log on to the PMI website and Blog for additional mental golf tips.
If this article is helpful to you, and you want to learn more, call Joan for a complimentary 15-minute consultation about improving your mental game. She can be reached by phone at 828-696-2547, through the Positive Mental Imagery website or blog or by leaving a comment below.
Self-empowering hypnosis mental golf CDs are available at www.pmi4.com/cart
Leave a Reply