An Unfair Advantage?

Hypnosis, unlike certain supplements is a powerful ergogenic aid, and it is available to you, right now. We, you and me, go into and out of hypnosis several times each day. You may even be in hypnosis as you read these words. But, relax, hypnosis is a perfectly natural human state. And, it will work for your benefit, without negative side effects.

On the surface, ostensibly, sport is physical. Let's call that physicality, or metaphorically, driving nails. Logically, for driving nails we use a hammer, as most of are doing now, when we work out. Of course, you've probably discovered on your own that fitness is a bit more involved that just brutishly slogging away, workout after workout. You may have found that instead of driving nails, you must occasionally twist some screws. Screws are a more complex device than are nails, and intuitively you know this. Delicate screws hold your eyeglasses together, while big nails, driven with sledgehammers secure railroad ties. Get the drift? And, while a hammer can indeed drive a screw like a nail, the result is typically a messy approximation -- imagine: glasses / sledgehammer. The solution is to pick up the screwdriver that's already in your toolbox. That's right, you have the right tools for the job right at hand, right now. So, while others may hoist bigger, and bigger hammers to sloppily sink screws, you might surprise yourself and accomplish the same, and even more, as you simply finesse your efforts, just with a little twist. Here's how it all works...

First Off, Physical Fitness Is A Given

That's because with over a quarter century of professional fitness training I will easily guide your conditioning program in whatever sport you choose. While it is more than paint by numbers, you will use a rather simple, step by step plan that, as you follow it, will deliver results, improving your sports performance, improving your health stats, and improving figure or physique. Yet, even with such a straightforward, nuts and bolts approach, some people may have difficulty in reaching their potential. Perhaps this is something you recognize.

Successful People

Over the last couple of decades of coaching I've noticed successful people -- those who win, and those others who succeed at, well...failing -- seem to navigate by some invisible compass, steadily pointing them toward their destinations, their destinies. Just like those automatic cars at Disneyland, where even though the steering wheel is turned hard left, or hard right, and the car stays on its track, to the end, people follow a determined course. This works both ways. One athlete excels in spite of impossible odds; another athlete falters, despite clear advantage. I've read the major psychological theorists, and practitioners, and while some recognize our human subconscious, the traditional lengthy, self-indulgent, and conscious therapy, sadly, has been the norm. It sure sounds good, that awareness is curative, but really, awareness is palliative. Awareness provides comfortable excuses for sub-excellent execution. So what, then?

Enter: The Theory of Mind

Eighty-eight Percent

Imagine your mind as a circle. At birth you're a clean slate except for the hard-wired fear reaction to loud noise and falling, and the concomitant fight / flight response of the nervous system's programming. That's the primitive mind. Everything else, learned from birth to about age eight is absorbed, uncritically, through identification and association, and preserved in memory as positive or negative experience, or understanding -- we like chocolate cake, we don't like spinach; we like hugs and kisses, we don't like being kicked nor spanked. These identifications and associations, positive or negative, become our knowns, or what we believe to be true -- our model of the world. All of this comprises the subconscious mind. It represents about 88% of total mind power.

Twelve Percent

Later on, from age nine until about age fourteen we develop logic, reason, analytical and decision-making capacities, and will power. Oddly, will power always seems in short supply, when we most need it. This becomes the conscious mind. It represents only about 12% of total mind power.

The Filter

In between lies something called the critical faculty, where conscious desires are actively sorted by how well they match our subconscious programming -- round peg / round hole: pass; square peg / square hole: pass; square peg / round hole: rejected, denied, kicked out. And that is the challenge of change, accepting difference.

Some Make It Look Easy

A fortunate few have a close alignment between their subconscious behavior and their conscious desires, and we see these people on the podium, again, and again, yet, even within this elite group some are more congruent than others and tend to be the most consistent of all. The champions.

The Rest Of Us

Now, since we compete against our physiological peers, we may or may not be the best of the best, yet within our category, whatever that may be, we are presented, each & every time we approach our performance or practice, with a new opportunity to excel. The question is, do we bring our A-game? Or, do we believe top performance happens by chance, by genetics, or by some mechanism other than by our own motivation?

Out Of Balance

No doubt, you've heard references to this -- incredible focus, being in the zone, mental toughness -- and much of this mind game is attributed to will power, but consider that will power is part of conscious mental operation, which at roughly 12% of our total mind power is far outweighed by the momentum, the inertia, of the other 88%. Our earliest scripting, our subconscious mind, is our habituated behavior!

Habits

Ever try to break a habit? Whether you still have that habit, now, or not, you would know that breaking a habit requires you to re-wire some neural circuitry. Again, for some, that's an easy task. Maybe their patch-bay is easily accessible, and simple to comprehend. For others whose neural pathways are well out of sight, and deeply embedded, save for producing the ostensible behavior in question, it's a bit more challenging. Consciously, that is.

Setting Your Auto-pilot

Now, your unconscious, being privy to those very schematics that run your engine, push your buttons, and otherwise direct your life -- leaving the conscious mind to recognize, then rationalize just what you've done -- is accessible. And, since one of the prime directives of the subconscious is serving your best interest, it is happy to accept new directions that provide for your advancement and fulfillment. But you must reach it.

Your unconscious mind is a goal-seeking machine, operating on very specific, often startlingly literal instructions, which when revised, direct you toward whichever objective you choose. And, that's programming, right?

Again, The Filter

But, there's just one thing: the critical faculty. It's a not so porous sieve separating the subconscious mind from the conscious mind. The fine mesh of this critical mind allows those suggestions aligned with what we already know and accept to pass right through, reinforcing our current behavior. Conscious desires that somehow seem too large, or that as unfamiliar shapes snag on the mesh, are prevented from flowing through into the subconscious. They ultimately are caught and then discarded during sleep, through our dreams.

But, Not So Fast!

This subconscious submarine net is sometimes lowered, and it's then that our vessels can return to port for renovation and to share newfound riches brought from other, far away realms. Hypnosis is the tool to use when you want to deliver to yourself specific, helpful suggestions that could otherwise be at odds with your current script. You would begin the process of creating new knowns, such as: consistently improving sports performance; developing eating and sleeping patterns that fully support your active lifestyle; reinforcing your ability to concentrate and excel under pressure, despite possible exertional discomfort; and even, believe it or not, that it's OK to win, and that otherwise, too, there are valuable lessons within a second place finish, or a third, or what-have-you, and regardless, that there is always, a next time.

It's Not Hollywood

As with any technology this powerful, there is also misunderstanding. So, in a nutshell, to give you a heads up on hypnosis fact, here's the lowdown. Unlike what's generally presented as hypnosis, especially in movies and on television, in actuality, in hypnosis you are fully aware, and, you are even more finely attuned to what's going on around you. As such, you are then able to concentrate on the suggestions you have asked me to tell you, and you will accept those, and only those suggestions, because even in hypnosis, you remain in control. And while the metaphor sleep is used you are awake, able to open your eyes and walk away, if you wanted to. Naturally though, you will enjoy the state of hypnosis since you know consciously you are choosing this modality because it works, so you would find it counter-productive to interfere. It's like you are eating an apple a day to keep the doctor away, instead of drinking the Kool-Aid of every gadget, gizmo, and supplement that's hyped upon you.

It's Your World

We all exist on a bell curve, it's just where on that continuum are you willing to let yourself live. At which end is your territory? Actually, the question is, why have you been settling for less when the opportunity for staking your claim for higher ground is already within you? The last question is when, and I'm sure, now, you know the answer.

Christopher Drozd is a Certified Hypnotherapist
(Hypnotherapists Union, Local 472).

Hypnosis is an indispensable tool for whatever sport you play, whether you want to perform with greater poise at higher levels, eliminate fears, phobias, or uncertainties associated with particular activities, events, locations, or conditions, or you just want to finally ingrain some healthy, exercise habits. Use hypnosis to:

• eliminate pre-event jitters
• improve focus and concentration under pressure
• learn to access the zone anytime
• control the discomforts of exertion
• increase confidence, motivation and drive
• determine your most important goals
• develop eating habits that serve your goals
• cultivate relaxation and recovery practices

FYI -- Hypnotherapists, (and fitness coaches, for that matter) are not licensed as health practitioners by the State of California. Some conditions may require medical, dental, or psychologist's referral.

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