Mind Body - Free Fitness Library
Hypnotherapy
Let the power be with you to reach your goals. Paul McKenna reveals all.
Hypnosis - a fascinating phenomenon, a mystery of trance that taps into ones personal power. A method used to retrain your subconscious mind, the part of your mind that is responsible for all your habits and non thinking physical responses from blinking to muscle co-ordination.
The subconscious mind ultimately holds the key to ones health and intuitive actions and inner goals. The conscious mind dictates our lives, attitudes, fears and blocks, your subconscious irrational thoughts.
Paul McKenna is one of the worlds top hypnotists. Millions world-wide have watched his TV shows, thousands have been helped by his hypnotherapy tapes.
His latest book, Hypnotic Secrets, reveals all and more.
The fact that Paul works with sportspeople was of special interest to us. The following are extracts from his book. Hypnosis may be the answer to you achieving your goals.
I do my best to help sportsmen and women from every field achieve their absolute maximum. Some of those who have publicly talked about consulting me include WBC World heavy weight champion Frank Bruno, Olympic swimmer Adrian Moorhouse, Wimbledon champion Pat Cash, WBC Super Middleweight Champion Nigel Benn, Premier League soccer stars Chris Armstrong and Iain Dowie, England cricketer Robin Smith and British pole vault champion Kate Staples (alias Gladiators star Zodiac).
The results have been record breaking. Hypnotherapy has helped Adrian clip two seconds off his personal best, Kate has actually broken the British record 25 times and Robin Smith returned to playing cricket for England more confident than he'd ever been. He was the top scorer in the 2nd and 3rd 1995 Test Matches against the West Indies. I was touched when Frank Bruno revealed how I had helped him with positive thinking after he won the heavyweight WBC championship in September 1995, but I always say that really the victories belong entirely to the athletes.
Essentially I change an athletes self image and I get them to see themselves as a champion so they unconsciously communicate this to their opponent from the start.
Another technique that I find really effective for sports people is 'slow time'. You've probably had the experience of queuing in the bank for a few minutes, but it seems like ages. Time hasn't slowed down, but your perception of time has. I simply teach some sports people how to slow down time in their mind so they can move faster in the real world. That way they have more time to anticipate their opponent, hit the ball, or just make a decision. The racing drive Jackie Stewart once said that he only ever drove fast twice in his life and both times it scared him.
I encourage people to practice playing 100 games in their mind in an afternoon winning every one of them - it makes you feel like a champion and when you start to play like one in reality.
Of course, at the end of the day, hypnosis is no substitute for discipline, education and taught training in all areas. All hypnosis can do is help any sportsman achieve his very best. It can help put somebody into the best state of mind for an event and if you add this to the best state of body it is an overpowering combination.
Of course it doesn't go down well with everyone. Chris Eubank called for an inquiry into the use of hypnosis in boxing after losing his title to Steve Collins, who had admitted a hypnotist had helped him in the run up to the fight. Eubank called hypnosis legal cheating, but the governing board of boxing thought differently and after an investigation they gave it the green light.
Every single athlete in the world has to imagine what they are going to do, and, in some respects, all coaches are intuitive hypnotists who give suggestions in the form of encouragement and motivation. A powerful suggestion delivered well can definitely induce greater speed and flexibility. I know people who can override pain, for example, simply by virtue of their military training. They don't need to be hypnotised to bring about the same results of natural anaesthetic. So few people realise that hypnosis is essentially just talking to someone and getting them to use their imagination. At the end of the day it is all just words and imagination.
Paul McKennas 6 Point Plan To Be A Winner
This plan for success in sport can be used by both amateurs and professionals:
* Watch a number of good performances by your personal sports hero.
* Relax and close your eyes.
* Picture your hero performing in the way you admire most. Build up
the image as richly as you can adding details including sounds and feelings.
* Imagine asking your hero for help. Walk up behind your hero and step
inside his or her body, putting it on almost like a suit. See with their
eyes, hear with their ears, feel what they feel.
* Explore what it is like to be in your hero's world. Discover answers
to questions which have been puzzling you.
* Step back out of your hero, thanking him or her for their help. Return
to waking consciousness, bringing with you what you have learned.