And think about all of those times in school when you were in a boring class and found yourself daydreaming or thinking about your girlfriend or boyfriend. This mental visualization is also a type of hypnotic state. So, most of us actually have been hypnotized thousands of times without realizing we were engaging in self-hypnosis.

Although the amazing power of hypnosis for U.S. athletes has been largely overlooked until recently, for years Eastern European nations have been realizing the amazing difference that sports hypnosis can have on athletic performance. In the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games, the Russians brought a team of eleven hypnotists with them, to instill confidence and the will to win in the Russian athletes. We all know how powerful the Russian teams have been over the years.

In the 1988 Seoul Summer Games, the power of hypnosis on focus and performance was displayed beautifully when Olympic diver Greg Louganis hit his head on the board while performing a complicated dive during the 3 meter final. In what is considered one of the greatest feats in sporting history, Louganis, his head gushing blood, had the wound treated while he put earphones on to listen to hypnosis tapes. Amazingly, Greg then went out to score a perfect dive the second time, enough to earn him the gold medal!

Among Certified sports psychologists, there are only a handful who are also Certified Sports hypnosis experts. We teach hypnotic techniques to athletes in literally all sports, to enhance such important individual dynamics as intensity, focus, consistency, concentration and anxiety control and to enhance team dynamics, such as working toward the common goal and intrateam cohesion.

Specific examples of the amazing power of these techniques that this author has had with athletes, are: quarterbacks developed imagery, footwork and anxiety control during oncoming rushes; basketball players increased their free throw percentage, police Olympic shooters dramatically increased their accuracy, tennis players skyrocketed their intensity, confidence and strength during changeovers, golfers learned to ignore past errors and stayed in the moment on each hole, hockey players learned to visualize setting up scoring plays during their shifts, and athletes with chronic, debilitating pain learned how to actually eliminate their pain!

In future articles, we will discuss specific sports hypnosis techniques, post hypnotic suggestions and positive affirmations that have proven extremely successful in specific sports.

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