Posts Tagged self hypnosis
Anchoring Resources for Better Golf – An Experience With Self Hypnosis for Golf
Posted by in golf on June 11th, 2009
NLP anchoring provides a very effective method for stacking and anchoring our past resources and positive experiences. We can call upon these resources whenever we need them for golfing excellence.
The round of golf I played a few days after my first NLP course sums up my experience of using resource anchoring to build and hold together a really good round of golf. I was just so calm and composed. Despite not hitting the ball that well, I hit 16 of the first 17 holes in regulation and hit a long drive up the middle on 18. That’s when I suddenly realised what was happening and I started thinking “all I need is a par” to have my best round here. I completely lost it for 3 awful shots then suddenly remembered about my NLP skills and got back in the zone and almost holed a tricky shot from the over the back of the green.
This article takes that idea a lot further by providing a self-hypnosis script that installs that concept in your unconscious. That makes sure that you don’t have to consciously remember to use your anchor whenever you need it. Your unconscious is programmed to make it happen.
Now I’m making the big assumption here that you know how to take yourself into hypnosis – If you do, then you know what to do with the script below. If you don’t, then find someone to help you or learn how to do it for yourself or just give it a try – what have you got to lose?.;
Assuming that you’re relaxed, and whether you’ve formally taken yourself into hypnosis or you’re just sitting there relaxed, just continue with these words:
Now relax as you travel through all those wonderful golfing experiences in your memory and your imagination. Relaxing more and more, as you are seeing those courses and imagining talking with those friends and golfing partners – the people who make your golfing experience so good. If you’re not familiar with self-hypnosis, just relax, switch off the phone, turn down the light and just quietly read these words slowly to yourself.
And as you see all those wonderful golf courses, you are building an image of the most wonderfully relaxing golf course. And I don’t know if you are imagining your perfect golf course and clubhouse or if you are remembering your favourite one, while you are relaxing deeper and deeper and more and more contentedly into the armchair in your favourite clubroom. After a few moments relaxing there, you see a door and realise that it’s the door of the locker room and when I count to four, you’re going to step through it.
Relax more deeply and allow your mind to drift down to golfing heaven as one… two… three… Four! You open the door and step through and as you look around, you see your friend and playing partners and as they greet you warmly, you feel a warm glow of relaxing confidence as you know, just know deeply, that you are going to have the most wonderfully relaxing game of golf ever.
As you look around, you see another door and realise that it’s the door to your locker, even if you don’t have a locker, and as you count from one to four, you reach forward happily and expectantly to open the door and look inside, knowing there are some powerful messages there for you.
And as a result, you relax even more and allow your mind to drift down, as one… two… three… Four! You open the door and find your golf clubs, the clubs that remind you and fuel your imagination of all the golfing abilities you use to get the most out of – your rounds of golf: your relaxed grip, the stance that provides the relaxed balance and stability to your swing and that wonderful tempo that smoothly swishes the club through to a perfect finish. And most importantly, you are relieved to find those most reassuring course management skills that let you get the most out of your mind as you play.
As your mind wanders, you look deeper and deeper down into the locker and notice a special journal, real or imaginary, and when you count to four, you are going to pick up and open that book.
One…two…three…fore! And you open that special journal, the storehouse of all your most wonderful golfing memories; the greatest shots you have ever played and imagined. The memories wash over you and imbue you with a feeling of more and more relaxed confidence.
And as you step out onto the first tee, taking out your driver, planning the shot carefully and preparing to repeat the best driver shot that you have ever played or imagined. When you’re ready you step forward into your stance, you see the ball there glowing white and illuminating the area where you take your stance. It doesn’t matter now if the ball is on a tee or sitting on the tee, as you step into the glow, take your stance, swing smoothly and watch the ball sail perfectly down the fairway or to the green. And as your friends and playing partners congratulate you and you feel a warm relaxing feeling of contentment well up inside you, you bring your hands gently together into your grip and gently squeeze your hands on the club as you hang on to the wonderful feelings for a few moments, before stepping out of your stance and the residual glow from the ball, a s you feel yourself putting the club back into the bag. That’s right.
Now, you are surveying a long fairway wood shot into a distant green and you take out your fairway wood, plan the shot carefully and prepare to repeat the best fairway wood shot that you have ever played or imagined. And as you step forward into your stance, you see the ball there on the fairway glowing white and illuminating the area where you take your stance. I t doesn’t matter now if the shot is over bunker or lake, or whether it’s a more straightforward shot, as you step into the glow, take your stance, swing smoothly and watch the ball sail perfectly onto the green. And as your friends and playing partners congratulate you and you feel a warm relaxing feeling of contentment well up inside you, you bring your hands gently together into your grip and gently squeeze your hands on the club, as you hang on to the wonderful feelings for a few moments, before stepping out of your stance and the residual glow from the ball. Before putting the club back into the bag. That’s wonderful … great golf is so relaxing.
Further into the round, you are facing a mid-iron shot into a smallish green, it doesn’t matter if it’s a 5, 6 or 7-iron that you’re choosing. You are relaxed and confident as you plan the shot carefully and prepare to repeat the best iron shot that you have ever played or imagined. And as you step forward into your stance, you see the ball there glowing white on the fairway and illuminating the area where you take your stance. And it doesn’t matter if you plan to land the ball gently by the flag or caress it and let it run up there smoothly. As, you step into the glow, you take your stance, swing smoothly and watch the ball sail perfectly onto the green and finish really close to the hole. And as your friends and playing partners congratulate you and you feel a warm relaxing feeling of contentment well up inside you, you bring your hands gently together into your grip and gently squeeze your hands on the club as you hang on to the wonderful feelings for a few moments, before stepping out of your stance and the residual glow from the ball, putting the club back into the bag. You just know that’s how a great golfer plays mid-irons.
You’re now on one the large undulating greens, looking over a longish putt. And it doesn’t really matter if you are planning to play the putt, gently taking all the borrow and letting the ball just drop slowly into the hole or if you are taking a more direct route, as you confidently plan the putt and prepare to repeat the best putt you have ever played or imagined. And as you step forward into your stance, you see the ball there glowing white on the green and illuminating the area where you take your stance. As, you step into the glow, you take your stance, putt the ball smoothly and watch it roll steadily and unerringly into the hole, as you punch the air in delight. And as your friends and playing partners congratulate you and you feel a warm relaxing feeling of contentment well up inside you, you bring your hands gently together into your grip and gently squeeze your hands on the club as you hang on to the wonderful feelings for a few moments, before stepping out of your stance and the residual glow from the ball, putting the putter back in the bag. Tiger woods dreams of moments like this. Doesn’t he?
Now, imagine your next round of golf. It doesn’t matter if it’s next weekend or some other time in the future. And as you prepare to play each and every shot or putt, you see the glow of the ball on the ground illuminating the area of your stance and when you are ready to take the shot, you step into the glow, take your stance, feel the relaxing glow all around you, and as you bring your hands gently together into your grip, gently squeeze your hands together on the club, remembering all those feelings of relaxed confidence and elation. And you hit the best shot ever, continuing in this way and completing the best round of golf you have ever played.
Now’s the time to thank your unconscious mind for this self-hypnosis experience and ask that part of you to repeat this wonderful experience for you with every shot and round of golf that you play.
And as you emerge from self-hypnosis, in your normal way or by counting up from 1 to 5, you just know now that your golf is improving and more confident every time you play.
Now that’s a new experience. Isn’t it?
Andrew Fogg, the Golf Hypnotist, is an enthusiastic golfer, hypnotherapist and NLP Master Practitioner. He is a golf psychologist and author of a soon to be published book “The Secrets of Hypnotic Golf” and a series of golf hypnosis MP3 programmes.
Visit his website http://www.golf-hypnotist.com for information on getting the most success, pleasure and enjoyment from your golf.
Sign up there for the free Golf Hypnotist ezine for your free 25-minute “Your Own Virtual Caddy” golf hypnosis MP3.
Article Source: Anchoring Resources for Better Golf – An Experience With Self Hypnosis for Golf
Golf Hypnosis Wins at Bay Hill with Help From Tiger Woods Golf Mind
Posted by in golf on June 11th, 2009
I guess that like many of you out there, I was glued to the TV on Sunday watching Tiger Woods and his golf hypnosis prevail over Sean O’Hair in the last round of the Bay Hill Classic. It was great to see Tiger prevailing despite not producing a really outstanding last round. It was also great to see his self-hypnosis induced mental strength prevailing even when his game is not quite up to his best. Now that’s a bit outrageous isn’t it, Andrew, are you saying that Tiger’s not back to his best? Well yes I am to an extent.
I would contend that Sean O’Hair outplayed Tiger in all the physical and technical aspects of the game – he just let himself down on the mental side of the game, especially in the area of self-belief. Just look at this quote from the loser.
“It’s not like it’s The Tiger Show and I’m just out there to watch him. We’re trying to win golf tournaments, and he just happens to be that good. But just because he’s good doesn’t mean we’re out there watching him.”
Now does that sound like a man who believes he’s going to win or even one who thinks he can win? My hypnotherapy mentor says that anyone “trying” to do something has already accepted the possibility of failure and that doesn’t lead to self-belief, does it. Now you may think that some doubt is reasonable given Tiger’s undoubted abilities, but you have to go out believing you going to win or you’ll capitulate just like Sean O’Hair did. Sean’s not alone in this; you only have to look at the history books. Almost every time Tiger wins from behind on the last day, the people playing better than him capitulate mentally.
Now I’m not blaming Tiger for this or even the media that hype him up so much, although that must weigh down on his opponents. The fault has to lie with their mental preparation. Nearly all of them have highly qualified mind coaches, yet they can’t be making the best of the advice they get from them on the course. And then if those mind coaches were worth their salt, they would be running on autopilot like Tiger and they’re clearly not. I wonder if Tiger’s the only one using self hypnosis to reinforce the mental coaching he gets from Jay Brunza.
“Danger, danger, danger” Says Rocco Mediate
It’s not just Sean O’Hair I’m talking about here – he’s just the latest “victim”. Back at Doral a couple of weeks ago, Rocco Mediate, who should know better after going toe to toe with Tiger for 90 holes at last year’s US Open, said of Tiger Woods performance there:
Danger, danger, danger. If he’s making one bogey in four rounds, he’s obviously hitting it better. We know his short game is the best, but we know he didn’t really make a lot of putts. When he does that, that will be the Tiger we know, and that will be the end of the game.
Now how defeatist is that!
What about the Caddy and the Golf Mind?
Well, you don’t hear so much about the caddies using mind coaches, but they can be very important in keeping their players mentally on track. After all, the only advice you can get out on the course is from your own internal voice and from the voice of your caddy. That’s the premise behind my free “Your Own Virtual Caddy” golf hypnosis programme. I wonder if all caddies are equal in their golf mind game.
Andrew Fogg, the Golf Hypnotist, is an enthusiastic golfer, hypnotherapist and NLP Master Practitioner. He is a golf psychologist and author of a soon to be published book “The Secrets of Hypnotic Golf” and a series of golf hypnosis MP3 programmes.
Visit his website http://www.golf-hypnotist.com for information on getting the most success, pleasure and enjoyment from your golf.
Sign up there for the free Golf Hypnotist ezine for your free 25-minute “Your Own Virtual Caddy” golf hypnosis MP3.
Article Source: Golf Hypnosis Wins at Bay Hill with Help From Tiger Woods Golf Mind
Who is using Golf Hypnosis for Golf Improvement – apart from Tiger Woods
Posted by in golf on June 11th, 2009
So who’s using hypnosis to improve their golf performance – apart from Tiger Woods and maybe Phil Mickelson? Well, taking first things first, it’s difficult to be sure who’s using hypnosis because most people who do don’t want to let on. Why’s that? Well firstly, they want to keep the competitive edge that golf hypnosis gives them to themselves. Secondly, although it’s becoming acceptable for a top golfer to admit to using a mind coach, their marketing people are still wary of saying they use golf psychology or, worse still, hypnosis – that’s all to “new age.” You only have to look at the comments of Angel Cabrera, a real man’s man, after he won the Masters, “Now I don’t have a sports psychologist and I don’t smoke.”
If a golfer won’t tell you he’s using hypnosis, then what are the signs to look for to know he or she is? Well let’s take Tiger Woods as our first example. I’ve not heard him say that he uses hypnosis or read anything that confirms that he’s admitted it. However, just watch the controlled and methodical series of blinks he makes just before stepping into every shot. If that’s not a hypnotic trigger or anchor, I had better hand back my Hypnotherapy Diploma and my NLP certificates. It’s clear to me that he’s using that trigger to enter self hypnosis once he’s decided on the shot he’s going to make. The self-hypnosis quiets his conscious self-talk and leave his unconscious golf programming to execute the shot.
Now Tiger must have learned this from Jay Brunza, his mind coach from the age of 13. From what I’ve read, Dr Brunza followed up his Ph.D. in Psychology with a long career as a psychologist with the US Navy including a period as a combat stress psychologist, before working as a sports psychologist. This brief extract from Golf Digest, in December 2002, appears to confirm Tiger’s training included hypnosis
“Woods’ ability to produce peak performance by ‘willing myself into the zone’ is unprecedented. And at age 13, Tiger began mental training with Dr. Jay Brunza, a family friend and psychologist. Among the techniques Brunza used were subliminal tapes and hypnosis. ‘The first time Jay hypnotized Tiger, he had him stick his arm straight out and told him that it couldn’t be moved, ‘Earl [Tiger's father] says. ‘I tried, but I couldn’t pull it down. [Tiger says hypnosis is] ‘inherent in what I do now.’”
Thinking about all this, I just wish a few other top golfers would admit to using hypnosis for golf improvement then I wouldn’t have to keep talking about Tiger Woods.
Come on Phil Mickelson, it’s obvious you’re using self-hypnosis; you couldn’t just keep smiling through adversity like that without hypnosis, now could you. Why not sit down, relax a bit more and tell us all about it. Now!
Andrew Fogg, the Golf Hypnotist, is an enthusiastic golfer, hypnotherapist and NLP Master Practitioner. He is a golf psychologist and author of a soon to be published book “The Secrets of Hypnotic Golf” and a series of golf hypnosis MP3 programmes.
Visit his website http://www.golf-hypnotist.com for information on getting the most success, pleasure and enjoyment from your golf.
Sign up there for the free Golf Hypnotist ezine for your free 25-minute “Your Own Virtual Caddy” golf hypnosis MP3.
Article Source: Who is using Golf Hypnosis for Golf Improvement – apart from Tiger Woods
The Top 10 mental golf mistakes that golfers make
Posted by in golf on June 11th, 2009
I recently found someone’s list of the top ten mental mistakes golfers make and how to correct them instantly. As I disagree with much of the “how to correct them instantly” advice, I’ve included his first 10 mental mistakes below with my suggestions as to how address them with NLP and Golf Hypnosis.
Number 1: Letting your internal dialogue run wild
Get a good hypnotist to install a post-hypnotic suggestion that you go into a trance as you step into each shot or use self-hypnosis to achieve the same result. Whichever way, you’re allowing your unconscious mind to get on with playing the shot to the best of your technical ability while keeping your chattering conscious mind out of the action. That seems to work for Tiger Woods.
Number 2: Tightening up on your difficult shots
Learn to use hypnosis or an NLP anchoring technique to relax before planning any shot. Then control the inevitable internal dialogue with a post-hypnotic suggestion, as in number 1 above.
Number 3: Worrying about the Yips
This is basically a mental tightening up on a specific difficult shot, so I‘d handle it the same as Number 2.
Number 4: Telling yourself what NOT to do
Don’t go in the bunker, trees, water, etc! Your unconscious mind doesn’t know how to not do something. If I ask you to think of a blue elephant, you unconsciously have to imagine one – you probably just did! If you want to give yourself or anyone else a suggestion, phrase it using positive progressive language. That’s what a good hypnotist will help you with.
Number 5: Dwell on your mistakes and bad shots
The key thing is to learn from your mistakes, bad luck and plain bad shots before releasing them to the past where they can trouble you no more. Once again, you can make sure you do this with the help of post-hypnotic suggestions from a good hypnotist or use self-hypnosis. You may recall from my earlier post about how Tiger handles this despite, or maybe with the help of, his temper tantrums when he has a bad or unlucky shot. Once you release a bad shot like this, you’re free to hit the next one to the best of your ability and as if you had never hit the bad one.
Number 6: ”Trying” to consciously control your swing mechanics
Do you remember how hard it was to tie your shoe laces the first time and how it’s just an automatic process? To see what I mean, write down the step by step instructions for how you tie your shoelaces and then give them to someone else and ask them to follow them to the letter. Even if they succeed, it’ll take them much longer than just using the unconscious program. Now imagine consciously following those instructions in the time it takes to swing a golf club.
The only effective way to swing a golf club is to switch off your conscious mind and all its thoughts about swing mechanics and trust your unconscious mind – you’ve already programmed it to repeat the best shot you’ve ever hit. And the way to make sure you do that is, as before, to get a good hypnotist to install an appropriate post-hypnotic or use self-hypnosis.
Number 7: Criticising your shot and looking for flaws in your swing
Even using hypnosis, you’ll occasionally mishit a shot or be unlucky. However, that’s no cause for criticism and certainly no reason for changing your swing mechanics out on the course. Just learn from the shot and move on as described in my response to the dwelling on your mistakes and bad shots.
Number 8: Comparing yourself to some other golfer
You can learn a lot in golf from watching a good player at his or her best, but the real challenge of golf is you playing against the course. It really doesn’t matter how well or badly your playing partners or opponents are playing. If you play to the best of your ability and lose, then well done you and well done them. That’s one of the many special things I love about golf.
If it still bothers you then install the post-hypnotic suggestion that you’ll treat every shot as if it’s the last one you’ll ever play There’d be no reason to dwell on your past shots and there wouldn’t be any in the future, so you might as well make the most of the one you’re playing now.
Number 9: Thinking about what could go wrong
In your mind this is interpreted in a similar way to telling yourself what NOT to do. Your unconscious mind will have to think about the thing that could go wrong happening and it will do your best to make it happen. If you want to evaluate what could go wrong, that’s fine, before you make up your mind what you do want to happen. Then you can use your post-hypnotic suggestion or self-hypnosis to switch off your unconscious mind and let your unconscious programming get on with hitting your desired shot.
Number 10: Worrying about other people watching you
If you’re using hypnosis and NLP to manage your state and concentration during the round, you will be consciously unaware and untroubled by the actions of others. Even if they are thinking bad or critical thoughts about you, those thoughts are in their heads and not yours. Once you go into your playing trance you will be blissfully unaware of your conscious self-talk.
So what are my overall conclusions?
Now, it won’t surprise you to hear that my suggestions all revolve around the use of a good hypnotist helping you with appropriate post-hypnotic suggestions tied to a number of carefully chosen golf psychology techniques. Without the hypnosis and post-hypnotic suggestions, you will probably forget to remember to execute the techniques on every shot.
You’ll also notice I’m avoiding naming the “someone” who published the original list and hidden his responses. I know that if you really want to read them, you can probably find them on the web, but I don’t want them on my website.
One of the reasons that I failed to benefit from the Inner Game of Golf and the many other books, DVDs and CDs I purchased over my earlier the years is that none of them installed any way of remembering not to forget to do their techniques when I needed them. The nearest anyone has ever got to achieving that has been Dr Karl Morris with his Circle Game, but that worked very intermittently for me.
It would be an improvement if I had a caddy every time I played and the caddy had a checklist of all the golf psychology instructions I had to remember. Even then, I would still need something like hypnosis to manage the interference from my conscious mind while I hit the shots.
Andrew Fogg, the Golf Hypnotist, is an enthusiastic golfer, hypnotherapist and NLP Master Practitioner. He is a golf psychologist and author of a soon to be published book “The Secrets of Hypnotic Golf” and a series of golf hypnosis MP3 programmes.
Visit his website http://www.golf-hypnotist.com for information on getting the most success, pleasure and enjoyment from your golf.
Sign up there for the free Golf Hypnotist ezine for your free 25-minute “Your Own Virtual Caddy” golf hypnosis MP3.
Article Source: The Top 10 mental golf mistakes that golfers make
Better Sleep for Better Golf Like Retief Goosen
Posted by in golf on June 8th, 2009
Have you noticed how much better golf you play after a good night’s sleep? Well I hadn’t, but a couple of articles I read recently made me think about it more closely. And yes I think that’s right.
Now one of the beneficial side effects of almost every hypnotherapy session is that the client reports sleeping better afterwards. What’s more, my clients also tell me that they wake up on time, feeling refreshed and eager for the day ahead. This seems to happen whatever we’re working on. And that includes golf hypnosis.
So why is that? Well, according to a recent article in New Scientist, medical experts have long associated bad sleep patterns with psychological problems ranging from depression to full blown mental illness. It’s only recently that these same experts are beginning to realise that the psychological problems are often caused or aggravated by the bad sleeping patterns and not the other way around. To quote the article,
“Take anyone with a psychiatric disorder and the chances are they don’t sleep well. The result of their illness, you might think. Now this long-standing assumption is being turned on its head, with the radical suggestion that poor sleep might actually cause some psychiatric illnesses or lead people to behave in ways that doctors mistake for mental problems.”
What does this mean for golf improvement from better sleep?
I can well remember times in my past, before I discovered the world of NLP and Hypnosis, when I was really worked up the night before the Club Championships or some other important game. I’d wake up many times throughout the night and struggle to sleep at all after about 4am. These days, I just use self-hypnosis to relax myself and I wake up in the morning feeling relaxed and positive. More importantly, I played better golf and enjoy my golf more.
Did you notice how relaxed Retief Goosen looked at the start of his round last Sunday before winning the Transitions Championship on the PGA Tour? Despite the pressure of almost 4 years without a win, he didn’t look like he’d missed a wink of sleep the night before.
How different from Rory McIlroy before his first win at the Dubai Desert Classic a month or so ago. He looked completely out of sorts all day, despite starting the final day 6 shots ahead, and really gritted his teeth on that last hole to win – it was magnificent. He certainly didn’t look like he’d had a restful night’s sleep.
Andrew Fogg, the Golf Hypnotist, is an enthusiastic golfer, hypnotherapist and NLP Master Practitioner. He is a golf psychologist and author of a soon to be published book “The Secrets of Hypnotic Golf” and a series of golf hypnosis MP3 programmes.
Visit his website http://www.golf-hypnotist.com for information on getting the most success, pleasure and enjoyment from your golf.
Sign up there for the free Golf Hypnotist ezine for your free 25-minute “Your Own Virtual Caddy” golf hypnosis MP3.
Article Source: Better Sleep for Better Golf Like Retief Goosen
