How to Increase Physical Endurance (Dramatically!) with The Sedona Method
by www.Sedona.com
Sticking to a workout routine or pushing yourself to your peak athletic performance takes as much mental power as it does physical. Confidence, willpower, determination and focus clearly come to mind, but other mental skills -- including goal-setting, visualization, and even relaxation -- can also increase your physical endurance.
You may be surprised to learn that there is a strong mental component to physical endurance, and indeed sports psychology is a relatively new field. It wasn't until 1972 that a psychologist (Richard Suinn, Ph.D., of Colorado State University) first served on a U.S. Olympic sports team, for instance, and the idea of sports psychology as a whole began in the early 1970s as well.
Visualizing Your Way to Physical Success
Suinn refers to a technique called "mental practice" or "visualization," which he calls the "mental equivalent of physical practice." He explains in Psychology Today:
"We start with 20 to 30 minutes of relaxation training, followed by the visualization of some aspect of the athlete's game that needs improvement.
For instance, if your golf swing is a little off and your coach shows you the proper swing, then during visualization you practice making that correct swing in your mind. It may be that your muscles start to learn through this visualizing practice the proper way of moving. There is in fact research evidence that indicates that when athletes use visualization after relaxation, their performance does improve.
There is also evidence to suggest that if you use the wrong imagery -- if you imagine yourself missing the swing or losing the game -- your performance will get worse."
Practicing visualization is something you can learn to do on a regular basis even if you're not a professional athlete. Imagining yourself completing aerobics class with flying colors, for instance, will make it more likely to come true. It's a version of a self-fulfilling prophecy http://www.sedona.com/self-fulfilling.aspx, in a sense, because the more you expect something to happen, the greater the likelihood that it actually will.
What's Even Better Than Visualization?
The Sedona Method can help you take the power of visualization to another level.
"The Sedona Method can help athletes boost their physical endurance and performance by releasing the mental barriers to success," says Hale Dwoskin, CEO and director of training of Sedona Training Associates. "There is a large body of knowledge that has shown that visualizing the outcome you want from a game or event can have as much or even more benefit than practice alone. But visualization combined with releasing the thoughts and feelings to the contrary is even more powerful."
This is where The Sedona Method excels, because it shows you how to release negative thoughts as easily as you can throw a ball. So whether you're nervous, unmotivated, anxious or fatigued, you'll be able to let go of those feelings immediately -- even in the midst of a game.
"As you release and hold in mind what you want, you can maintain a picture of a positive result with greater ease and effectiveness," Dwoskin says. "Also, as you incorporate releasing into your practice or workout routine you will find that you naturally release through the barriers of resistance that would otherwise cause you to hold yourself back from peak performance and living in the flow."
Source
Psychology Today
| 
