C.H.A.N.G.E. Academy Hypnotherapy Newsletter
from the office of Beverley S. Bley, L.P.N., C.M.Ht.
http://www.4change.com
change@...

Issue # October 2004
Athletic Performance

Contents:
* CALENDAR - Past Life Regression Workshop
* HYPNOSIS ON THE WEB
* ARTICLE - Athletic Performance
* MARKETING NOTES - Preparing for January


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* CALENDAR *********************************


** HYPNOTHERAPY CERTIFICATION CLASSES

(Certification classes are FREE for Graduated Students
of C.H.A.N.G.E. Academy who want to audit the class.
Call ahead to find out we will be discussing and when.)

Modules:
- Advanced Hypnotherapy (Start Date Nov 3rd)
- Hypno-analysis Course (Start Date Dec 1st)
- Certification Exam Dec 29th (After 150 completed hrs)

Call 610.797.8250 for details and registration.


** Past Life/Age Regression Therapy
A Certification Playshop

Saturday & Sunday, Nov 6-7, 2004
10AM - 6PM
$195 Lunch Included

Since the causes of presenting problems are often
suppressed and unknown to the conscious mind, a
trip into the past in the subconscious mind brings
you to the root of the issue at hand. Through
Regression Therapy you can seek, find and relieve
traumas plaguing the present.

Presented by Kevin O'Kane, certifiedClinical, Master,
Ericksonian, and Past Life Regression Hypnotherapist.




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* Hypnosis On The Web *********************

~ A Reminder that hypnotherapists are not immune...
Minister charged with fondling after hypnosis

http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/politics/10018917.htm

~ Celebrities and Hypnosis
Just a little ditty about Matt Damon
http://www.contactmusic.com/new/xmlfeed.nsf/mndwebpages/DAMON%
20TURNS%20TO%20HYPNOSIS

~ ScienCentral News
Hypnosis and Surgery
http://www.sciencentral.com/articles/view.php3?
type=article&article_id=218392369



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* Article **********************************


Athletic Performance
You Can Reach Your Personal Best


Olympic athletes use self-hypnosis to help them achieve top
performance. United States teams and those of other nations
recognize that the power of mental rehearsal is equally as important
as physical practice. Russian teams are taught mental conditioning
from the out-set of training.

For the average person, hypnotherapy cannot turn a golfing duffer
into an international champion. Factors, skills and abilities other
than mental are involved. But hypnosis can be used to enable a
player to achieve his or her personal best!

Time Magazine reported, n a cover story on the 1984 Olympics, that
on the night before the finals in women's gymnastics Mary Lou
Retton, then age 16, lay in bed at Olympic Village mentally
rehearsing her performance ritual. She had done the same on
hundreds of previous nights visualizing herself performing all her
routines perfectly - imagining in her mind all the moves and
rehearsing them again and again. The result, of course, was a
performance of perfection, presented with charm, poise and
confidence, culminating in a gold medal.

"What the mind can conceive, the body can achieve!" Proof of
that statement has been provided countless times. Mary Lou pictured
a perfect performance in her mind. Her body produced it. The same
capability is available to any sports enthusiast. If the skill and
coordination abilities do not equal Olympic levels, they can carry
the player to the heights of personal best, providing new levels of
achievement and satisfaction.

To train the body to the limits of its capabilities without
simultaneously training the mind is to invite, at best, mediocrity.
Sports psychologists have claimed that for Olympic teams 80 percent
of an athlete's performance is in the mind. Such belief has been
echoed by championship players in virtually every form of
competition.

What the Mind Can Do

Mental rehearsal, also termed visualization, can create and reaffirm
the confidence necessary to achieve top performance. The picture
visualized in the mind can convince the subconscious that
achievement is possible. The automatic nervous system performs in
exactly the same manner followed during a physical rehearsal.
Neuromuscular coordination improves. What your mind can conceive,
you can achieve. If you can think it and see it in your mind, you
can do it!

What can be accomplished through the powers of the mind? Perhaps
most important is the development of positive attitudes. Negative
thoughts pertaining to performance skills can be changed or
eliminated. Enjoyment of the sport will be enhanced to a major
degree as skills improve to the point where intermittent incidents
of poor performance no longer arouse irritation, anger,
discouragement or detrimental emotional reaction. Concentration,
coordination, technique all can improve as well as awareness of
proper form and posture.

Sports enthusiasts face the same stumbling blocks that people have
to deal with in other areas of life-business, personal
relationships, achievement of goals and ambitions. The biggest of
all is fear, and fear comes in many forms. Fear of failure is
always restrictive and is very common in sports, as is its hidden
partner, fear of success - an apprehension that success can create
the expectation (among others) of further improvement. Fear of
humiliation can be strong. Many golfers experience near terror on
the first tee where people may be watching the first drives.
Competition can produce sensations of intimidation resulting in
deterioration of skills.

Hypnotherapy, or properly learned and applied self-hypnosis, can
work to reduce or eliminate the mental obstacles to peak performance
in sport activities. This is an area in which the truth of the
phrase "what the mind can conceive, the body can achieve"
becomes highly evident.

The Steps To Achievement

The goal of hypnosis in its applications is not the learning or
acquisition of the basic skills involved, though these could be
helped through hypnosis as used in enhancing learning skills. The
goal is to enable the athlete to achieve the best personal level,
performing at peak. As with virtually all hypnosis, the first step
must be relaxation. Relaxation to a level appropriate for the
implanting of hypnotic suggestion is not really resting. It is
deep, and can be brought about through a hypnotherapist. Or it can
be learned from a teaching hypnotherapist or even through study and
practice using any of several excellent books on the subject.

Goal-setting is essential. Without having an objective, it is
pointless to begin a task, project or trip. Goals may be set by
athletes, coaches or therapists or a combination thereof. It is
important for goals to be specific, focused on the area in which
improvement is desired. Playing better tennis is not a valid goal.,
Improving a serve or backhand is a goal. Goals must be short-term
achievable and step by step, so that both success and completion are
experienced.

Concentration is vitally important, and sometimes difficult to
develop. Hypnotherapy has long been an effective means of improving
concentration capabilities. Distractions must be eliminated. Post-
hypnotic cues may prove useful in stimulating both concentration and
specific skills. Visualization, not just in mental rehearsing, but
at the moment of performance can produce dramatic results.

Finally, mental rehearsal is the ultimate key to superlative
performance. It can prove more productive than physical practice.
Imagery is not merely visual in nature; it can include all the
senses. In a diving competition, the form of the dive is visual;
the smell of the chlorine water is olefactory; the wetness of the
entry is sensory, the cheers of the crowd are auditory. Perfection
requires the use of all senses.



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* Marketing Notes *************************

The period from mid-November thru the end of December tends to be a
slow period for most Hypnotherapists. Now is the time to plan
networking and marketing strategies for future clients, most of who
are thinking about their New Year resolutions now.

What are your advertising options? Where are your target clients?
What networking options are available? The fact is that Weight and
Smoking are your biggest New Year clients. Your ads and marketing
strategies should target that audience. When you network at your
local Chamber events, weight and smoking brochures should be in your
pocket and available for anyone who asks for them.

The slow period is perfect for development and preparation for the
busy New Year ahead. As December hits, you will notice ads for LA
Fitness and Jenny Craig increase. Just like the big guns, don't
end your marketing strategy on December 31st – plan through the
end of January to pick up the procrastinators.

Many of these potential clients have already tried the gyms, the
diets, etc… but they might not be aware that hypnotherapy is a
viable option for their goals. Make sure, when they are searching
for a new option that your ad can be found.



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