Harnessing Performance Anxiety with Performance Hypnosis

Dr. Keith A. Wilson

Performance Anxiety can cripple sports performance. Whether it is the start of a golf tournament or public speaking, most athletes and performers know the following symptoms:

1. Sweaty hands
2. Heart racing
3. Chest tightening
4. Shallow breathing
5. Fear of failure
6. Stomach tightening

These physical symptoms announce performance anxiety. Symptoms such as these can interfere or can even ruin a performance if the athlete does not recognize these symptoms early and adequately address them. When the athlete believes he can harness performance anxiety and executes the intervention, then he is more able to perform at the level of his physical expertise.

Autogenics

The autogenic component of Performance Hypnosis is a very valuable intervention for performance anxiety. Autogenics is the ability of the mind to physiologically change how the body is responding. It can help to slow the heart rate and promote deep breathing. It can help the muscles in the body be more relaxed, which often leads to better skill execution. When the athlete knows he can break the anxiety cycle then he can use the energy of the anxiety in a more focused way. He can adjust the arousal level for a higher level of performance.

Autogenics is introduced in the first session of Performance Hypnosis. The athlete is taught how to create feelings of heaviness and lightness in the arms with imagery in the mind. As the athlete becomes more comfortable with this skill in the context of the full hypnosis experience, the trainer can start to develop quick induction interventions with this hypnotic skill.

My personal favorite is using the arm levitation as the quick induction to change the body’s response to anxiety. The arm levitation is taught by having the person visualize a helium balloon tied around the left wrist. Because the primary property of helium is lightness, soon the arm is raising without the athlete’s conscious effort.

The power of this autogenic tool was recently illustrated for me in a powerful way. I was flying from Dallas to Cincinnati. Shortly after take off, the woman in the row behind me became airsick and began vomiting. Even though I felt sorry that she was ill, the reality was that the airplane smelled putrid. I made a conscious decision that while I could not change the circumstances I was in, I could alter my experience of the rest of the flight. I decided to use a discrete arm levitation as a quick induction to help me block out the smell. It took a few minutes to fully block out the smell but I must say I was one of the few passengers smiling at the end of the flight.

Performance anxiety can be harnessed. Performance Hypnosis is a very effective tool to harness the anxiety. As athletes recognize anxiety symptoms, they can choose which autogenic tool to use to help them change the body’s response to the anxiety symptoms. Using arm levitation (or finger levitation) can help to slow down the breathing and help to bring a dynamic relaxed state to the body. This is a modulating procedure as it allows the athlete to help focus the energy of anxiety into an appropriate level of arousal for high-level performance.

Autogenics and Pitching

Modulating the arousal level is very important to physical performance as well as injury prevention. Recently, a major league pitcher who wanted to improve the consistency of his focus during the entirety of a game approached me. As part of the performance interview, it was discovered he was having arm problems caused by gripping the ball too tightly. This level of intensity in his arm has continued to cause more injury, consequently diminishing his playing time.

His pitching coach has told him to relax and grip the ball more easily. However, when a coach says “Relax” but does not provide the technical tools for doing so, the athlete will most likely not be able to achieve what the coach requests. Autogenic techniques can help to bring his arm and grip to the state of dynamic relaxation. If he can pitch an entire season with a more relaxed arm and grip, then his arm is less likely to be reinjured.

The autogenic intervention with this pitcher started with learning the basics of Performance Hypnosis. Once the player can obtain the state of dynamic relaxation through repeated practice with Performance Hypnosis, he can start to learn quick inductions to use while pitching. In this particular intervention, we taught his pitching arm the ability to create lightness. We started with the imagery of the helium balloon. He was able to do this quite well. Next, we worked with getting the same results with a one-finger levitation. The player was able to obtain a light and relaxed feeling in his pitching arm and hand with the use of this quick induction.

Tapping the deep well

Two important performance hypnosis principles are at work in this intervention. First, is the principle of “tapping the deep well.” Once the player has established an ability to use traditional hypnotic skills to create the state of dynamic relaxation, he can learn performance skills to tap into that state in quicker ways. As an example, when a person first starts Performance Hypnosis, it takes about 20 minutes to reach a state of dynamic relaxation. However, by learning to use a quick induction the player can obtain the benefit of deep relaxation in about a minute.

Obviously, this principle is helpful in pitching as well. Once the pitcher has built his belief in his ability to bring a state of dynamic relaxation to his body and, particularly, to his pitching arm, then he can continually trigger this state between pitches. As he is looking at the catcher for the sign, he can do a finger levitation, which taps into his well-established reservoir of dynamic relaxation. His body is ready for the next pitch but, most importantly, his arm and grip are more relaxed. He can throw a fastball and yet the wear and tear on his pitching arm will be less.

Fractionation

The second Performance Hypnosis principle is fractionation. Fractionation is the hypnotic principle which states: if a person is in a heightened state of trance (absorption) and is interrupted, when allowed to return to the trance state then the depth of the trance will be even more powerful. This is a great principle to understand in athletic performance because there will be many challenges in the game which could pull the athlete out of “the zone.”

For the pitcher there is a continual moving in and out of a narrow space of focus as he takes his sign, goes into his windup and delivers the ball. At that point, his narrow focus is released and he moves into a broader state of focus as he waits to respond to the batter’s attempt at the ball. If the ball is hit, the pitcher must decide what his next responsibility is and move to cover his part of the play. If the batter misses the ball or does not swing, then the pitcher gets the ball from the catcher and the process starts over. The pitcher moves to a state of narrow focus as he receives the sign and uses a finger levitation to bring his body, mind and pitching arm back into the state of dynamic relaxation.

As the pitcher believes in his ability to move in and out of narrow focus and relaxation, the principle of fractionation allows him to be mentally tougher in the late innings than he was at the beginning of the game. This is an essential skill of a starting pitcher to stay mentally tough and focused as the game continues. To be able to pitch a complete game, this match of body and mind performance is more possible when the pitcher knows about the principle of fractionation and is actively engaging it in his performance.

Harnessing performance anxiety is an ongoing challenge for most athletes. Confidence is diminished in one’s athletic ability when performance anxiety alters the level of execution of athletic skill. Experience in handling pressure will often help the athlete increase his confidence in these pressure situations. However, knowing and believing certain interventions will help harness performance anxiety will help to build the athlete’s confidence. The autogenic component of Performance Hypnosis is one of the most effective interventions an athlete can learn to help rebuild confidence and harness the energy of anxiety.

Dr. Keith A. Wilson is a psychotherapist and performance consultant in El Paso, Texas. He works with individual athletes, local club and university sports teams and travels nationally to speak and consult on issues of youth sport parenting and performance under pressure in a variety of venues. He is certified in clinical hypnosis by the American Society for Clinical Hypnosis. Dr. Wilson can be reached by e-mail at Wilson@thewinningmind.com.