Hypnotherapy for Sports Performance

Novak Djokovic has won Wimbledon. I am sure anyone who is a tennis fan was glued to the TV last weekend to watch the 24 year-old Serb become the champion of SW19 and replace Rafa Nadal as world number one. But it is not just skill that got him there; he also had to have the ability to focus on the game and blank out the crowd, where he was and what he was playing for.

One of the key attributes of any top athlete is the ability to focus and perform at a top level of skill in every situation. Milton Erickson was a pioneer in the use of hypnotherapy methods in sports to improve focus. He worked with a number of top athletes, including the US Olympic Rifle squad and the shot-putter Donald Lawrence. In one story relating to a tournament golfer (Rossi 1988) Erickson was asked to assist in improving the golfer's consistency across all holes throughout a round. The golfer seemed to always play the first hole perfectly, and then deteriorate. The question for Erickson was: If you can play the first hole perfectly, then can you do as well on the next? He put the golfer in a trance and told him "You will play only the first hole, that is all you will remember, and you will be alone on the golf course". The golfer, needless to say, played an excellent round in his next tournament.

By taking the pressure out of the game the golfer, Rossi, was able to perform to the best of his ability throughout the whole tournament.

Similarly, anyone who has watched Jonny Wilkinson prepare for a kick will have noticed that he uses the same visual and physical ritual every time.

“He places the ball carefully, the same way that he has so many times before. Shutting out the cheers and jeers of the crowd, he stands up, and walks just the right amount of paces backwards. Then takes a single sidestep. But he is not yet ready. Standing with his feet a shoulder width apart, he clasps his hands in front of himself, staring at them for what seems like an age. Finally looking towards the posts, tilting slightly upwards, he pulls his head back just a little, as if the target somehow magnifies in his vision. He focuses, and there he sees her, sitting right in the middle, in the crowd, between the posts. Then he feels it; he knows that he is ready. And the rest is history". (Vile and Biggs - in Press)

For Jonny to reach this level of control he has practiced not only the physical preparation but also the mental too. "The key to cognitive motor learning lies in elucidating the way in which learned skills are represented in memory". (Annett 1995)

Often it is the mental processes that makes the difference between two athletes; the ones that let the pressure or their own doubts creep in will struggle to be as successful as the athletes who stay “in the zone” (focused).

Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP can teach you the techniques to stay focused and to achieve your goals, either within sports or in life, helping you to realize your potential and to focus on where you want to be.

Breathe London Ethos

One of my clinics is Breathe London; this is part of the Colombo Centre, a community centre on the Southbank. The clinic entrance is accessed through a gym and although once you get upstairs to the therapy rooms it is a peaceful haven the building itself isn’t the prettiest London has to offer. So why do I choose to work here? The Colombo Centre is a not for profit organization managed by a Charitable Trust, The Jubilee Hall Trust and is overseen by a voluntary board of trustees from Coin St Community Builders.

At Breathe London we are part of the community, with every pound spent by the gym members, tennis players, footballers and the thousands of other users of the centre is either invested back into the centre or supports local community programs. These include childhood obesity programs, youth development and many activities for the elderly in Lambeth and Southwark. All of the rental income from Breathe London is ploughed back into the centre and directly supports their wonderful programs. We are proud to play our part in drawing people to a unique wellbeing facility in Central London and helping to support such wonderful charities.

To many people Breathe London is known as a problem solving sports injury clinic and acupuncture centre. However at Breathe London we recognise that healthy bodies and minds go hand in hand and therefore we also have a team of other wellbeing consultants. I work at Breathe London offering Hypnotherapy, CBT and NLP to help people achieve their goals and realise their inner potential. I am proud to work somewhere where I can give back to the local community, helping London charities to support people who need them.