Golf_ The Mind Game - Marlin M. Mackenzie [48]
All people have the ability to induce a trance state in themselves—to change their state of consciousness. It’s just a matter of taking time to redevelop the appropriate mental processes. Like children we have the innate capacity to become instantly enraptured by the simplest of experiences, but overemphasis on rationality by our educational system has dampened our respect for the unconscious.
Children naturally become deeply engrossed in the simple pleasures of watching birds and kites soar in the sky, of listening to buzzing bees as they hover over flowers to extract their nectar, of losing track of time and space before the television screen, all the while becoming transported away from the here-and-now into their world of fantasy and right-brain mental activity.
Adults, too, know what it’s like to alter their states of consciousness but frequently forget that they know. Like children, they’re awed by sunsets, transformed by music, enchanted by novels and stories, absorbed in thought while waiting for a traffic light to change, and their moods are altered by hundreds of everyday experiences in a matter of seconds. Trances are induced by riding in elevators, driving long distances on interstate highways, listening to the clickety-clack of the wheels on railroad tracks, making love, intensely focusing on a golf ball, and recalling the details of a past superb golf shot as if they were Sherlock Holmes.
Putting Hypnosis to Work
Having studied and experimented with hypnosis in athletics, I’m convinced that it’s perhaps the most powerful tool athletes can use to regulate the consistency of their performance. Essentially, hypnosis is a process of creating, intensifying, and stabilizing an inner-directed state of consciousness. Most of my metaskills techniques are based on this process, and are designed to tap the resources of the unconscious mind by distracting and quieting the conscious mind.
The Sherlock Holmes Exercise induces and stabilizes the hypnotic phenomenon of age regression—going back to a former time and place in your life. The M & M Process, anchoring, and various forms of imagery also stimulate hypnotic processes. Metaphors in particular, like storytelling, generate states most conducive to fine athletic performance. Metaskills techniques activate the nondominant hemisphere of the brain, precisely the part of the brain that is fully activated during trance. These trance states open the door for expanding our world of inner experiences, which are essential for making changes in outward behavior.
Several athletes with whom I have worked have experimented with performing simple, safe skills after hypnotizing themselves. They invariably report that their performance becomes almost effortless. One club professional I know said that he has hit some of the best shots in his life while in a self-induced altered state. Through self-hypnosis he also reduced the pressure he normally put on himself to turn in low scores. He says he now enjoys his rounds of golf more and regularly turns in halfway decent scores. For him halfway decent is 75.
Self-hypnosis
For you to hypnotize yourself requires a certain mind-set to begin with. Essentially, you let yourself go and give yourself permission to experience your inner world fully, gradually becoming less and less aware of external reality, as in Zen meditation. Just let your mind go in a consciously determined or suggested direction, yet allow it to generate whatever sensory representations it wants to with absolutely no conscious control. This means letting go of ordinary ways of thinking, adopting an attitude of curiosity and a desire to learn from the hypnotic experience.
I have taught hundreds of athletes a simple form of self-hypnosis. After it is learned, you can use it to tap internal resources and achieve important outcomes. The technique was developed by Betty Erickson, Dr. Erickson’s wife. I have modified it slightly.