Have you ever had a day when you’ve woken up in a bad mood, and suddenly everything you do that usually comes about so naturally suddenly seems so much more complicated and laboured? 

It is often easy to underestimate the power of the mind-body connection and how our mental state can shape how we perform even the most basic of tasks.

This is especially noticeable with athletes, who spend so much time training to subconsciously accomplish incredible feats of strength, dexterity and endurance without even thinking, and often benefit most from dedicated hypnotherapy sessions.

How does hypnotherapy help with sports performance? There are various benefits, but here are some of the biggest and most crucial.



How Can Hypnotherapy Help With Performance Anxiety?

Former football player Steve Bull MBE once noted that having butterflies in your stomach is fine, as long as you get them to fly in formation.

Nerves are not necessarily the enemy, but they can overwhelm you and affect not only your mental makeup but also your body. 

Nervousness can make your muscles feel stiffer and tighter, which can have a negative effect on your performance and increase the risk of injury. It can also boost your heart rate and cause you to overthink even the most basic actions.

Hypnotherapy can help to break cycles of negativity and refocus your energy, not on anxious thoughts but on anticipation.

How Can Hypnotherapy Help Induce Flow States?

Most athletes succeed because they are able to enter a mental flow state or get “in the zone”, where they get immersed in what they are doing and allow their subconscious to take control.

Flow states are exceptionally important for athletes because they stop them from focusing on pain or on consciously noticing and regulating the movements of the body, breathing, form and position.

Achieving flow can be difficult, but hypnotherapy can help us more readily access these states and develop a toolkit of techniques for boosting our awareness and minimising external distractions.

How Can Hypnotherapy Help Athletes To Rest And Be At Their Best?

One of the biggest challenges for athletes is the huge gulf between rest and pushing the body to its absolute limit. Olympians often talk about the difficulties in resting and calming down after their event is completed due to the hyper-stimulation and abundance of energy they have.

This is particularly true when two sets of skills are needed in the same sport, such as the ability to intensely sprint up and down the pitch in football, but also be able to accurately shoot a ball into a net.

Outside of specific sports, rest is a vital component for preventing injury, but it can be tricky at times to appreciate your limits, stop and let your body build itself back up, sleep and reduce stress.

Being able to shift from a state of intensity to a state of calm is very difficult, but hypnotherapy can be effective at helping us make that switch more readily, encouraging rest, relieving anxiety and allowing us to perform at our best without compromising our bodies in the process.