Mental Skills Series: Imagery

Today's topic in the mental skills series is Imagery.

In performance situations, "seeing is believing." This can be literal: as in actually watching something happen (watching Lance Armstrong win the Tour de France or Dara Torres win a silver medal in the Olympics) or physically accomplishing something yourself: running further or faster or reacting to a strong tennis serve. Of course when you physically experience an event that belief is right there. You saw it, or you did it!

With imagery practice, you don't have to physically experience a skill before you believe you can do it. Imagery is different than visualization in that it uses all your bodily senses (think: seeing, hearing, smell, taste, feeling) to create or re-create a positive experience in your mind, whereas visualization focuses on your sense of sight. What is amazing about imagery is that with practice, imagery can become controlled and vivid. During a vivid imagery session a performer's brain activity can look very similar to what it looks like when they are physically performing the same task (Holmes & Collins, 2001; Jeannerod, 1994).

Imagery is a great skill to practice simply because it is applicable in many areas of performance. It can be used to help learn and practice new skills, aid in concentration, help solve technique problems, aid in energy management (get psyched up or calm down) and even help recover from injury.

When you are physically learning a new skill--the adage "practice makes perfect," comes into play. You have to physically do the skill over and over and over again. I like to think of when I was learning to snowboard--and I spent an entire weekend falling down the mountain trying to learn what toe-side and heel-side were. The result was I was completely sore, but also physically and emotionally exhausted! With imagery, when you are learning a new skill, you can practice it perfectly in your mind, with the added benefit of no physical fatigue. So, while nothing takes the place of physical, deliberate practice (even taking a tumble down a mountain)--mental practice is better than NO practice whatsoever, and it often complements that physical practice (Williams, 2006).



(photo courtesy about.com)


When practicing imagery there are two main ways in which the scene may be viewed.


Internal Perspective: when you view see yourself from the inside looking out--or just as you would normally perform)

and

External Perspective: when you imagine yourself from the outside looking in. As if you were watching yourself perform from the stands or on television (Williams, 2006).
(photo courtesy of inquisitor.com)

There isn't a right or wrong perspective, but it is interesting to take note of your dominant perspective and try the other one to see how it feels for you.

When integrating imagery into a routine, a performer or athlete can create scenarios in which they see themselves mastering the situation. This is called mastery imagery.

Another way to create a routine is to imagine a situation which has caused difficulty or anxiety in the past. The focus in this type of imagery is not the situation itself, but your reaction to it. Your reactions to these difficult situations is optimal, integrating the skills and preparation into a good performance. This is called preparatory imagery.

I have used both mastery and preparatory imagery. One thing I like to do is think back on a race that I had where everything seemed to go well for me. I use all my senses to re-create that moment in my mind. I see the course, feel the road under my feet. I can feel the temperature of the day and I definitely can feel the positive emotions I felt as I was going through the process of the race. I focus on what helped me perform well and why they were there that day. I think about how I got ready for the race. This image is obviously pretty positive and it helps give me energy on those days when it's hard to get out the door. It reminds me of why the hard work is worth it to me.

At the beginning of this entry I mentioned imagery practice. Imagery, like all the cardinal skills and the physical skills of optimal performance takes consistent and organized practice Once proper imagery techniques are learned they can take as little as 10-15 minutes to practice and there can be many benefits to performance! Imagery, like the other skills is also quite individualized. What works for one, may not work for all.

And here we are, the end of part three of the Mental Skills series. I hope everyone is enjoying it so far and finding it helpful. As we move towards the end of the series I want to continue to remind everyone that this series is an introduction to the skills and working with a trained sport and performance psychology professional provides many more resources and an individualized plan that is suited for the sport and the person.