Using Gymnastic Hypnotherapy
I received an email from a mother worried about her daughter Lucy. She was now in high school and was a member of the local gymnastics club, but she hadn’t made the team for a competition in May because she couldn’t do any of the backwards moves. Whether it was a somersault at the end of a tumbling routine or backwards flip on the high beam, she just had a mental block. She wondered if gymnastic hypnotherapy would help.
I explained how the brain worked and how her fear was interrupting the natural flow of her movements. In Gymnastic hypnotherapy she would be visualising first, the moves she needed to make. As a result, she could get her mind and body in the right place for the moves. I suggested she do 2 things. first was with the tumble to focus on where she was to lift off, not on where she was to land. Secondly, she could go over backwards on the floor and lower beam, it was the height. So again I got her to shut her eyes when she was on the floor, and to notice how her body felt.
I gave her a CD to listen to and arranged to meet in a week.
Gymnastic Hypnotherapy Session 1
Lucy had slept very well since seeing me for the consultation, and she bounced in announcing she could already do more moves. Her mother also said she was happier at home and that her gym instructor had already realised something had changed and asked her mother what was going on! She scaled herself as a 5, as she had managed to perform new moves but still had not achieved the two she wanted.
I used the rewind to help Lucy scramble her bad experiences and I did a bit of confidence building so she would be more adventurous. Although she wriggled quite a bit on the couch, I knew from experience that wouldn’t be a problem. The GSR meter I was using to see how stressed/relaxed Lucy felt, showed typical results for a rewind.
Session 2
One week later she came back beaming. She had achieved a backwards somersault in the tumble. She still hadn’t done the beam but her confidence levels were up and she scaled herself as a 7.
I introduced Lucy to her virtual gym – her mind! We rehearsed the moves she wanted to achieve, slowly at first, but then over and over again feeling relaxed.
Session 3
Lucy came bounding in with the widest grin on her face – she had done all she needed to do to make the team, she said she was a 10 and she had the confidence to do anything now. We agreed she should carry on listening to her CD and that if anything changed or something new came up she could come back for us to work on it. We did a bit more confidence building and she went on her way a very happy girl.