MENTAL REHEARSAL
As a student of golf, trusting the subconscious mind to swing the golf club has evolved a growing passion to be more positive, to learn, and to improve because the game is the “funest” and “bestest” ever. Placing swing thoughts on a bus to Tucson, giving clear “desired results” to the subconscious and passionately connecting the conscious mind with the subconscious mind is a completely new, exciting experience. Simply see and feel the ball in the hole on and off the course and at the practice range.
An innate desire to have the complicated golf swing “perfect” and growing awareness of the powers of the subconscious has energized interest in learning more about how the subconscious mind can be programmed—mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually—to facilitate improved performance. Christian D. Larson offers,
When we proceed to train the subconscious along any line, or for special results, we must always comply with the following law: The subconscious responds to the impressions, the suggestions, the desires, the expectations, and the directions of the conscious mind, provided that the conscious touches the subconscious at the time. The secret therefore is found in the two phases of the mind touching each other as directions are being made; and to cause the conscious to touch the subconscious, it is necessary to feel conscious action penetrating your entire interior system; that is, you should feel at the time that you are living not simply on the surface, but through and through. At such times, the mind should be calm and in perfect poise, and should be conscious of that finer, greater something within you that has greater depth than mere surface existence. (Christian D. Larson, Your Forces and How to Use Them, page 41)
Dr. Joe Dispenza contends,
I define mental rehearsal in this way: remembering what we want to demonstrate, and then cognitively experiencing what it is like to physically do the action by step by step It is mentally seeing our “self” physically demonstrating or practicing an action or skill…With mental rehearsal, if we can stay focused, the brain does not know the difference between physically doing the activity and remembering the activity…Mental rehearsal gives us the ability to create a new level of mind without doing anything physical other than thinking…mental rehearsal requires us to separate ourselves from distractions, and should be done when we are prepared and able to devote our full attention to the concepts we have chosen to make real in our life. (Dr. Joe Dispensa, 2007, Evolve Your Brain: The Science of Changing Your Mind, Health Communications, Inc., Deerfield Beach, Florida, pages 391-92, 406)
Some recent reflections concerning facilitation of subconscious programming are as follows:
[NOTE: This golfer stakes no claim on being a subconscious mind programming expert!!]
- Positive and improvement language is a must. This is the law of attraction at work: as Golf as Guru partners Woody and Birdy Ball coach, one gets back what one puts out through personality, character, and mind.
- Relaxed concentration—all forces of mind, character and personality are focused on the desired result—and a clear and quiet conscious mind are a must.
- Visualization: picture in the conscious mind a clear idea of the desired result.
- Energize deep, “must have,” “must do,” serene, strong, and passionate connection of the conscious mind with the inner human systems: see it, feel it, taste it, smell it, think it, touch it in the eleven human systems: circulatory, respiratory, digestive, excretory, nervous, endocrine, immune, lymphatic, integumentary/exocrine, skeletal, muscle, reproductive, renal, and urinary. Simply feel the meaning of the desired result with consciousness; and see and feel in every atom of the human system the ball at the target. Eliminate doubt; and be calm, “…well balanced, persistent, deeply poised and harmonious in all thoughts and actions.” (Christian D. Larson, Your Forces and How to Use Them, page 46)
- Think of all the facilities being used in golf when giving full expression to a desired result: body mechanics, club mechanics, ball position, and target. This golfer likes mantras: I am…
- Begin days with positive, desired result ways and means. Bring everything alive in the conscious and subconscious minds several times per day.
- Go to sleep relaxed: review the day’s pleasantries; and chat with the subconscious about desired results and ways and means.
- If there are skills that need work and development, direct the subconscious with necessary improvements every day as frequently as possible and before going to sleep.
- Practice makes perfect: mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. The more one trains the subconscious to work with the conscious direction, the easier it becomes to get the subconscious to respond to directions.
- “Whenever the subconscious mind is aroused, mental power and working capacity are invariably increased, sometimes to such an extent that the individual seems to be possessed with a superhuman power.” (Christian D. Larson, Your Forces and How to Use Them, page 43)
As mentioned, working with the subconscious mind is a new experience for this golfer; and I make absolutely no claim to be a subconscious mind expert. A commitment is to keep you informed about progress experiences. “Know what you want, and then want it with all the life and power that is in you.” (Christian D. Larson, Your Forces and How to Use Them, page 81) Simply, be, see, and feel the ball in the hole!
