Beyond The Madding Crowd

The Power of Visualisation

Have you ever wondered about visualisation, what it is and how – or if – it works?

 

 

Yesterday I saw a fantastic use of visualisation used by the Oxford crew in the annual University Boat Race between Oxford and  Cambridge.

In the weeks leading up to the race the team had been working with a life coach who got the team to explore what winning meant to them and how they could harness the power of their minds before and during the race. The coach also got them to create a powerful image of their opposite number in the Cambridge boat – the image of the person beneath them.

So did all this work pay off? Well, at the half-way stage I thought it hadn’t as the two boats were neck and neck and oars were about to clash. Then all change, with the aid of the coxswain reinforcing the visualisation image, the Oxford crew stepped up the pace and went into the lead – a lead that the Cambridge crew were unable to catch.

So, did it really work or was it the sheer power of the individuals in the boat working as a well-oiled machine?

 

It was undoubtedly a bit of both. Each element on its own would have been good but the effect is doubled or even tripled when used in harmony with each other. Without the months of training and the honing of their rowing skills there may not have been a race, but, without the powerful effect of the visualisation technique it would have been doubly hard to win.

 

So, how does it work?

 

In essence it is creating a vision of your ultimate outcome and making it so real and lifelike that your brain believes it to be true. The human brain is unable to tell the difference between a real and an imagined event. So the more you tell yourself that something is true or going to be true then the more likely it is to happen.

 

 

Most athletes use this technique and have been doing so for a very long time. Two examples are: Sir Roger Bannister when he broke the 4 minute mile back in 1954, and Sally Gunnell when she won the 400m hurdles at the Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992.  They both created a picture of themselves achieving their goals – Sir Roger by beating the 4 minute barrier and Sally by crossing the line first.

Visualisation is not just for athletes, it is for everyone.

 

So if you have a particular goal in mind, imagine achieving it. Create a powerful image in your mind’s eye and make the picture as big, bright and bold as you can and then make it even Bigger, even Brighter and even Bolder. To further enhance this process, use a physical movement as a connection to this image so that whenever you do the physical movement (referred to as an anchor point in NLP – Neuro Linguistic Programming) you can recreate the image instantly. The physical movement can be as simple as pinching your thumb and index or middle finger together or holding your left thumb with the index finger and thumb of your right hand. You can make the movement as big or as small as you wish – whatever feels right for you.

 

So, whenever you feel you want to reinforce you goal you can do the physical movement and bring back the image of you achieving it into your mind automatically.

 

The more you repeat this exercise, the easier it becomes and in the end you don’t need to do the physical movement.

 

So, no matter what you want to achieve try harnessing the power of you mind and incorporate some visualisation.

 

Here’s to your success!

 

Until next time, think positive and keep breathing!

 

Maureen

Take a Break - Make a Juice!

 

                            

Time for a Juice-Break?

 

As some of you know, I am a strong believer in juicing and its many and wonderful benefits.

 

I juice on a daily basis and really notice the difference when I have been away on holiday and have not had access to the goodness of freshly extracted juices for a while. I end up with an almost insatiable craving for juices.

 

However, I know that whilst some of you agree with me, you many not necessarily do juicing on a regular basis because of some pre-conceptions about the complexity of it or the time it takes.

 

So with this in mind, I wrote the following article for one of my recent newsletters and felt

that I would like to share it here with you.

 

If you would like to sign up to my newsletter then just fill out the boxes in the bottom left corner of my website – www.the-breathing-space.com

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What do you think of when you think of juicing at home?

 

Do any of the following ring true for you?

 

Messy

Time Consuming

Complicated

Waste of Time

Expensive

 

It’s true, when you do your first juice you might think all of the above things – but it needn’t be this way.

 

Juicing, like most food preparation needs a little bit of pre-planning.

 

1-     have your juicer on your worktop (not hidden away in a cupboard or still in it’s box)

 

2-     have suitable fruit and vegetables to hand (yes, I did say vegetables!)

 

3-     have a recipe to follow (you can do free-juicing once you have found your juicy-feet)

 

4-     put a bag in the waste container and then you don’t have to wash it – but you can put the waste into your composter.

 

5-     fill your sink with soapy water ready to wash the juicer components after juicing

 

6-     if your taking the juice to work with you then pre-chill a flask in the freezer or fridge  to make your juice last longer

7-     clean up your juicer and leave it ready for your next juice

 

8-     if drinking immediately then have a nice glass and some ice at the ready

 

9-     drink slowly and savour the full flavour of your “super juice”

 

So, why not have a juice-break instead of a tea or coffee break – start a new trend at home or in your place of work!

 

Happy Juicing!

 

Until next time

 

Think Positive and Keep Breathing!

 

Maureen

Emotional Eating

How do you deal with food when you are in emotional turmoil?

 

Generally most people fall into to categories:

1.                  Starve – even the thought of eating makes them feel nauseous

2.                  Eat at every opportunity

 

So which category do you tend to veer towards?

 

Personally, I fall into the second category and right at this moment in time I am struggling to keep out of the kitchen! One of my small parrots (Oscar) is not very well and I am currently not sleeping very well or eating particularly well either.

 

The mind and body are inextricably linked and thus it is no wonder that when our mind is in turmoil that our body joins in on the act.

 

Whilst I am not a medical expert, I have lived with the effects of stress and over zealous mind/emotions for more years than I can remember.

 

Emotions are the mind’s natural response to situations – either real or imagined (the brain cannot differentiate between a real or imagined experience).

 

However, if you are aware of what your normal response is to a specific situation you can put some measures in place to either reduce the effect of the emotion or remove it altogether.

 

An example would be emotional eating.

 

I know that when I am stressed or worried about something then my initial reaction is to head for the refrigerator or the food cupboards. In order to counteract this initial reaction, I have put into place a series of “delaying” tactics including:

   

-        only having healthy food in the house

-        putting high calorific snacking foods out of easy reach (e.g. nuts/ dried fruit)

-        undertaking an activity that I cannot do whilst eating 

          (exercise/ ironing/ cleaning/etc)

-        doing something relaxing (meditation, read a book, listen to music, watch a favourite film, write in my journal)

Now, this is not to say that I still don’t end up with my head in the cupboards but by putting some blocks into the scenario then I much more conscious about what I am doing rather than being on auto-pilot.

 

So, your task for this week is to give some thought as to how you currently react and how you would like to react differently before you are faced with an unexpected emotional situation.

 

You will then be much more “in control” of your reactions. It may also be a good idea to write down your “solutions” and keep them somewhere easy to find so that you don’t even have to think too much should you be faced with an emotional situation.

 

Until next time

 

Think positive and keep breathing!

 

 

Maureen