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Sierra Center for Peak Perfromance

FROM BRAIN TO MUSCLE WITHOUT ANY TUSSLE
The On-Line E-Newsletter of the Sierra Center for Peak Performance
Volume X, Number 2 February 2006

Welcome to the eighty-sixth issue of the free Newsletter of Applied Sport Psychology.

PLAYING MIND GAMES THAT HELP YOU WIN:
"Learning from the 2006 Winter Olympics"
by Gary A. Beale, Ph.D.

Like many others in America, and perhaps the world, I set aside time to watch some of the events of the 2006 Winter Olympic Games on television. Perhaps unlike many other viewers I found much that seemed to illustrate or highlight several concepts of Sport Psychology.

With this in mind I am interrupting the series on "The Process of Mental Training" to offer a game of my own design. I plan to return to the previous series of articles in future editions.

To encourage your participation, and test your knowledge of Sport Psychology concepts I am offering a free Personalized Subliminal CD, as an MP3 file download, to the first five subscribers who correctly answer the following multi-part question:

What unexpected event happened in the Women's Snowboard Cross Finals, who did it happen to, what was the outcome and what single concept of Sport Psychology, discussed in earlier issues, is most likely to have been involved?

How does the outcome of the Men's Speed skating 1000 meter race, and the surrounding controversy, illustrate the diametrically opposed process?

The winner of the drawing for the free Personalized Subliminal CD for this time period is Busayo Akande.

Busayo has until midnight, Hawaii Time, on Thursday March 2^nd to claim the free Personalized Subliminal CD.

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Sierra Center for Peak Perfromance

FROM BRAIN TO MUSCLE WITHOUT ANY TUSSLE
The On-Line E-Newsletter of the Sierra Center for Peak Performance
Volume X, Number 3 March 2006

Welcome to the eighty-seventh issue of the free Newsletter of Applied Sport Psychology.

PLAYING MIND GAMES THAT HELP YOU WIN:
"Learning from the 2006 Winter Olympics: Part II"
by Gary A. Beale, Ph.D.

To encourage your participation, and test your knowledge of Sport Psychology concepts I offered a free Personalized Subliminal CD, as an MP3 file download, to the first five subscribers who correctly answer the following multi-part question:

How does the outcome of the Men's Speed Skating 1000 meter race, and the surrounding controversy, illustrate the diametrically opposed process?

The answer to the first part of the question is: Lindsey Jacobellis had the gold medal all to herself but fell after adding an unnecessary flare to her final jump. Tanja Frieden ,who was far behind before Lindsey's fall, cruised past her for the gold. Later Lindsey stated: "I got caught up in the moment, and stopped paying attention." Lindsey went from Process thinking to Outcome thinking. She shifted her focus from the process of performing at her best and began to focus on the outcome (winning). Jacobellis's actions demonstrated the concept of Outcome Thinking and the hazards that accompany it.

The Men's 1000 meter race was won by Shani Davis. Shani came under fire for skipping the team pursuit that did not win a metal and meant that a team mate would not be able to beat Erik Heiden's record of five Olympic gold speed skating metals. Shani declined to race in the team pursuit because he wanted to focus on his best event the 1000 meters. He maintained his focus on the Process of skating well in his best event and avoided the distraction, loss of focus, of preparing for and skating in the team pursuit. Davis's actions demonstrated the concept of Process Thinking which is the polar opposite of Outcome Thinking.

None of the entries that were submitted were focused on the concept of Process vs. Outcome Thinking and therefore no prizes were awarded.

The winner of the drawing for the free Personalized Subliminal CD for this time period is Judith White.

Judith has until midnight, Hawaii Time, on Thursday March 30^th to claim the free Personalized Subliminal CD.

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Sierra Center for Peak Perfromance

FROM BRAIN TO MUSCLE WITHOUT ANY TUSSLE
The On-Line E-Newsletter of the Sierra Center for Peak Performance
Volume X, Number 4 April 2006

Welcome to the eighty-eighth issue of the free Newsletter of Applied Sport Psychology.

PLAYING MIND GAMES THAT HELP YOU WIN:
"The Process of Mental Strength Training" Part V
by Gary A. Beale, Ph.D.

In the July 2005 newsletter I discussed the sequence of Exercises developed for a new client that I called "Susan". She had elected to receive the audio CD portion of her personalized training program as Mp3 files which she downloaded from a dedicated page on my web site after I had produced the tracks and uploaded them. Although a complete set of instructions was provided to her Susan became confused about the sequence used to train with the tracks because she mp3 files were a complication for her. To help her better understand the relationship between the tracks she downloaded and the mental exercises she was to do, I developed the table below. I also told her that:

The audio portion of your training program is in the form of a progression of mental exercises. These exercises are divided into six parts that are distributed over eight tracks on CD One and 17 tracks on CD Two. Each track is a separate file so you should have 25* tracks or files in all. The CD tracks and exercises are as follows:

CD #	Exercise #	Tracks Included	Name/Content of Scene	Minimum number of repetitions
CD One	Exercise #1	OneTrack 1 & 2	Beach Scene	14
	Exercise #2	OneTrack 3 & 4	Mountain Cabin Scene	28
	Exercise #3	OneTrack 5 & 6	Garden Scene	42
	Exercise #4	OneTrack 7	Thundershower Scene	As often as you like
	Exercise #5	OneTrack 8	Thundershower with Subliminal Affirmations	As often as is practical
CD Two	Exercise #6	Tracks 1 - 17	Your music with your Subliminal Affirmations	As often as possible

As Susan progressed through the sequence she reported inconsistent results. During one of our telephone sessions I discovered that she was not implementing the suggestions contained on Tracks 2, 4 and 6 of CD One. Each Performance Visualization on those tracks suggests specific actions that she should take and typically began with the phrase "From now on...". These suggestions are specific to the action steps that she identified as being necessary for her to reach her goals. Susan is a golfer and she stated that in order to reach her goals she needed to be more relaxed when she plays. She reported that she gets "up-tight and nervous" just walking into the Women's Locker Room, or stepping onto the tees, fairways and greens of her country club. One of the first suggestions contained on her Track #2 was:

From now on Susan whenever you step into the locker room or onto the tee, fairway or green you will automatically take three deep, belly breaths, From now on whenever you think about golf or mentally rehearse playing golf in the theater of your mind you will take three deep breaths...

In next months issue I will continue my discussion of the process used to help Susan have more fun and play better golf.

*The numbers of total tracks vary, from client to client, with the number of music tracks that are provided for the creation of the subliminal and the number of scenes needed to accomplish the mental conditioning.

The winner of the drawing for the free Personalized Subliminal CD for this time period is Thomas Elliott.

Thomas has until midnight, Hawaii Time, on Thursday April 4^th to claim the free Personalized Subliminal CD.

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Sierra Center for Peak Perfromance

FROM BRAIN TO MUSCLE WITHOUT ANY TUSSLE
The On-Line E-Newsletter of the Sierra Center for Peak Performance
Volume X, Number 5 May 2006

Welcome to the eighty-ninth issue of the free Newsletter of Applied Sport Psychology.

PLAYING MIND GAMES THAT HELP YOU WIN:
"The Process of Mental Strength Training" Part VI
by Gary A. Beale, Ph.D.

This months newsletter comes to you in the form of a free mp3 download of the first half of first two tracks of a typical personalized mental strength training program. (See the article above) Please click on this link and listen to the track or right click on the link and choose "Save Target as" and download the file to your hard drive as an mp3 file.

After downloading the track and listening to it please send me an email with your comments. Send your emails to me at: gabeale@drrelac.com. Your comments are greatly appreciated.

The winner of the drawing for the free Personalized Subliminal CD for this time period is Tamara Ruthaford.

Tamara has until midnight, Hawaii Time, on Friday June 2nd to claim the free Personalized Subliminal CD.

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In Loving Memory of Newell Hillis Beale

September 13, 1921 - June 14, 2006

Sierra Center for Peak Perfromance

FROM BRAIN TO MUSCLE WITHOUT ANY TUSSLE
The On-Line E-Newsletter of the Sierra Center for Peak Performance
Volume X, Number 7 July 2006

Welcome to the ninety-first issue of the free Newsletter of Applied Sport Psychology.

PLAYING MIND GAMES THAT HELP YOU WIN:
"The Process of Mental Strength Training" Part VII
by Gary A. Beale, Ph.D.

Billy is a successful tournament pool player who is moving into Phase III of his Mental Strength Training. He is attempting to increase his ability to maintain his concentration and focus when playing in distracting environments. Many of the distractions that Billy encounters are man-made. In pool attempting to distract your opponent is called "Sharking". Billy has been using the Concentration Exercises and Drills published in previous editions of this newsletter. In his own polite and diplomatic way he let me know it was time to publish more.

With a special "Thanks" to Billy, this months newsletter offers three new Concentration Exercises that will help you increase your focus and avoid distraction no matter what the cause. Concentration and focus are two of the most important skills needed for success in all sports not just tournament pool. Try them and see how fast your concentration improves.

Select a "Post-it" type self-adhesive note that is large enough to hold a 2-inch black circle. Draw and fill in the circle with black marker, ink or crayon. Place the note with the circle on it on a wall at about what would be your eye level if you were setting in a chair. At least once every day place a chair about five feet from the black circle and try to see nothing but the circle for a sixty second interval. As you gain skill increase the interval to three minuets or longer. ¹
Open a book and count the words in the first paragraph with your eyes only. Do not use your fingers, or anything else, to physically count the words. Count the words again to make sure your count is accurate. Expand your counting in small increments such as a paragraph first then a paragraph and a sentence...then a paragraph and two sentences, etc, until you can count an entire page accurately without using your fingers.²
Open the space between your thumb and index finger as wide as you can. Place your thumb and index finger in the indentations bellow the collarbone on either side of the sternum and gently press in a pulsating rhythm. At the same time place your other hand on your stomach over the naval area and apply gentle, steady pressure for about two minutes. This exercise is thought to increase blood flow to the brain. ³

If you would like to master the skills of unwavering concentration and laser-like focus just email me and I will tell you how.

The winner of the drawing for the free Personalized Subliminal CD for this time period is Aston Rhoden.

Aston has until midnight, Hawaii Time, on Tuesday August 2nd to claim the free Personalized Subliminal CD.

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Sierra Center for Peak Perfromance

FROM BRAIN TO MUSCLE WITHOUT ANY TUSSLE
The On-Line E-Newsletter of the Sierra Center for Peak Performance
Volume X, Number 8 August 2006

Welcome to the ninety-second issue of the free Newsletter of Applied Sport Psychology.

PLAYING MIND GAMES THAT HELP YOU WIN:
"The Process of Mental Strength Training" Part VIII
by Gary A. Beale, Ph.D.

During a four day conference on Applied Sport Psychology that was held on the campus of Standford University in 1993 Dr. Keith Henschen, then known as a "performance" psychologist on the faculty of the University of Utah, said "I give homework, because how are you going to develop a skill if you don't practice?"

Dr. Henschen went on to list, what was at that time, the five basic skills he and other sports psychologists taught: relaxation, concentration, imagery, monitoring self-talk and developing a mental routine. "The beauty of these skills is they transfer to all parts of life," he said.

"Concentration is the most important. The demands are different for each sport and position, but I've never seen a sport where concentration wasn't important," Henschen said. "Concentrations is a method to talk to your own body..." read source

Here are a few more concentration exercises for Billy and for you to use to master the most important skill in the process of Mental Strength Training.

Sit or lay down in a darkened, quite room where you can be free of distractions for at least five minutes. Close your eyes, take three deep, belly breaths and begin to count backwards in your mind from one hundred to one. Measure your progress by noting what number you're on when you lose focus, or a thought intrudes or your mind drifts away. Each time a thought intrudes or you lose count begin all over again. When you can count all the way to "1" without losing focus, try to reverse your direction immediately and count back towards 100.⁴
Choose an inspiring affirmation, take three deep, belly breaths, smile and begin to repeat the affirmation silently in your mind for five minutes or more. As your concentration skill improve with practice, try to work your way up to ten minutes of uninterrupted concentration.⁵
Staying well hydrated by drinking enough water to make your urine clear is a concentration exercise that benefits both mind and muscle. A well hydrated body can more easily and efficiently transport the materials brain and muscles cells need to work at their best. Good hydration also facilitates the process of removing the byproducts given off as they work.⁶

If you would like to master the most important skills of unwavering concentration and laser-like focus just email me and I will tell you how.

The winner of the drawing for the free Personalized Subliminal CD for this time period is Kelly Malone.

Kelly has until midnight, Hawaii Time, on Thursday September 14 to claim the free Personalized Subliminal CD.

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Sierra Center for Peak Perfromance

FROM BRAIN TO MUSCLE WITHOUT ANY TUSSLE
The On-Line E-Newsletter of the Sierra Center for Peak Performance
Volume X, Number 9 September 2006

Welcome to the ninety-third issue of the free Newsletter of Applied Sport Psychology.

PLAYING MIND GAMES THAT HELP YOU WIN:
"Does a Lack of Sleep Affect my Performance?"
by Gary A. Beale, Ph.D.

Dr. Keith Henschen has said about the importance of mental strength skills: "Concentration is the most important. The demands are different for each sport and position, but I've never seen a sport where concentration wasn't important," Henschen said. "Concentrations is a method to talk to your own body..." read source.

What is the affect of lack of sleep on an athletes ability to concentrate during competition? I recently received the following questions in an email from a young Bull Riding competitor whom I have written about before. Once again, for reasons of confidentiality I shall refer to him as "John".

"Today I didn't perform well at all, and I have been riding really excellent lately. I haven't had much sleep the last two nights. I didn't plan ahead too well and so last night I drove all night to catch an early flight and basically only got about 3 hours of sleep before I rode tonight. I am not making excuses, but although I felt great, was calm, focused, and positive and had decent self talk, something was missing and I rode like it. I know this might be a dumb question, but does it make it near to impossible to physically perform at peak performance when one has not slept, or was I just not mentally tough enough to tough it out and ride good and pussed out?"

The odd point about my response to John's question is that I was sleep-deprived when I made it! Here is a part of my somewhat garbled response:

"One of the major things that sleep deprivation does is to reduce your ability to concentrate. Yes, not getting enough sleep has a very negative affect on your riding because it tends to lower your ability to concentrate.
NO, it has nothing to do with being tougher. Yes, it has everything to do with knowing that you must do more to achieve the same level of concentration."

What I was trying to say to John is that one of the best strategies for combating a lack of sleep is an increase in the use of relaxation techniques. Although Voluntary Relaxation is not a substitute for sleep it can help overcome the negative affects of sleep deprivation on your ability to concentrate. It won't replace the rest you need but it can help you achieve the concentration that you need to do your best.

If you find yourself in a situation where you lack the sleep you need to perform your best, try increasing your use of relaxation techniques. For example, you should increase your use of deep, belly breathing and Mental Rehearsal/Relaxation audio CDs.

If you would like to be better prepared for those times when you don't get the sleep you need by becoming a master of Voluntary Relaxation just email me and I will tell you how.

The winner of the drawing for the free Personalized Subliminal CD for this time period is Bola Animashaun.

Bola has until midnight, Hawaii Time, on Friday October 6 to claim the free Personalized Subliminal CD.

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Sierra Center for Peak Perfromance

FROM BRAIN TO MUSCLE WITHOUT ANY TUSSLE
The On-Line E-Newsletter of the Sierra Center for Peak Performance
Volume X, Number 10 October 2006

Welcome to the ninety-fourth issue of the free Newsletter of Applied Sport Psychology.

PLAYING MIND GAMES THAT HELP YOU WIN:
"Does a Lack of Sleep Affect my Performance?" Part II
by Gary A. Beale, Ph.D.

What is the affect of lack of sleep on an athlete's ability to concentrate during competition? I recently addressed this problem with a young Bull Riding competitor who I have the good fortune, honor and pleasure to work with. What follows is a continuation of the email exchanges that are a part of my ongoing Mental Strength Training and Consultation with him.

"The CD of images are the best thing I have. After I am done I feel so focused and calm and my energy and motivation greatly increase. I am not talking about a physical energy level I am talking about the energy of my
soul in my solar plexus area. Most important my confidence goes up. Plus my mind slows down and I notice my thoughts occur less often. Last year when I would do them I would do the image just to do it but didn't really
appreciate the process and use the routine in real life. They are such a great tool.

On the plane ride home yesterday I reread half of Charles Garfield's Peak Performance book. In his section on relaxation he talks about creating warmth and heaviness which I can obviously do. Then he talks about creating coolness in the forehead, calming the heart and warmth in the hands. Do I automatically do these other things when I belly breathe and bring on relaxation and heaviness. What is your response to creating coolness in the forehead, a steady heartbeat, and warmth in the hands that Garfield talks about?"

Here is my response:

"Great question!

Garfield's book is now a historical work. It's primary value is that it represents some of the earliest popular, non-academic writing on the subject of what was to become modern Sport Psychology.

The idea of coolness in the forehead was an earlier concept intended to maximize or maintain clear thinking and attention. The concept is now thought not to be relevant.

Warmth in the hands is now associated with lowering blood pressure and a steady heart beat is a natural occurrence 90% of the time when you use the Relaxation Response.

Garfield was using a very, very old (1920's) relaxation technique called Jacobson's Progressive Relaxation. The technique requires you to tense and relax every major muscle set in the body. Very time consuming and not much fun. The technique was ancient at the time Garfield wrote his book. It may have had to do with Garfield not being a psychologist or copyright laws or something legalistic.

Think of your own experience. Do you seem to think less clearly or more slowly if you don't keep your forehead "cool" when doing Mental Rehearsals?

If you're not sure, try keeping your forehead cool and see if it makes a difference."

Wouldn't your efforts to be your best benefit from the kind of one-on-one training that John is receiving? It's very affordable and very effective. Just email me to find out how you can begin to get the assistance you need.

The winner of the drawing for the free Personalized Subliminal CD for this time period is Peter Smith.

Peter has until midnight, Hawaii Time, on Friday October 6 to claim the free Personalized Subliminal CD.

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