Free Sport Psychology E-Zine

FROM BRAIN TO MUSCLE WITHOUT ANY TUSSLE
The On-Line E-Newsletter of the Sierra Center for Peak Performance
Volume IX, Number 6 June 2005

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

PLAYING MIND GAMES THAT HELP YOU WIN:
"Three Questions" Part III
by Gary A. Beale, Ph.D.

I recently received the following question in an email from a young rodeo competitor who I have had the great good fortune to work with. For reasons of confidentiality I shall refer to him as "John". John is also a post-secondary student. He is entering Phase II* of his Mental Strength Training. Here is his final of three questions posed by John and my response:

Meditation and hypnosis are two methods that rest on the same psycho-physiological response; the Relaxation Response. I agree with you that meditation could be used to teach a person how to achieve the quiet, thought-free state often associated with peak athletic performance. So could hypnosis. Meditation is the less practical of the two, for your purposes, because it usually requires a setting that seems incompatible with the rodeo environment. Meditation, in most of it's many forms, usually requires a quiet space that is free from distractions and about ten to twenty minutes, or more, of uninterrupted time to achieve the desired state. So does hypnosis.

Hypnosis, however, has an advantage over meditation in that it can also be used to establish a trigger-like relationship between cues in your competitive environment and the induction of the quiet, thought-free state. Through the processes of hypnoses, repetitive visualization and the phenomenon of suggestion you can train yourself to automatically bring on the ideal state at the ideal time. Your current training with Phase I and II incorporate this principal of Imagery Conditioning.

Neither of the two Concentration Drills that you have been introduced to are forms of meditation. Even though Concentration Drill #1, based on the exercise developed by Gauron, may seem to be meditation its primary purpose is to train your concentration and focus skills and not the ability to orchestrate an altered state of consciousness. Both hypnosis and meditation can be said to have as one of their common goals the development of the ability to bring on an alternative state of consciousness.

* Mental Strength Training is made up of many Phases. Phase I is the most basic level and Phase II is the next step up. Over 95% of all enrollees elect to move to Phase II once they have achieved fundamental and successful levels of skill and application in their sport or area of focus such as Day Trading for example.

**Concentration Exercises (Part 1 & Part 2) are often used in Phase I.

Would you like to have the same type of proven-successful, skilled and experienced individual attention that "John" is receiving? Would you like to develop triggers in your competition environment that would help you bring on a state of mind most conducive to performing at your best? Drop me a line and I'll tell you how you can.

The winner of the drawing for the free Personalized Subliminal CD for this time period is Patricia Meinert.

FROM BRAIN TO MUSCLE WITHOUT ANY TUSSLE
The On-Line E-Newsletter of the Sierra Center for Peak Performance
Volume IX, Number 7 July 2005

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

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

Over the last several weeks I have had several inquiries from both clients and subscribers about the process of training that I use. In the interest of greater clarity and understanding I would like to respond to some of these questions in this newsletter.

"Susan" is a new client who elected to have the audio portion of Phase I of her training program delivered as mp3 files over the World Wide Web. As with most new clients selecting the mp3 option she downloaded her CDs as mp3 files from a dedicated page on my web site. After downloading the files and receiving written instructions on the use of the CDs, Susan writes the following:

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

To help you identify which tracks belong together the CD One tracks follow the labeling pattern OneTrack1, OneTrack2, OneTrack3, etc. The CD Two tracks follow the pattern Track1, Track2, Track3 etc. On CD One you should begin with Exercise #1 and repeat each exercise for at least the minimum number of repetitions before moving to the next exercise. Each exercise spans two tracks with the exception of Exercise #7 and #8.

The exploration of the process of training will continue in next month's newsletter.

*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.

Would you like to have the same type of proven-successful, skilled and experienced individual attention that "Susan" is receiving? Would you like to develop triggers in your competition environment that will help you bring on a state of mind most conducive to performing at your best? Drop me a line and I'll tell you how you can.

The winner of the drawing for the free Personalized Subliminal CD for this time period is Manisha Shah.

FROM BRAIN TO MUSCLE WITHOUT ANY TUSSLE
The On-Line E-Newsletter of the Sierra Center for Peak Performance
Volume IX, Number 8 August 2005

Welcome to the eightieth issue of the free Newsletter of Applied Sport Psychology.

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

Over the last several weeks I have had a number of inquiries from both clients and subscribers about how the process of training works. In the interest of greater clarity and understanding I would like to respond to some of those questions in this newsletter.

"Susan" is a new client who elected to have the audio portion of Phase I* of her training program delivered as mp3 files over the World Wide Web. Here is the second part of an edited version of my response to her question regarding the use of her CD One and Two:

Ideally CD One should be used twice a day with one of the sessions at or near your bedtime. CD Two, the subliminal music CD, should be played as often as possible. You do not need to actively listen to the music and you can play the music while you do other things like driving. CD One on the other hand should never be used while driving because it could make you drowsy or even encourage you to fall asleep.

Tracks 1, 3, 5 and 7 on CD One are known as Standard Structured Images and are constructed to teach you the skills of basic sensory recall, through all five of your senses, and increase your ability to bring on deep relaxation. They move in a progression from simple sensory recall, like the taste of salt, through more complex recall such as floating on your back in a pool filled with rose petals.

The more deeply you relax and the more vividly you recall through all five of your senses the more likely you are to accept the suggestions contained in Tracks 2, 4 and 6 of CD One. Tracks 2, 4 and 6 are individualized Performance Visualizations of you taking the actions that will help you reach the goals that you have identified.

The suggestions contained in the Performance Visualizations are also designed, among other things, to help you establish a "trigger" relationship between naturally occurring elements in your performance environment and those feeling states that you associate with performing at your best.

For example, when you completed the Client's Goals & Action Steps Form you indicated that you felt "Focused, Relaxed, In-Control, Happy and Confident" when you were performing at your best. One of your Performance Visualizations therefore states that "...From now on each time you step up to serve you will take three deep, belly breaths and say "EACH TIME I STEP UP TO SERVE I FEEL FOCUSED, RELAXED, CONFIDENT AND IN-CONTROL..." By following the suggestion in real life and in your mental rehearsal you help the association to be formed. The more frequently you do it in your mental rehearsals and in real life the stronger the association.

The exploration of the process of training will continue in next month's newsletter.

If the explanation above makes logical sense to you then you are probably a good candidate for this type of training and you should contact me for a special "End-of-Summer" deal that I would like to offer you. If it does not seem obvious or clear to you please call me toll-free at: 888.625.2743 so that we can discuss it.

The winner of the drawing for the free Personalized Subliminal CD for this time period is Greg Ansett.

Greg has until midnight, Hawaii Time, on August 31 to claim the free Personalized Subliminal CD.

FROM BRAIN TO MUSCLE WITHOUT ANY TUSSLE
The On-Line E-Newsletter of the Sierra Center for Peak Performance
Volume IX, Number 9 September 2005

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

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

This is the third article in a series of articles about the process of Mental Strength Training that is evolving within my virtual private practice. These articles use real clients and real situations to illustrate the basic principles, strategies and practices that continue to develop. It is my sincere hope that you will find them of interest.

"Susan" is a new client who elected to have the audio portion of Phase I* of her training program delivered as mp3 files over the World Wide Web. Like other persons who are being introduced to the concepts, theories and practices of mental training, Susan had a few questions. Here is the third part of an edited version of my response to her question regarding the use of her CD One and Two:

To better understand how the imagination influences behavior it is important to remember that the mind accepts what is vividly imagined as reality. It cannot tell the difference between what is vividly imagined and what is experienced in real life. For example, the more you imagine yourself taking deep belly breaths in response to trigger elements in your competition environment the more likely you are to take deep belly breathes when these cues occur in the real-life situation. The more the triggers, the actions and the feelings you associate with playing at your best occur together in your imagination the more likely they are to occur together in the real-life situation. With frequent repetition the cues and resulting actions and emotions begin to automatically occur together. This method of acquiring new behavior through frequent association is called Associative Learning.

In addition the suggestions within the images ask you to consciously and deliberately take deep, belly breaths when the designated triggers occur in real-life practice or competition. This pairing of the imagined, in the mental rehearsals, and the actions taken in the real-life situation makes the process doubly powerful.

The more you repeat the mental rehearsal and also take the suggested actions in reality the stronger the association. With frequent repetition you begin to experience the emotions and state of mind that you associate with playing at your best much more automatically. You learn to orchestrate them or induce them to occur. In short you learn to get into the Zone, as you define it, on cue.

The exploration of the process of training will continue in next month's newsletter.

If the explanation above makes logical sense to you and you want to learn how to get into the Zone on cue then you are probably a good candidate for this type of training and you should contact me for a special "Fall Kick-Off" deal that I would like to offer you. If it does not seem obvious or clear to you please call me toll-free at: 888.625.2743 so that we can discuss it.

The winner of the drawing for the free Personalized Subliminal CD for this time period is Zeina Nano.

Zeina has until midnight, Hawaii Time, on Monday October 3 to claim the free Personalized Subliminal CD.

FROM BRAIN TO MUSCLE WITHOUT ANY TUSSLE
The On-Line E-Newsletter of the Sierra Center for Peak Performance
Volume IX, Number 10 October 2005

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

PLAYING MIND GAMES THAT HELP YOU WIN:
"A Progress Report from John" Part I
by Gary A. Beale, Ph.D.

In April of this year I introduced you to a young rodeo competitor who I am calling "John". John is working on Phase II* of his Mental Strength and Toughness Training and riding bulls for a living. John's recent email illustrates many aspects of the training process and I would like to share it with you. I will return to the next article in the series, on the typical process of training, after John's email, which has been broken into two parts, has been published.

I have to tell you about a great success I had tonight. Not because I won but the way I acted and the way I controlled my thinking. Let me explain.

I told you I was in XXXXX, XX for a rodeo and that last night I ended up third in the round. This rodeo is two head. Meaning we get on two bulls and the rodeo pays the top in each round and the average. So I was sitting good after winning third in the first round last night. And today I did my mental training and did some positive reading, plus talking** to you was excellent. I feel so focused and confident and energized right now.

We get to the rodeo and it was a muddy mess since it was raining most of the day. In the past that might have bothered me but I just didn't care today. I was just focused on doing the routine that is on my CDs. Physically I was relaxed. Last night my friend told me that the bull I had tonight was just good. He bucked hard enough to win money but was really rider friendly. That would be a good situation because if I rode my second bull then I would be sitting real good in the average.

Then tonight he tells me that wasn't the bull he was thinking of; that the bull I really drew is really rank (bucks hard and doesn't get rode that much), he said you could be 90 points on him. In the past, as soon as I hear that I would start thinking how to ride him, doubt myself, and get a little to a lot anxious.

But tonight, when he told me that, my thought process was the following- "...cool, bring it on!". My confidence level rose and I just kept doing my breathing and thinking how much fun this is going to be. I had about two minutes of negative thinking and I could feel it. If that would have continued my results would probably have been different. But as soon as my positive self-talk came back my winning feelings did too.

Part II of John's email will be published in the November issue of this newsletter.

**Telephone Consultation and Coaching encouraged and is free for a limited time with both the Professional and World-Class Level of Training.

If you would like to make the type of progress that John is making and you want to learn how to get into the Zone on cue then you are probably a good candidate for the type of training that John is undergoing. You should contact me for a special "Fall Kick-Off" deal that I would like to offer you. If the progress John is making does not seem obvious or clear to you please call me toll-free at: 888.625.2743 so that we can discuss it.

The winner of the drawing for the free Personalized Subliminal CD for this time period is Glen Kang.

Glen has until midnight, Hawaii Time, on Wednesday October 26 to claim the free Personalized Subliminal CD.

SPECIAL NOTE: I am actively seeking referrals and anyone interested in receiving training services in exchange for the referral of other athletes, or interested persons, should contact me as soon as possible.

FROM BRAIN TO MUSCLE WITHOUT ANY TUSSLE
The On-Line E-Newsletter of the Sierra Center for Peak Performance
Volume IX, Number 11 November 2005

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

PLAYING MIND GAMES THAT HELP YOU WIN:
"A Progress Report from John" Part II
by Gary A. Beale, Ph.D.

So I kept from thinking and analyzing (which is getting easier to do) and kept belly breathing; thinking of some past great rides and some hard work in preparation I have put in. Fast forward to bullriding time, I was close to last because stock contractors usually save their best bulls for the end of the show.

I had a super high confidence level even after about four people told me how good this bull was, and compared to me in the same situation 30 days ago, I was a totally different person. Since it was wet out my rope pulled hard so I needed a couple guys to help, then the contractor started being a d----head and getting mouthy with me. He was complaining about me pulling too tight a rope and then about taking too long. That has bothered me in the past. But tonight as I was taking my wrap I was thinking (bleep) you, wait till I ride the crap out of your bull and make him look stupid. Then I got back to breathing.

The bull cranked it hard to the left, then was bucking hard down the chutes, then had a fast corner to the right and spun right for a while. He was rank but it was so easy. I rode the dog out of him and got off a couple seconds after the whistle. I was 87 points and somebody told me I could have been some more. The coolest thing about this I wasn't "trying" to ride, it's just happening yet I am probably hustling and trying harder than ever, just in a good way and it feels good. Trying while not "consciously trying" is hard to explain, but you know what I mean.

I am not telling you this so much because I am winning the round and the average, but because of the way I controlled my mind and stayed physically relaxed in the situation tonight. There is no better feeling that riding
bulls. And the harder they buck the more fun the feeling is. I have talked myself out of riding a lot of bulls in the past, especially in a situation like tonight, but I am going to believe those days are gone because I can ride anything, and now I have learned a process that gets me out of the way and lets the subconscious take over. As I keep perfecting getting into this calm, no thinking state of mind big things are going to happen, just wait. I
am excited.

P.S. I guess I should have called you during August when I was having trouble. I will in the future if I need to.

If you would like to make the type of progress that John is making and you want to learn how to get into the Zone on cue then you are probably a good candidate for the type of training that John is undergoing. You should contact me for a special End-of-Year Holiday deal that I would like to offer you. If the progress John is making does not seem obvious or clear to you please call me toll-free at: 888.625.2743 so that we can discuss it.

The winner of the drawing for the free Personalized Subliminal CD for this time period is Amy Holtz.

Amy has until midnight, Hawaii Time, on Tuesday November 29^th to claim the free Personalized Subliminal CD.

FROM BRAIN TO MUSCLE WITHOUT ANY TUSSLE
The On-Line E-Newsletter of the Sierra Center for Peak Performance
Volume IX, Number 12 December 2005

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

Dear Friends,

As the New Year draws near, I would like to say “Thank You” to all of you who have made the success of this Newsletter, doctorrelax.com and drrelax.com possible over the past seven years.

This Newsletter and I have experienced many changes, challenges, set backs and successes over the past seven years. I believe that none of the successes could have been accomplished without your support. During 2005 the greatest challenge to the continued growth of this enterprise has been the seemingly capricious demotion of the web site drrelax.com from the top ranks in Google. When the people at Google were contacted for an explanation no response was given. I am certain, however, that even this challenge will be overcome in the coming year with your help and continued support.

One of the points that has been reinforced for me over the past seven years is that in this endeavor nothing is more valuable to me than the trust, confidence and participation of my family, friends, subscribers and clients.

Your continued patronage is my most treasured asset. That's why I make this New Year's Resolution to continue to strive to exceed your expectations and by so doing preserve this most precious of blessings. So as I wish you the best in the coming year, I also want you to know how much I appreciate you!

Best wishes for a prosperous and successful New Year in which you will find yourselves:

Even More FOCUSED, More CALM and More CONFIDENT!

The seven winners of the drawing for the free Personalized Subliminal CD for this time period are Kimberly Costello, Tamara Ruthaford, Charles Hodges, Brian Simelane, Hester Pretorious, Laura Emerson and Angelica Bangert.

Kimberly, Tamara, Charles, Brian, Hester, Laura and Angelica have until midnight, Hawaii Time, on Monday January 2^nd to claim the free Personalized Subliminal CD.

FROM BRAIN TO MUSCLE WITHOUT ANY TUSSLE
The On-Line E-Newsletter of the Sierra Center for Peak Performance
Volume X, Number 1 January 2006

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

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

This is the fourth article in a series of articles about the process of Mental Strength Training that is evolving within my virtual private practice. These articles use real clients and real situations to illustrate the basic principles, strategies and practices that continue to develop. It is my sincere hope that you will find them of interest.

"Sukhu" is a new client who is form India and plays basketball at a small college in the Midwest. Sukhu enrolled in Phase I about three months ago. Sukhu has just completed Phase I. Normally when an athletes completes all of the elements of Phase I he or she is asked to complete and submit a Progress Report. The responses Sukhu provided are in bold. (Please note that Sukhu's first language is not English. To accommodate his language needs certain aspects of his training were recorded in his first language.)

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

Are you carefully following the instructions for the use of the CDs? yes

How often have you requested Telephone Coaching? Four times. It was helpful

What image are you working on? (Beach, Mountain Cabin, Garden or Thundershower) Completed required repetitions with all 4 images. Have concentrated on the Garden. just did it once a day for the past 25 days.

Do you listen to your subliminal every day? I had been inconsistent with these during the Christmas break for about a month but have gotten back to it.

How often do you say you affirmations out loud? once a day

How often do you take three deep breaths? 3 to 5 times a day

How often do you use Thought-Stopping? I was not really finding a need to use them lately. maybe 2 times a day now

How often do you practice the Concentration Exercises? haven't done these for the past one month. but have got back to it . I was in a environment at a family's place during the Christmas break where I couldn't really do these.

Are you more able to relax at will now then before you began the program? yes

Have you increased your ability to control negative thoughts and self-talk? yes

Have you increased your ability to concentrate? yes

Do you feel more confident and optimistic when you compete? yes. better than before

How satisfied are you with your progress? I am pretty satisfied. But still need to work on confidence

Do you feel as if the program has helped you so far? If so how? eliminate negative thoughts. be optimistic. forget about the bad past experiences.
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"hi dr beale I am having some problems actually the
skills I learn like offensive moves. I am not able to
apply them in the game. and in the game when I get the
ball I hurry too much.
and if I make a single mistake I sit out on the bench
the whole game. and that really discourages me. like
yesterdays game I just like 4 or 5 minutes"

After a Telephone Consultation session with Sukhu I began to suspect that his Self-Talk might be at the root of the challenges he had identified in his last email. To help him become more aware of the nature of his Self-Talk, and to produce a record that I could easily review and evaluate, I asked him to begin to complete and submit the On-Line Basketball Self-Talk Log . His responses and my recommendations will be included in the February edition of the Newsletter.

In an effort to increase the number of quality web sites that link back to drrelax.com I am offering subscribers the opportunity to earn free CDs by helping to establish reciprocal links with quality sports sites. It's easy and takes very little time.

If you would like to enroll in a Training Program in exchange for establishing reciprocal links or if you would like to help in the effort please contact me at: LinkExchange@drrelax.com or call me at: 808.261.1833. Your help and involvement will be greatly appreciated.

The winner of the drawing for the free Personalized Subliminal CD for this time period is George Aryee.

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

"It showed that all the hard work and all the sacrifice paid off," he said. "Kids in general, if you put your mind to it and you believe it, you can achieve it.