All-Star Sports Hypnosis For Mental Blocks

[NCMom]

wow this is really interesting. I may seriously look into those cds. My cp is actually getting really down about her block. She knows she has it, very aware, its odd really. When she is not in the gym she says I am just going to do it, when I go back I am going to throw it. I know I can do it and I dont know why I am scared of it. But then she never does, she goes back to having to have a coach near her. Not a spot but near her. The coach can be standing, sitting, even LAYING on the floor. Far enough away they cant even reach her is fine but if they are across the gym...nope. Very strange stuff huh

 

[njallday]

wow this is really interesting. I may seriously look into those cds. My cp is actually getting really down about her block. She knows she has it, very aware, its odd really. When she is not in the gym she says I am just going to do it, when I go back I am going to throw it. I know I can do it and I dont know why I am scared of it. But then she never does, she goes back to having to have a coach near her. Not a spot but near her. The coach can be standing, sitting, even LAYING on the floor. Far enough away they cant even reach her is fine but if they are across the gym...nope. Very strange stuff huh

don't know how old your CP is, but I also recommend reading "Mind Gym" to anyone with a mental block. My senior team was required to read it at the beginning of the season and it helped quite a bit.

 

[NCMom]

don't know how old your CP is, but I also recommend reading "Mind Gym" to anyone with a mental block. My senior team was required to read it at the beginning of the season and it helped quite a bit.

she is getting ready to turn 13. I will look into that too. I am sure she will be up for it. I mean she was asking about hypnosis. This has to be a better first option.

 

[katstat1]

wow this is really interesting. I may seriously look into those cds. My cp is actually getting really down about her block. She knows she has it, very aware, its odd really. When she is not in the gym she says I am just going to do it, when I go back I am going to throw it. I know I can do it and I dont know why I am scared of it. But then she never does, she goes back to having to have a coach near her. Not a spot but near her. The coach can be standing, sitting, even LAYING on the floor. Far enough away they cant even reach her is fine but if they are across the gym...nope. Very strange stuff huh

My CP is going through this right now too! Has to have someone standing there to throw her full, but they aren't anywhere near her to really spot her. She will also do it if there is a blue mat on the floor, doesn't have to land on it, will do it next to it or in front of it. She has progressed a little in that she will do it on our smaller spring floor just used for tumbling, but the big cheer floor, needs someone standing there. If you find a solution for it, please let me know!

 

[NCMom]

My CP is going through this right now too! Has to have someone standing there to throw her full, but they aren't anywhere near her to really spot her. She will also do it if there is a blue mat on the floor, doesn't have to land on it, will do it next to it or in front of it. She has progressed a little in that she will do it on our smaller spring floor just used for tumbling, but the big cheer floor, needs someone standing there. If you find a solution for it, please let me know!

I will let you know if I find anything that helps. My cp is getting pretty desperate.

 

[wcdad]

I know JJ from no limits use to do this.

 

[AlisaSrBlack]

wow this is really interesting. I may seriously look into those cds. My cp is actually getting really down about her block. She knows she has it, very aware, its odd really. When she is not in the gym she says I am just going to do it, when I go back I am going to throw it. I know I can do it and I dont know why I am scared of it. But then she never does, she goes back to having to have a coach near her. Not a spot but near her. The coach can be standing, sitting, even LAYING on the floor. Far enough away they cant even reach her is fine but if they are across the gym...nope. Very strange stuff huh

I know exactly how she feels. I have been going through this for YEARS. It is very hard to explain to someone who has never gone through it. When I was younger, everyone would alway ask me why I couldnt just throw it, and I would just say "I don't know." To me, I know my body can do it with muscle memory, but it is like my mind forgets how to do it. So when I think about too much, that's when I get afraid. It is a really weird feeling as someone with a mental block.

 

[Deleted member 11300]

When my CP was 10, she went from a full to not being able to do a BHS practically overnight. She would get back up to the full and boom...here we go again. Her tumbling trainer suggested hypnosis with a sports psych. The coach wrote down in detail how a Ro/BHS/Full was performed. The Sports Psych hypnotized my Cp and read it out loud several times. She also told my CP everytime she had her cheer shoes on, she would be able to tumble. I know for a fact my CP was under. When we got into the car, she said it was creepy and she never wanted to go back. It didn't help. Neither did the screaming, crying, bribing, or drinking (me). It took time and she eventually got everything back. But she had to do it on her own terms. It took 3 year. We even quit for a while and tried other things. My advice to any parent is to keep your mouth shut and let them work thru it themselves. It took me a while to figure that out.

 

[cheerheart4life]

wow this is really interesting. I may seriously look into those cds. My cp is actually getting really down about her block. She knows she has it, very aware, its odd really. When she is not in the gym she says I am just going to do it, when I go back I am going to throw it. I know I can do it and I dont know why I am scared of it. But then she never does, she goes back to having to have a coach near her. Not a spot but near her. The coach can be standing, sitting, even LAYING on the floor. Far enough away they cant even reach her is fine but if they are across the gym...nope. Very strange stuff huh

Holy crap that's me

 

[AllstarObsession]

Im working with an athlete with a mental block now. She has some good days and some bad days, and usually when she cries, I cry when I go home. I dealt with a mental block for a LONG LONG time, and I still do on occasion. I hate watching someone else go through it and I hate watching her get discouraged.

I agree, its not something you can understand until you feel it and how frustrating it is. Which is why I think this girl works well with me, because I understand that she literally cant make herself throw it. No matter how much you want to, no matter how sure you are all the way through your run, roundoff, backhandspring, etc, when you are blocking it doesnt happen.

It's a truly aggravating and discouraging feeling.

 

[Sfarrrrr]

When I was young I had a massive mental block and feared backwards tumbling. I tried everything to over come the fear but nothing worked. My mom and I were supper desperate, so we tried hypnosis. It was a lot of work! The lady doing the hypnosis attempted to put me in complete relaxation (and I was a restless 10 year old) and wanted me to visualize backwards tumbling. After the initial hypnosis she wanted me to listen to the tape of the hypnosis every night and try to fall asleep to it. Well unfortunately hypnosis did not help me, but I also didn't follow out the whole process.

 

[NCMom]

It really makes me sad that my cp is getting so discouraged. Right now we are just doing lots of privates and hoping one day she is like oh wow I just did it lol

 

[srt418]

He had me visualize all of the skills I had a block on. He had recorded it on tape and I was supposed to listen to it every day and I never did so it didn't really stick. I still have a mental block, but when I did the hypnosis years ago, it did work.

What you are describing sounds like psychological skills training. Many sports psychologists currently use this to enhance performance in all athletes. Its' core ideas involve mental imagery training, positive self-talk, relaxation techniques, etc. It has been shown to improve performance in non-mental gymnasts, but there are currently no studies on mental athletes.

I'm currently doing a research study on mental blocks with another sports psychologist. If anyone has any information to give me about their specific mental block, how they fixed it, what worked or didn't work, anything would be helpful. Like I said, there are no research studies on mental blocks, so I am going on guesses and experiences.

PM me if anyone wants to give me information they feel would be valuable. :)

 

[Keep_Believing]

Debbie Love has a site For The Love of Tumbling. It has some great advice about mental blocks.