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EFT and Sports Performance
A recent article in Cycling Weekly magazine described psychology as "...the final frontier when it comes to sports performance". If that is the case then we are limiting ourselves merely to the foothills when there is a far richer territory to explore. Rather than being the final frontier, traditional psychology is more like a neighbouring county. We have been there, think we know something about it but may not go back.
I believe that the next frontier is in fact 'energy psychology' which has a strong emphasis on utilising emotion effectively. Sports men and women don't really want to do emotion, though it's OK to shed a tear when you're on the podium and the union jack is lifted.
In general sports psychologists try to factor it out as a perceived problem. Hence we hear terms such as "mental strength" and "resilience" referred to in the article. This approach to performance is to treat the rider as a machine. Therefore we also talk of power output, efficiency, fuelling, biomechanics etc. It is thought that as long as get the mechanics right and keep feelings and emotion out of it, success will follow. Who cannot be impressed by Bradley Wiggins on road and track? Sports science and psychology have served him and other British riders well up to now. At the same time we hear about Victoria Pendleton having recurring nightmares about a monster chasing her with 2012 written all over it. That's two year before the actual competition!
Many of the methods used today are little more than laying new topsoil over a bed of weeds. Things may be OK in the short term and give an edge over the competition. However when buried feelings are stored in the body they have a negative effect on physiology and therefore performance. It can also mean that recovery from injury is arrested.
Rather than emotion being factored out because it is seen as a hindrance, the next challenge is how to tap into its power, and energy psychology techniques such as EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) offer this. They go beyond the well documented cognitive approaches such as positive thinking and visualisation.
Once learned a rider can practise the techniques like EFT themselves and apply them to uprooting negative feelings and beliefs, replacing them with ones which nourish the system and lead to optimal performance. People who are willing to explore this particular frontier are likely to find that their gains are more than marginal.
Find out more at EFT Level 1 Workshops or call me on (01926) 856746
Last updated: 19 November 2010