Mental imagery is a mental experience that mimics a real experience.  It’s using your imagination to rehearse and practice plays,  skills,  situations,  and events.

Why & How Imagery Works

• Imagery strengthens the connection between the mind and the body.

• An imagery session simulates neuro-muscular commands and cognitive processes that exist when you experience the situations/skills in real life.

• Imagery allows you to practice dealing with special situations that you do not experience often, but that you have to be prepared for (i.e., imagine a high-pressure championship situation).

• Imagery allows you to practice and mentally reinforce movement patterns. You can become more automatic at well-learned skills, fine-tune newer skills, and create new motor programs (commands) for completely novel skills that you cannot yet perform.

Tips & reminders

• Try to be relaxed at the start of your session: make sure that you can control your imagination.

• Have a clear, concise, and detailed agenda for each session. Plan what you are going to do and when—be detailed so that you are not chaotically making things up as you go. PLAN!

• Be complete and accurate:

• Vividness (involve all the senses)

• Controllability (control and manipulate movements, make corrections)

• Perfect Image (create the image you want to physically be able to perform. Rehearse!)

• Timing (slow-time to real-time)

• Follow-through (do the movement/ routine/ race/ strategy in it’s entirety)

• Perspective (internal vs. external)

• You do not have to be perfect. It is okay to lose concentration or to make mistakes.

• You may want to integrate music, recorded sounds, touch, smells etc. to enhance the realism.

• Your skill, efficiency, and ability to use imagery will improve with practice…like physical skills

• Schedule you sessions ahead of time so that you adhere to the imagery program.

• Do not fatigue yourself by making sessions to long. 5-10 minutes is great (do more if you can)