| The chief weapon in my armoury is relaxation exercises and goal setting. No, my two chief weapons are relaxation, goal setting and positive affirmation (all of which, to a greater or lesser extent) I practice every day. Visualisation I just cannot do. And fear and surprise tend not to be relevant to our sport.
For the relaxation, I have a set piece of music ("Spiegel im spiegel" by Arvo Part) which has a steady rhythm pattern which I use to regulate my breathing. On the line, I can then hum it to myself and quickly settle. The downside is that, if I hear it on the car radio, I start yawning. (This also does truly work at the dentist)
My goals are long-, medium-, and short-term, and a mixture of score and technique related. The biggest ones are actually fitness oriented. In theory, I have control over all of them.
Positive affirmation is perhaps the most difficult. When I have made a bad shot, or burned the soup, my first reaction is "You prat" and to get cross. "I am capable of recovering the situation" should come first, but is very hard when you have thrown the soup on the floor and the cat is lapping it up. But it is possible to find a positive in any situation, and focus on that.
To date, I think the benefits have been in helping me cope with a very poor patch rather than advancing me in great strides.
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If - Kipling
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