Here are just a few things you can address using hypnosis:

• Overcome fear of re-injury
• Keep the pressure for high-level performing
• Accelerate athletic performance
• Focus on success and improve confidence
• Release mental blocks, fears and limiting beliefs
• Remain calm, focused and relaxed during competition
• Increase your consistency
• Learn to manage emotional reactions that just set you up for poor performance

Some well-known athletes who have used hypnosis for sports improvement:

• Jimmy Connors
  
• Kobe Bryant
  
• Nolan Ryan
  
• David Beckham
• Kristi Yamaguchi 
• Jack Nicklaus

As Tiger Woods can attest, imagery (or visualization) is an effective self-hypnosis technique which can help athletes perform better. A gymnast may visualize herself going through every movement of her routine over and over in her mind. A basketball player may visualize himself making a perfect free throw shot hundreds of times. By using imagery or visualization, these athletes are conditioning their minds and their bodies to carry out the movements in reality just as they have performed them hundreds of times in their minds. Mary Lou Retton reported used visualization to help win the gold medal in gymnastics at the 1984 Olympics.  

Athletes will often use imagery and visualization just before their event to achieve their desired goal. By closing their eyes and focusing on achieving their goal, they can improve their performance. Once they have pictured it in their mind they then proceed to do it. Utilizing this technique is especially beneficial when the sport requires a brief burst of energy.  

Tiger Woods is an excellent example of an incredible athlete who has used hypnosis to achieve a phenomenal level of success in golf. He has reportedly been utilizing powerful self-hypnosis techniques since his early teens. Not only has he used it to visualize every swing and stroke in his mind before carefully executing it on the course, he also uses it to “get in the zone”.  Self-hypnosis methods have helped him, like many successful athletes, quiet his mind, release any anxiety, and become 100% focused as he plays the game. Such laser focus can be especially important in a game like golf where onlookers and other things can be very distracting. Tiger Woods has clearly shown how powerful hypnosis can be to conquer his mind and achieve extremely high levels of success.