Welcome to the
Woodrow Wilson Middle School
Band Program
The Power of Visualization
Mental practice can get you closer to where you want to be in life, and it can prepare you for success!
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Brain studies now reveal that thoughts produce the same mental instructions as actions. Mental imagery impacts many cognitive processes in the brain: motor control, attention, perception, planning, and memory. So the brain is getting trained for actual performance during visualization.
It’s been found that mental practices can enhance motivation, increase confidence and self-efficacy, improve motor performance, prime your brain for success, and increase states of flow – all relevant to achieving your best life! Just take a look at some of these examples!​
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Guang Yue, an exercise psychologist from Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Ohio, compared people who went to the gym with people who carried out virtual workouts in their heads. He found a 30% muscle increase in the group who went to the gym. However, the group of participants who conducted mental exercises of the weight training increased muscle strength by almost half as much (13.5%)...that's without going to the gym at all!.
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Natan Sharansky was a computer specialist who spent 9 years in prison in the USSR, after being accused of spying for the U.S. While in solitary confinement, he played himself in mental chess, saying: “I might as well use the opportunity to become the world champion!” Remarkably, in 1996, Sharansky beat world champion chess player, Garry Kasparov!
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Begin by establishing a highly specific goal. Imagine the future; you have already achieved your goal. Hold a mental ‘picture’ of it as if it were occurring to you right at that moment. Imagine the scene in as much detail as possible. Engage as many of the five senses as you can in your visualization. Who are you with? Which emotions are you feeling right now? What are you wearing? Is there a smell in the air? What do you hear? What is your environment? Sit with a straight spine when you do this. Practice at night or in the morning (just before/after sleep). Eliminate any doubts, if they come to you. Repeat this practice often. Combine with meditation or an affirmation (e.g. “I am courageous; I am strong”, or to borrow from Ali, “I am the greatest!”).
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We live in an immense quantum sea of vibrating energy that is responsive to how and what we think. Our thoughts are creative forces and are constantly expressing themselves in our lives. Once we realize this, we can begin designing our lives with clarity and purpose.
So how can we use this reality in our lives? By focusing daily on what you desire. The Mind Power system consists of easily learned techniques that help you focus and direct your thoughts, and the first technique you’ll learn is visualization.
What is visualization?
Visualization is simply a mental rehearsal. You create images in your mind of having or doing whatever it is that you want. You then repeat these images over and over again, daily for about five minutes a day. In your five-minute practice, use your imagination to see yourself being successful in whatever goal you may have.
What you focus on, you attract.
The key to visualizing is to always visualize that you already have what you desire. This is a mental trick. Rather than hoping you will achieve it, or building confidence that one day it will happen, live and feel it as if it is happening to you now. On one level you know this is just a mental trick, but the subconscious mind cannot distinguish between what is real and what is imagined. Your subconscious will act upon the images you create within, whether they reflect your current reality or not.
John Kehoe has taught this skill to millions of people worldwide who have seen results. It’s not magic, and it doesn’t happen overnight, but if you persist in your vision, you will be successful.
Whatever your definition of success is, you can achieve it. You can achieve anything you put your mind to, once you understand Mind Power.
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Taken from Psychology Today
