Visualization is Mental Rehearsal

Take a cue from Olympic athletes

Photo by Oleksandr Pyrohov on Pixabay

Some people may think that visualizing yourself achieving a goal is akin to wishful thinking. It may be hard to believe that just envisioning a scenario can make it more likely to happen, but visualization is effective because it’s mental rehearsal — it prepares you psychologically and neurologically for your desired goal. That’s why elite athletes use it to train for the Olympics.

During the recent Winter Olympics, when Alysa Liu and Eileen Gu were asked what they were going to do at night after winning an Olympic medal, they did not plan to party, but rather planned to visualize their routines for their next competition. That was their idea of a good time — mentally preparing to win their next competition, which they did.

When athletes imagine themselves performing a move, it not only helps the brain prepare for the moves, it affects the muscles. The brain sends electrical signals to the muscles, just below the level they would if they were executing the move in real life. It’s training for the body and the mind, and many athletes use it.

Michael Phelps not only mentally rehearsed his perfect performance, he also imagined how he’d deal with worst case scenarios. That paid off when his goggles filled with water right after his dive during the 200m butterfly final at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He had already rehearsed what he would do in that scenario. Despite swimming blind for 175 meters of the race, Phelps counted his strokes, won the gold medal and even broke his own world record by .06 seconds.

In a Forbes interview, Phelps shared how visualization has been an integral part of his journey. “I was taught at a young age just to visualize. So for me, it was visualizing a race — how I wanted it to go, how I didn’t want it to go and how it could go,” he said. “So when my googles filled up with water, I was relaxed because I reverted back to what I did in training.”

The power these Olympic champions have tapped into is available to us all. When you imagine yourself doing something, your brain activates many of the same neural pathways as if you were doing it. Visualization builds a blueprint for your future actions and attitudes. You are neurologically paving the way for better performance.

Visualization can be helpful for career performance and reaching personal goals such as losing weight and getting in shape. Jon Gabriel in his book Visualization for Weight Loss shares how he lost 220 pounds after he visualized every day exactly what his new body would look like. He also got creative and imagined a white light sucking all the extra weight off his body. His inspiring visions helped his actions to align with that new healthier version of himself. Others were shocked at his physical transformation, but he wasn’t, as he already saw in detail exactly what his new body would look like and believed it.

A health benefit of visualization is reduced stress. When you’ve visualized a situation, you’ll be calmer and more confident in handling it, because you’ve rehearsed how to deal with it. Less stress leads to less inflammation, which is good for your body and makes it easier to lose weight.

Whether you want to get in better shape, reach a new personal milestone, or become calmer in stressful situations, here are tips on how to get started with the art of visualization:

1. Visualize yourself achieving your goal. Take in all the sensory details of the experience. Imagine the scenario with as much detail as possible, using your five senses — sight, sound, scent, touch and even taste — to help the vision be as realistic to your brain as possible. Connect with the feelings of accomplishment and satisfaction that come with your achievement.

2. See yourself doing what it takes to achieve that goal. Don’t just visualize the outcome, imagine the journey as well. If you want to get in shape, for example, see yourself making healthy food choices, working out and developing new habits as a part of your new healthier lifestyle.

3. Rehearse how you overcome obstacles. We are bound to face challenges on the way to our achievements. See yourself finding solutions to these problems. When you face them in real life, you’ll be more calm and ready to take on the difficulties that come your way.

4. Use morning or nighttime to visualize. The best time to visualize is when you wake or before you sleep. At these times, our brain is in the theta and alpha modes, which are optimal for mental reprogramming because they bridge the conscious and subconscious minds. Your mind is more relaxed and open to making new neural connections. These modes also enhance the impact of your visualizations.

If you want to visualize during the day, enter these more relaxed states by deep breathing, yoga, journaling, walking in nature, taking a bath, or listening to music before you begin your visualization.

5. Visualize a few times a week– Dr. Alexander Cohen, senior sport psychologist for the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee, recommends his athletes visualize three to five times a week, from 30 seconds to 12 minutes. Take the time to relax and imagine in great detail the version of you that you intend to achieve.

When you practice seeing yourself reach a goal, you reinforce this vision as part of your identity. That activates parts of your brain that helps you use the self-control needed to act to make this vision a reality.

Visualization isn’t daydreaming — it’s rehearsal for the future, for a better you.