PSYCHOLOGICAL SKILLS TRAINING: RELAXATION AND ENERGIZATION

written by Dr. Christine Lottes

Psychological Skills Training series: previous issues

1. TRAINING YOUR ATHLETES TO BE MENTALLY TOUGH
2. MENTAL TRAINING TOOLS
3. GOAL SETTING AND SELF-CONFIDENCE
4. IMAGERY

Athletes use either relaxation or energization to get into their optimal energy zone before practice or competition, and, during practice or competition. Continuing our Psychological Skills Training series in pelinks4u, today's article provides a script for the coach, and, 2 reproducible handouts (one a script for the coach plus a handout for athletes) as we look at how athletes can successfully manage their energy.

Introduction

• Have you ever been so tense or "freaked-out" that it prevented you from performing your best at a key time - like a penalty stroke or a free hit (replace this with an example from your sport)?
• Or, near the end of a competition, did you ever feel like you "ran out of gas," got out-hustled by a fresh opponent, or have you failed to push through the fatigue barrier during a long, grueling practice?
• Relaxation and energization are two mental training tools that can help you to "gear down" if you're too tense, or "ramp it up" if you're too fatigued.
• Sometimes during a competition you need to decrease muscular tension and calm your mind 'to hit the ball, or force an opponent wide as you tackle' (replace this with an example from your sport).
• Sometimes you need to do just the opposite - you need to speed up your heart rate and breathing to get more blood to the muscles, and to speed up your brain activity so that you can push through being tired and continue to play well.

Relaxation

• We're going to learn total relaxation and rapid relaxation.
• Total relaxation you can use when you have more time.
• You can use Rapid relaxation in the middle of practice, during a game when the action isn't around you, or when there is a timeout.
• Total relaxation helps when there are major life crises with family or friends, health or academic problems, recovery from practice or an injury, or improving your sleep.
• Rapid relaxation helps you perform optimally within practice or a game by reducing tension physically and mentally so that you can think and play better, and with more energy and enjoyment.
• We'll start with total relaxation. Your muscles can be relaxed or at various levels of tension. Make a fist- 10- feel the muscle tension, shake out- 1- feel absence of tension. Repeat. Now do a 10… 2… 8… 5… 1…
• For your sport, when might you want higher muscle tension? Lower muscle tension? (Have examples from your sport ready to give to athletes)
• You have four muscle groups: shoulders, arms and hands; head and neck; chest, back and stomach, hips, thighs, calves and feet.
• When practicing energy management you will need to focus on your breathing. Breath from your diaphragm, by inhaling through the nose and filling your lungs. Then slowly exhale through your mouth.
• Yesterday we asked you to think of your favorite place. We are going to do a relaxing activity now combining breathing, muscle relaxation and your favorite place.
• Here's what we're going to do - Breathing: Sitting where you are, focus on your breathing. Breath from your diaphragm, by inhaling through the nose and filling your lungs. Then slowly exhale through your mouth and say the cue word relax.
• Now picture your relaxing place from when we did imagery yesterday. Breath in through nose and out through mouth.

Relaxation Script

Listen to the sound of my voice as I guide you through the process of relaxing yourself. Get into a comfortable position and close your eyes. Begin by doing 6 to 8 deep breaths, breathing in deeply through your nose, feeling your diaphragm and then your chest expand completely, holding the breath briefly, and then exhaling slowly through your mouth. Keep your breathing slow, deep and regular, and take approximately the same amount of time to inhale as you do to exhale. Each breath allows you to exhale tension and anxiety and to take in soothing, refreshing oxygen. Concentrate on this simple process now. Allow yourself to totally let go of all tension and sink down deeper into your chair (or bed) as you become more deeply and completely relaxed.

Focus your attention on the muscles on your head and neck. Command these muscles to relax and feel them begin to respond. Feel the tension draining out as each individual muscle fiber loosen up, smoothes out, unwinds, and relaxes deeply and completely. Each breath takes you deeper and deeper into relaxation, as your facial and neck muscles let go and unwind. Concentrate on using your breathing to fuel relaxation, as you exhale tension and anxiety and breath in soothing, invigorating oxygen. Focus on your breathing, and allow it to help the muscles of your face and neck to go down, down, down, deeper and deeper into relaxation.

Be aware of how the relaxation feels, and contrast it to the tension you experienced in these muscles before. Use imagery to further enhance the effectiveness of the technique. You might imagine your tension falling gradually, like dried leaves, or envision a little person with a broom sweeping the tension away, or the tension like a yellow liquid draining slowly from the muscles. Feel the muscles of your face and neck gradually let go and get very loose, limp, heavy, and relaxed.

Allow the relaxation you have achieved in your head and neck to begin to spread down your body to your shoulders, then your arms, and finally to your hands. See the tension slowly draining out of these muscles and feel relaxation steadily radiate into your shoulders and down your arms. Imagine these muscles relaxing and feel them respond, allowing more muscle fibers to loosen up, smooth out, unwind, and relax as the tension slowly drains away.

Concentrate on your breathing, with each inhalation bringing in relaxing and soothing oxygen, while each exhalation slowly expels tension and anxiety from your body. Focus on letting go of all remaining tension from your shoulders, arms and hands. Identify these feelings of relaxation and contrast them to the tension you experienced before. Little by little, slowly and deliberately, more and more muscle fibers relax, bringing you to a deep level of relaxation in which all the muscles of your shoulders, arms, and hands feel very loose, limp, heavy, and relaxed.

Continue to breath deeply and regularly, allowing your breathing to deepen your relaxation. Use your breathing to help extend your relaxation down your body to your chest, back, and stomach. Let go of the tension in these muscle groups, imagining the muscles relaxing and feeling them respond. Feel your breathing help each muscle fiber loosen up, smooth out, unwind, and relax. See the tension slowly draining out of these muscles, and feel relaxation steadily spreading into your chest, back, and stomach.

Concentrate on your breathing, allowing yourself to inhale soothing, refreshing oxygen and exhale tension and anxiety. Focus on letting go all remaining tension from your chest, back and stomach. Recognize these feelings of relaxation and compare them to the tension you experienced before. Little by little, slowly and deliberately, more and more muscle fibers relax and unwind, bringing you to a deep level of relaxation where the muscles of your chest, back, and stomach feel loose, limp, heavy, and relaxed. Your entire upper body is now deeply relaxed.

Maintain your slow, deep and regular breathing. Use it to help spread relaxation from your upper body to your hips, thighs, calves, and feet. Let go of the tension in these muscle groups, imagining the muscles relaxing and feeling them respond. Use your breathing to help each muscle fiber loosen up, smooth out, unwind, and relax. See the tension slowly draining out of your lower body. Feel the relaxation move steadily into your hips, thighs, calves, and feet.

Concentrate on your breathing, inhaling refreshing oxygen to promote relaxation and feelings of relaxation and contrast them to the tension you felt in these muscles before. Little by little, slowly and deliberately, more and more muscle fibers relax and unwind, bringing you to a deep level of relaxation where the muscles of your lower body feel loose, limp, heavy, and relaxed.

Each time you exhale say the word _______ to yourself while focusing on your breathing and what it feels like to be deeply relaxed. If any stray thoughts, worries or concerns come to mind just let them go and allow them to float out of your mind as you continue to focus on your breathing and the feeling of deep relaxation throughout your body. Focus on those feelings of relaxation, and contrast them to the tension you felt before so that you can diagnose and release even minute levels of tension as needed. Continue to take slow, deep, and regular breaths, and each time you exhale say that cue word to yourself.

I'm now going to count backward from 4 to 1. 4- begin to move your legs and feet. 3- move your arms and hands. 2- roll your head and neck. 1- open your eyes. Your body is very relaxed as if you've just awoken from a refreshing nap. Your mind is calm and relaxed but alert and focused.

• Do this each evening when you go to bed.
• In a couple of weeks we'll do Rapid Relaxation, although you're welcome to try it on your own during a break in practice.
• Breath, relax muscles and say cue word after every exhalation if feel too tense for what you need to do.

Energization

• Energization is the opposite of relaxation and involves activation of the body for optimal performance.
• It allows you to speed up your heart rate and respiration, stimulate greater blood flow to muscles, and enhance brain activity so that you get more out of practice when low energy can reduce concentration and motivation. It allows you to draw on your energy reserves late in the game when you are dragging.
• We're going to learn total energization and rapid energization.
• Total energization you can use when you have more time.
• You can use Rapid energization in the middle of practice, during a game when the ball is on the other end of the field, or when there is a timeout (replace this with an example from your sport).
• Total energization helps when there are major life crises with family or friends, health or academic problems, recovery from practice or an injury, or improving your sleep.
• Rapid energization helps you perform optimally within practice or a competition.
• First is psych-up breathing - take 3 quick, shallow breathes to get as much oxygen to the muscles as possible.
• Add to that a cue word like "energize" after every 3rd breath.
• Put that together with an imagery scenario.
• Read scenario:

Imagery Energization Script

Listen to the sound of my voice as I guide you through the process of energizing yourself. Get into a comfortable position and close your eyes. Start with several deep breaths, breathing in deeply through your nose, feeling your diaphragm expand under your belly button, then expanding your chest completely, holding your breath briefly, and exhaling slowly through your mouth. Each breath brings in invigorating and rejuvenation oxygen and expels tension and stress. Imagine yourself walking forward and feeling more and more energized. Feel more strength, power, stamina and energy as you walk, very smoothly and very effortlessly, until you finally reach a point where you feel as energized as you want to be.

Imagine yourself at the bottom of a long staircase in a large house. Reach out and grab the polished wood banister under your hand and begin slowly climbing the staircase, smoothly and effortlessly. With each step, you become more and more energized. Feel more strength, power, stamina, and energy as you ascend, very smoothly and very effortlessly, until you reach a point where you feel as energized as you want to be.

Open a door where you see a large-screen TV that is replaying many of your successful practice and competitive field hockey performances. Watch the TV as you play with high energy. Feel the strength and power and stamina and energy in your legs and back and stomach and shoulders and arms. Your muscles are tingling with strength and powers and stamina and energy. Your breathing is quick and powerful and invigorates and rejuvenates your muscles, even if they are tired, sore, or injured. Each breath rejuvenates the reservoir of power and strength and energy within you. Your mind feels keen and sharp and ready to learn. You're psyched, focused and confident. You're not concerned about problems, roadblocks or obstacles because they'll get worked out. Your mind and body are ready to perform at your best.

Take 3 quick breaths breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth, and then repeat the word "energized." Repeat. This process allows you to pair the feelings of energization in your mind and body with the word "energized" so that you can use the word "energized" to trigger rapid energization when you need it at practice or during a game.

Now go out of the door and walk slowly down the stairs. As you do that, you become more relaxed where you are still energized, focused, and confident and ready to go out and accomplish any goal, solve any problem, and overcome any obstacle.

Each person pick and write in the blank their cue word:
My cue word for relaxing: __________________ (ex. relaxed, calm, peaceful, chill)

My cue word for energizing: __________________ (ex. energized, push, strong, powerful)

Summary

• Relaxation means decreasing unwanted muscular tension and calming the mind.
• Total relaxation is a longer strategy that helps athletes relax completely, while rapid relaxation is an abbreviated technique that uses a cue word to relax quickly.
• Total relaxation alleviates ongoing stress, promotes recovery from workouts and injuries, enhances sleep quality and develops rapid relaxation skills.
• Rapid relaxation reduces tension, controls becoming too psyched up, breaks the stress spiral, conserves energy and increases enjoyment of field hockey. It can be done in 3-5 seconds.
• Relaxation includes deep breathing, imagery relaxation, muscle relaxation and cue words.
• Energization helps athletes control arousal, enhance concentration and elevate confidence, particularly when they are tired, encountering adversity, or dealing with low energy levels.
• Energization includes psych-up breathing, imagery energization, muscle activation and cue words.
• The cued words is associated with feelings of high energy, and in rapid energization it can occur in 3-5 seconds.
• Next time we'll share about the action we took in the area of concern we had from our first session.

Relaxation

• Practice total relaxation with the team once a week after practice (facilitates cool-down and recovery from the workout).
• After a few weeks, practice rapid relaxation with cue word during practice 2-3 times a week. Have athletes take one or two deep breaths and repeat their cue word silently each time they exhale.

Energization

• Do once or twice a week before practice for several weeks with the team.
• Do during practice when energy levels are low. Have athletes breath rapidly and say their cue word after every 3 breaths.

Energy Management: Athletes use either relaxation or energization to get into their optimal energy zone before practice or competition, and during practice or competition.

Upcoming March article on Mental Training
In the March edition of pelinks4u we will be discussing self-talk skills. Self-talk is the steady stream of thoughts and internal dialogue that goes on in our heads almost constantly. Thoughts have a major impact on mood, emotion and performance. A script for the coach and a reproducible handout for athletes will be provided.

Coaches: Download this Article Here!

Download Athletes Handout Here!

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