The Super Mental Training Book (55 page)

Subliminal Audio Sports Tapes

It was only a matter of time before subliminal messages, an idea dating from the 1950s, would be adapted for sports applications. "Subliminal" means "being perceived below the threshold of consciousness", and nowadays athletes can supposedly program their subconscious without having to go into trance states or engaging in deep relaxation; subliminal audio sports tapes are said to make this possible. Though subliminal means not consciously perceivable, there are several companies who, however, do wish to be known to the public. [12] Because space does not permit me here to name all these firms, I shall move on to the more important objective of providing you a better idea of what such audio tapes are about. In attempting this I will compare two outwardly similar subliminal tapes. Each tape, though addressing the same sport, differs from the other to a degree. Why this is so we'll soon see.

Psychodynamics Research Institute makes available subliminal audio tapes on Baseball, Bowling, Bodybuilding, Running/Walking, Golf, and Tennis. The messages on the tapes, normally inaudible, are softly spoken, and are masked by either pleasant music or nature sounds (such as the sound of a flowing stream). Despite the inaudibility of the words, Psychodynamics Research Institute (PRI) contends in its catalog that "the subconscious mind picks up impulses from the ear that the conscious mind cannot hear." The messages are also time-compressed, delivered at the rate of 250-300 words per minute. At this speed, says PRI, "the subconscious is most comfortable processing information," though it is a rate "much faster than the conscious mind can function."

In May, 1986 I obtained PRPs Tennis tape to see what it could do for me. I listened to it for four consecutive nights while going to sleep, and found it easy to listen to. Only on one side of the tape could I hear in a couple of places during pauses in the music what sounded like a cross between fast whispering and the wind blowing; I could make out no words, however. On the other side of the tape all I consciously heard was the water rushing and ocean waves breaking on the beach. Two days after listening to the tape for the fourth time I played a set of singles against my old-time opponent, Pete Stokke. Pete and I are even in ability; I had not played tennis in two months, while my opponent had been active. Somehow, despite rustiness in my game, I won the set, 7-5.

For $1 Psychodynamics Research Institute will provide you a script of the tape's message, if you have possessed and presumably listened to the tape for three weeks. PRI claims that the effectiveness of a subliminal message "is diminished when the suggestions are consciously known," and this is why they do not initially include the script with one's order. After my unexpected victory over Pete, I was curious enough to send in my dollar. The script I received for the Tennis tape contained a surprisingly sophisticated message (as far as mental training messages go). Many of the statements can apply to any sport, a representative sample being:

My mind and body will become working partners. I am programming myself for increased strength, coordination, vision, and judgement. Day by day, every muscle in my body is becoming toned. My strength and endurance are steadily increasing.

The statements were of a general nature, and they did not ring a bell to my conscious mind upon my reading them. But, then again, subliminal messages are designed to address and program one's subconscious anyway, not one's conscious. Under the circumstances I believe all an athlete willing to give subliminal sports tapes a try can do is closely monitor his performances and workouts. The amount of improvement, if any, will be the main indicator one should go by in judging the effectiveness of such tapes. In my case the Tennis tape perhaps helped me; it is hard to say.[13] If nothing else, though, the music and nature sounds were conducive to relaxation and the reduction of stress, serving the same beneficial purpose as the Music tapes mentioned in the Tennis chapter.

Mind Communication, Inc. also puts out subliminal audio sports tapes incorporating time-compression techniques, with either music or nature sounds once again serving as the mask. The sports their tapes cover are: Tennis, Golf, Weightlifting, Running, Basketball, Bowling, Football, Skiing, Swimming/Diving, Boxing, Racquetball, and Baseball/Softball. In its catalog Mind Communication opts for full disclosure, i.e., it includes the script contained on each tape. The messages are generally quite short and direct. The Tennis tape, for example, is professed to contain such statements as: "I play the net well," "I pick a spot," "I swing smoothly and powerfully." Mind Communication asserts in its catalog that brief messages "are easily accepted by the subconscious mind," while the use of the word "I" is justified because that is how "the subconscious mind... sees itself: as T " It can be seen that the messages of Mind Communication's tapes differ substantially from the lengthier, more generalized messages submersed on PRI's tapes. Whether this difference is significant can only be determined by the athlete experimenting with the two types of subliminal tapes (I did, and found that one of the two seemed to help me more). Because each individual's personality is unique, some athletes can be expected to derive more benefits from generalized messages, while others will experience greater success from listening to brief, more-to-the-point messages. Still other athletes will likely obtain no benefits at all from any subliminal sports tape. [14]

Assuming subliminal sports tapes are helpful, their big advantage over other mental training approaches is that the athlete can program his subconscious mind without having to learn a mental skill, such as visualization or self-hypnosis; reliance on the services of another in aiding one with his mental preparation would either not be required or greatly lessened, resulting in a substantial saving of money as well.

The major disadvantage of a subliminal audio tape—a disadvantage shared by most other types of mental training tapes—is that the tape's message remains constant, while circumstances and the athlete's needs might change. The tape's message, by not adjusting to the changing needs and circumstances, may prove inapplicable to the situation at hand, and therefore ineffective (see the Baseball chapter for a related discussion of sports hypnosis tapes).

Another drawback to such tapes is that the background music remains the same; and, repeated listening to the same music can, in Kodzhaspirov's words, lead to "early fatigue, poor attention and watchfulness" on the part of the athlete—in short, behavior reflecting boredom (refer to Kodzhaspirov's study in the Recent Developments in Sports Psychology and Mental Training chapter). Both Mind Communication and Psychodynamics Research Institute recognize this pitfall of subliminal tapes; they offer instruments allowing you to play subliminal messages as you listen to continuously changing background music of your choice. Mind Communication's unit, called the Q-System Decoder/Mixer, appears particularly versatile, as it can be hooked up to virtually any source of music (radio, CD player, etc.).

"Beta to Theta" Type Tapes

Dick Sutphen, a hypnotist and prominent New Age movement leader, has developed two useful mental training audio tapes for athletes to consider. These tapes, marketed by Sutphen's company, Valley of the Sun Publishing[15], are:

1) Beta to Theta Tape. This tape is 30 minutes long, and contains clicking sounds. The clicks are rapid at first, but slow down over a five minute period. At the end of five minutes they remain clicking at the new slower rate for the balance of the tape (25 minutes). The initial rapid clicking, contends Sutphen, corresponds to the 850 cycles-per-second brain-wave activity level present during the Beta state of consciousness (normal, waking conscious state; refer to the discussion of

brain waves in the Introduction chapter). As the clicking sounds slow down, so do one's brain waves, because of the mind's predisposition to align itself to the audio input. Soon an Alpha or Theta state of consciousness comes about, meaning, an altered state of consciousness is reached whereby one is highly susceptible to suggestions. At this point the athlete can give himself hypnotic suggestions, which will likely take hold.

Sutphen first discussed this concept in an eye-opening March, 1979 Black Belt magazine article, stating:

Researchers have found that an amplified clicking sound (a metronome, for example) slowing down from 850 to 144 beats per minute over a five-minute period of time will induce an altered state of consciousness in most people. Although their eyes will be open, they will be highly suggestible. Suggestion is at least 20 times more effective in an altered state. [16]

Sutphen, a master karate practitioner as well, went on to report that he had developed a martial arts videotape, demonstrating proper technique, which a class could watch while concurrently listening to a beta-to-theta tape. Holding such a session, he thought, would lead to accelerated learning. "Traditionalists," observed Sutphen, "may reject these ideas, and I can understand their feelings, but we are living in a period of high acceleration. Just because you can achieve a desired result more quickly doesn't make it less valid."[17]

2) Hypnagogic Sound Vibration Tape. This tape also attempts to induce the Theta state of consciousness, employing to that end a variety of sound effects (synthesized music, unusual static sounds, the thumping of a heartbeat). Again, the main function of such a tape is to facilitate the athlete's self-administration of effective hypnotic suggestions or positive visualizations.

Both tapes, unlike subliminal tapes, quite meritoriously allow you to program yourself; and, as has been pointed out before, self-programming is generally more effective than programming given you by another (a coach, sports psychologist, hypnosis tape, etc.).

There is the possibility that Sutphen's use of sound to induce Theta level consciousness is much superior to traditional mental relaxation approaches. As Yogi Wassan, in his classic book, Secrets of the Himalaya Mountain Masters (1927), states:

You cannot relax by willing, or ordering muscles to relax, or by any other kind of mental effort, because the vibratory effect of mind is to tense the muscles through which the mind energy passes.

... But you can relax every muscle by appropriate bodily action —that is, by the use of tones which vibrate the body. . . .You bring the body into relaxation and rhythm through the use of Mantra Yoga, or Chants. . .[18]

It would be no surprise if the rhythm and number of chanted words Yogi Wassan advises one to practice closely correspond to the 144 evenly-spaced beats per minute found on the Theta portion of the Beta to Theta tape. For the Yoga Masters, having performed their art over thousands of years, probably discovered eons ago the principle which Sutphen has recently transformed into a technologically convenient form (a tape).

Out of curiosity I introduced the Beta to Theta tape and Hypnagogic Sound Vibration tape to a few athletes I work with, and not untypically they rendered a split decision as to which tape they preferred. So, should you investigate the matter further, you will probably want to try out both yourself, and see which one you like best. This, of course, is well worth the effort, should either tape assist you in maximizing your full athletic potential.

Other tapes falling in the beta-to-theta category are those offered by the Conscious Living Foundation. Called Holographic Music, these tapes employ interesting musical tones, and attempt

to synchronize and slow down brain-wave activity such that after 25 minutes of listening one achieves a Theta (4 to 8 Hz.) state of deep relaxation. The tapes, I found, permit easy self-programming via visualization or autosuggestion, and, in general, are more pleasant to listen to thanSutphen's.[19]

Mental Training Videotapes

For quite some time videotapes have been used by athletes and coaches to analyze technique, performance, as well as the tendencies of one's opponent. Now, individuals and companies are developing and marketing sports-related mental training videotapes. The company which seems to have expended the most effort in this area is SyberVision Systems, Inc. In their catalog they offer separate mental training videotapes for such sports as: Tennis, Baseball, Golf, Cross-Country Skiing, Downhill Skiing, Bowling, Racquetball, and Self-defense (martial arts). Four audio tapes, plus an instruction booklet, usually supplement each videotape; also, a book, Muscle Memory Programming for Every Sport (1981) by Steven DeVore and Greggory DeVore, which details and describes the benefits of the SyberVision program, is often included with orders. [20]

In our Amateur Athletes chapter we noted the recommendation of Loudis et al to watch your sports model on television, keeping the sound turned off, and you were to relax while doing this— the purpose of this exercise being to ingrain proper athletic movements and technique into your subconscious. We observed, however, that one's sports model does not appear on TV that frequently, and really it would be best to possess a VCR to videotape the desired athlete in action so one could view the correctly performed skills at any convenient time. What SyberVision has done is: 1) overcome all the impediments (editing difficulties, etc.) one would encounter in creating his own sports model videotape; 2) make videotapes based on the scientific findings of Dr. Karl Pribram, Head of Stanford University's Neuropsychology Research Laboratory. Dr. Pribram, the SyberVision catalog tells us, discovered that "the brain follows the properties of a mathematical equation—the Fourier Transform—which enables images to be transformed into skills and behavior."

What are SyberVision's videotapes like? I obtained the one on Tennis, which features Stan Smith, former Wimbledon and U.S. Open champion; Stan was chosen for the videotape because he is considered to possess a classic and pure tennis style, and therefore can serve as a sports model for tennis players. In viewing the tape one sees Smith hitting various tennis strokes—the serve, forehand, backhand, forehand volley, backhand return of serve, overhead smash, and so on. Each stroke is repeated approximately 90 times in succession, though to forestall monotony the shot is shown from different perspectives, with slow motion sequences also interspersed. To amplify, the stroke is first shown from a front-on angle, and is performed 15 times; then, the same stroke is shown from the side (again hit 15 times in succession); the shot is coupled with the sound of Smith moving into position and hitting the ball. The side angle is next repeated many times in slow motion, while pleasant music is softly played. After the slow motion sequence, a computerized white dot person, superimposed against a blue background, executes the stroke. Then, the sequences showing Smith hitting the same shot 15 times in succession are repeated in reverse order. Following this appears the next type of stroke, which is presented in the same manner. The instruction booklet accompanying the videotape suggests three possible ways to watch the shots Smith hits. These ways range from casual observation to employing a visualization-like approach, called "Advanced NeuroMuscular Training" by the SyberVision people, to more deeply internalize the movements. [21]