The Power of Mental Rehearsal

To start let me define the difference between imagery and mental rehearsal.  Imagery is a mental process or a mode of thought.  Imagery can be defined as a “symbolic sensory experience”.  It is sometimes referred to as “visualisation”, although this term implies that it only involves using the visual (seeing) sensory mode.  In fact imagery can, and indeed should, incorporate all sensory modes – visual (images), auditory (sounds), kinaesthetic (feelings), olfactory (smells) and gustatory (tastes).

Mental rehearsal, on the other hand, is defined the employment of imagery to mentally practise an act or behaviour.  Thus mental rehearsal is a technique as opposed to merely a mental process.

Mental rehearsal is the process of practising mentally.  For example you could imagine in your mind the specific behaviour that you want to rehearse.  Although this sounds very simple, mental rehearsal is a very powerful method of performance enhancement.

Please be assured that using your imagination to rehearse is not some strange or mystical practice!  It is a very common amongst all manner of people especially athletes.

Having conducted an extensive review of the psychological research into mental rehearsal, I can report two robust conclusions:

1. Mental rehearsal is better than no practise at all
   
2. Mental rehearsal combined with physical practise is more effective than either alone

So how can you apply these powerful conclusions to your life? For a start, I am certainly not advocating that you abandon physical practice!  However, there may be times when it may not be possible for you to practise physically.There is a famous story about an American army officer who was held captive for several years during the Vietnam war.  In order to keep himself occupied he would play a game of golf in his imagination every day.  When he was finally released from captivity, he went to play an actual game of golf for the first time in many years.  He played one of the best games of golf in his life - the many years of mental rehearsal had resulted in a huge improvement in his physical golfing performance!

However, the real power of mental rehearsal is when it is combined with physical practice.  As detailed above, psychological research confirms that, mental rehearsal when combined with physical practice is more effective than either alone.

Another way of considering this is that the person who practices physically and rehearses mentally will have a distinct advantage over the person who only practices physically.

Almost 100% of Olympic athletes surveyed by sports psychologist reported the use of mental rehearsal.  Elite athletes use this technique for one reason and one reason only – it works.  Mental rehearsal is a powerful performance enhancement method.

Until next time, yours for Increasing Life!

Simon Hazeldine
Founder
Increasing Life
Dedicated to Your Health, Wealth, Success, Happiness and Freedom

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