How Guided Imagery Can Help Student Athletes

Are you a student athlete that is experiencing stress? If you answered, "yes" then guided imagery can help minimize or eliminate some of the stress your experiencing as an athlete. To help understand how guided imagery can help student athletes, I have interviewed psychotherapist Jesse Johnson.

Tell me a little bit about yourself.
"I am Recruiting Coordinator/Assistant Coach with the Men's Cross Country/Track program at the University of Portland, Portland, OR www.portlandpilots.com . I also work as a counselor in private practice, serving men, couples, and groups. I specialize in supporting healthy masculinity, relationship coaching, and working with performance. I also work in two Portland-based agencies, co-facilitating men's domestic violence offender groups."

What are some stressors that student athletes commonly experience?
"I think most stressors for our student-athletes relate to finding a sense of identity as they transition into adulthood. Specific stressors might involve social acceptance, peer relationships, and academic performance and purpose. Similarly, in the athletic side of their lives, I imagine great stress can come from a need for identity within the team, the athletic department, and the student body at large. Other athletic stressors might be around performance, approval from teammates and coaches, and concern about performing to expectations of family, coaches, and validating their athletic scholarship money . An overarching stressor that seems pretty common is for the student-athlete to find balance in all of the above aspects of their busy daily lives!"

How can guided imagery help student athletes?
"I think guided imagery can be helpful to bring a student-athlete into a more grounded, body-centered place. In the midst of all they have going on, I imagine guided imagery could be relaxing and help them gain focus and energy. Specific to performance, I believe that guided imagery can help athletes manifest the outcomes they desire, by embodying the energy of the process. This 'mental rehearsal' can put them in a relaxed confidence and dissolve some of the more draining anxiety that can interfere with performance potential."

What would a typical guided imagery experience be like for a student athlete?
"Typically, an athlete benefits most by learning to practice guided imagery in the way that suits him/her. Some prefer to be guided by a coach's narration in a team setting, others prefer the quiet space of their own mind, taking themselves through what is to come. Usually an experience involves some form of narrative-either spoken by a coach or teammate, or in their own mind. Another element might be having the athlete actually visualize realistic aspects of the event in question. The important part is to become skilled and grounded in visualizing realistic process-oriented potential-as opposed to day-dreaming about fantasy outcomes. In other words, visualize and embody feeling relaxed in my breathing, smooth in my stride, confident in mind, not necessarily visualizing winning a race or beating certain competitors. Focus on the internal rather than the external."

Where can someone find more information about guided imagery ?
"I would ask your coach or mentor, find a coach or counselor who has experience with it, or look up information on-line."

Thank you Jesse for doing the interview on how guided imagery can help student athletes. For more information on Jesse Johnson or his work you can check out his website on www.vitalcollective.com .

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