Get Your Head In the Game-Part 3

Visualization

  

If You See It You Can Achieve It; If You Can Dream It, You Can Become It
Visualization; imagination, probably one of the most common forms of mental preparation. It's simply just sitting yourself down at place where no distractions can get to you and mentally placing yourself at that situation. The more intense and clear you can visualize it in your head, the more value it can have as a “real” experience.

All sorts of people use this technique, from dancers to athletes. I was first introduced to the use of it my first year of being on Glendale High's Dance Team. I definitely underestimated the effectiveness of this exercise. As important as I knew mental exercises were back then, I kept thinking that the physical practice was far more important. I’ve had many moments where I didn’t expect myself to mess up on a particular part of a routine, especially if I knew I had gotten it down. But sometimes we get so caught up in the adrenaline rush we get too ahead of ourselves, or we get caught up in our heads that we blank out in whatever we’re doing. Both cases have happened to me on stage and during a battle. And for some people, it can be hard on a person’s belief in their ability.

Remember. Breath controls the mind, and the mind controls the body. Not the other way around.

The author of Quantum Fitness, Dr. Denis Waitley says the visualization is the mind being able to implement vivid images of the performance as if they’ve done it before. And when the time comes to actually execute and perform, it would be as if they’re just repeating it.

We all want to be prepared, but often times we’re took focused on practicing the physical aspects of what we’re preparing for. A good amount of performance comes with how mentally ready we are with it. Visualizing what you have to do allows you to react to the situation accordingly without having to think about it; and it can be an extremely effective tool along with hard work and determination. It allows you to prepare your skills without having to over work your body.

Everyone has their own way of mental preparation. In FamBiz, we practice 3 different forms of Visualization: The Safe Spot, The Winning Performance, and The Train Wreck; each exercise preparing the mind for different situations.



The Safe Spot

During the rehearsals and run-throughs where we’re dancing full out, it’s hard to listen or give notes to dancers right away because we’re still trying to catch our breath. Our mind is going as fast as our heart rate.
Just as the title en tales, the safe spot is a place where you take your mind to a place it feels most secure. It's hard to give notes if the dancers aren't relaxed and their minds are in a frenzy.  After a run through, I tell the dancers to go get water to replenish their body and to go to their safe spot so they can replenish their minds. Once they get their mind right, I proceed to give them the notes that are needed.



The Winning Performance
This form of visualization is the most common for a lot of people. You simply sit down and imagine yourself doing the routine. A good friend of mine, Audrey Benson, gave me insight on how to make this even more effective. Along with envisioning the routine the way you want executed, imagine that you are already on stage in full costume. The bright lights shine upon you as the crowd yells. Create a much more vibrant image for yourself to practice in. If you feel pressure or excitement while doing this, good, the more you become accustomed through this feeling in your mind will transfer to when you actually perform. You’ll become better in performing under pressure.

A lot of the time, I find myself moving and practicing with the music which is ok.  But I definitely found it much more of a challenge when I did my best to just run the routine in my head before physically executing it. From there I find areas of the routine where I'm most uncomfortable with. I take that to note and practice it as best I can so the next time I run it in my head, there won't be a gray area. The more you focus on how well you run the routine in your head, the closer you are to executing it the way you want physically.



The Train Wreck

After I let the dancers envision how they want to perform the routine. I have them envision them messing up as worst as possible, to the point where it feels like it would scar them for life. It can be an uncomfortable experience depending on how vivid you make it to be, but I believe once you’ve experienced the feeling of it, you’ll definitely do all you can to make sure you don’t ever feel it again.

Messing up or blanking out on stage is something we all don’t want to experience when we’re performing on stage. The feeling of panic as you try to catch up where you left off can be killer on your performance. Some of us may have experienced it, I sure have. Some people brush it off, but some others take it to heart. I’ve seen some people tear up because of slip up, feeling like the quality of the routine they worked hard for messed up all because of them.

Sayings like “don’t mess up,” and “losing is not an option,” are a few things that are strongly enforced within our society nowadays. It’s made to seem that these areas of thinking shouldn’t even exist. Good or bad performance. Win or lose. The result of either all rests on how well you as an individual have prepared. Focusing on the good outcome is a good thing, but to completely avoid the latter can really take a toll on some people if they’re not ready for it. Messing up, making mistakes is a possibility, but the more you try to avoid the thought, the more you allow the fear of it to grow. The only way to get rid of the fear is to allow your mind to fully engage in the thought of it, no matter how painful. After doing so, let it go. Allowing yourself to accept the fact that there is that possibility of making a mistake or losing can greatly raise your awareness in your execution. 

It All Comes Down To This…

If you’re serious about trying to up your game as a performer then it’s important to know that your mental preparation is just as important as your physical preparation. It’s something that shouldn’t be ignored. If your mind and body aren’t in sync, it may affect your performance. Depending on the dancer, it may or may not be affected too much, but that small percentage still adds up in the long run. It’s the little things that count that prepare you for the great opportunities. How well you prepare can be the result of how you perform. And when it comes down to it, all you can really do is give it your all. In the midst of the backstage craziness and anxiety, doing your best is what you have control over, and if you did, then your job is done.

How do you visualize doing your routines? Let Us Know! Fambiz.fb@gmail.com

Get Your Head In The Game Series:

Part 1, Part 2

References:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FIH/is_1_69/ai_n18608921/

http://www.psychic101.com/Visualization.html

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1083/is_11_79/ai_n15950486/

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Get Your Head in the Game-Part 1

How well-prepared you are mentally determines whether or not you choke.

Sometimes in life we’re not always focused on the task at hand. We find ourselves going on Facebook or Youtube at work or texting while we’re in class. Other times we may just feel frustrated from a past event or stressed from an upcoming deadline. Or maybe we’re just having a bad day. And more often than not, we find it difficult to perform to the best of our abilities. A person may sometimes look and feel great during practice or training, but the confidence will occasionally disappear the minute they feel too much pressure, which can cause them to blank out.

I know I hate it when I can’t fully focus on what has to be done. And there are times where I’m just so stressed that I can’t seem to get back to reality—my mind is wrapped around something other than what I’m supposed to be focused on. I’m sure I’m not the only one that has experienced this at one time or another.

Individually this gets frustrating, but as a group, when no on is on the same page, it gives an additional way for team morale and chemistry to go down. Aggravation is built towards each other, as well as negative energy, which just isn’t needed. Getting in each other’s faces about staying on task just won’t work. You get psyched up only to get psyched down right after.

As dancers, a lot of our energy goes into refining our physical dance skills and preparing for performances. Each performance is an opportunity to display what we do best. We always want our best performance as individuals and as a team. But in order to have it, we need to learn how to relax and clear our minds.  We hardly take any time to develop our minds mentally. Mental development takes practice and repetition, physical development is improved by routine practice. A lot of the time the ratio between the two is unbalanced.

There are a bajillion ways to mentally prepare yourself before you perform, compete, or rehearse. You can just play the music and imagine yourself doing the routine while you slightly run the routine. You can joke around and get your mind off it completely. There are also a few mental exercises that I have learned, practiced, and adapted that have benefited both FamBiz and Teen Groov. And I can say the results I’ve gotten by applying these methods have been much more constructive than I have ever expected. There is a belief that is implemented through these exercises.

“Breath controls the mind and mind controls the body.”

This will be the first of a series sharing techniques that we practice. I would like to say upfront that I am NOT an expert; there are a lot of people who probably have their own techniques that are just as or even more effective. I’m simply sharing what we’ve practiced and have found effective as a part of our preparation.

Slow Down. Breath Deep. Zazen.

A form of seated meditation we’ve adapted from Zen Buddhism. You simply clear your mind and focus on your breath. It is the act of just being, sitting with yourself and with your teammates (if you’re with them) in each others’ presence. We perform Zazen prior to actually doing the physical rehearsing. It’s a great exercise of learning how to control one’s breath. Doing so greatly decreases anxiety. Along with that, we get the chance to clear our minds so we can focus on the rehearsal and everything we are aiming to accomplish during that timeframe. Metaphorically, it is important to come with a empty cup before we fill it back up again.

Close Your Eyes and Imagine – Visualize

The mind is a powerful tool, having the right mindset can be the catalyst of much success. From a relaxed state of mind, visualization is what we use to prepare our minds for the potentially good, bad, and also when we need to rest and take a break. All of these are broken down into three sub-topics: the Winning Vision, the Painful Loss, and the Safe Spot. The more mentally prepared we are, the less likely we’ll freak out in any situation that comes our way.

Zen in Use

One person who really takes these methods to heart is the Zen Master of basketball, Phil Jackson. He had a much more unorthodox approach when it came to coaching the game. Some players may have found his methods a bit… different, but what he was doing was trying to lift the team’s level of consciousness. He was changing the way things were viewed, because the traditional ways of preparing a team weren’t working to his liking.

The morning of Game 7 of the 2010 NBA Finals against their rival, the Boston Celtics, Jackson had the Los Angeles Lakers enter a meditation session before going into reviewing the video of their previous game. The coaching staff of the Lakers mainly focuses on relaxing the players. Through the thousand things going in each individuals head, they manage to center themselves as one. The end result—the 2010 NBA Championship.

Embrace Your Rehearsal Space

Where you practice is like your home, and like they say, home is where the heart is.

Phil Jackson treated the locker room of both the Lakers and the Chicago Bulls as their own sacred holy training ground. He would fill the room with incense and never allow reporters in 30 minutes prior to a game. Wherever you and your crew may practice, it is your own sacred training ground. It is where you guys prepare together and share blood, sweat, and tears for your next performance or event. Any sort of negative or positive energy that is channeled into the space will link your mind with that emotion, leading to you either dreading or looking forward to the next practice. You and your teammates are a band of warriors coming together for a common purpose.

Reminder of Who You Are

Stay true to yourself. Don’t forget why you dance. Are you going on stage to show your best skills to the audience? The common thing we all have as dancers is our passion for it, we all love to do it for different reasons—because it’s fun, because it is a way for you to escape from the daily grind of life, or for your own personal reason. Don’t mind what other people will say during or after you dance, allow yourself to be truly present at that moment.  Allowing such thoughts to get into your head will never permit you to perform to your full potential. Execute each move as if put together, they form the greatest dance ever created. We share who we are when we are out on that stage. Whatever it is, know who you are, do it on purpose.

The next post in this series will dive more into the process of Zazen.


Get Your Head In The Game Series
Part 2, Part 3

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