Understanding the mind’s role in motivation and behavior is one of the most critical elements in physical fitness success. If you struggle with changing habits and behaviors or if you can?t get motivated, then even the best training and nutrition program is worthless.
A fascinating fact about your non-conscious mind is that it’s completely deductive in nature. In other words, it is fully capable of working backwards from the end to the means. You do not need to have the means or the “know how” to achieve a goal at the time you first set the goal, because if you “program” only the outcome (the goal) successfully into your “mental computer,” then your subconscious will take over and help you find the necessary information and means and carry out the actions necessary to reach your desired end.
Many people are familiar with affirmations and goal-setting techniques as ways to give instructions to your subconscious mind. But perhaps the ultimate way to tap into the awesome powers of your mind is to use the technique called visualization. In one respect, affirmation and visualization are one in the same, because when you speak or think an affirmation first, that triggers a mental picture, being as the human brain “thinks” in pictures.
You can use visualization to program goals into your subconscious mind. It’s simple: You close your eyes, and mentally create pictures and run movies of your desired end results. For example, you can imagine your body, in as vivid detail as possible, exactly the way you want it to look. If repeated consistently and emotionally, mental images are accepted by your subconscious as directives to be carried out and this helps with changing habits, behavior and performance.
Although there are some new and creative ways to use visualization which you are about to learn, this is not really a new technique. Visualization has been discussed and written about in the fields of psychology and personal development for ages:
?If you want to reach your goal, you must ’see the reaching’ in your own mind before you actually arrive at your goal.?
- Zig Ziglar
?The use of mental imagery is one of the strongest and most effective strategies for making something happen for you.?
- Dr. Wayne Dyer
?Creative visualization is the technique of using your imagination to create what you want in your life.?
- Shakti Gawain
?Perhaps the most effective method of bringing the subconscious into practical action is through the process of making mental pictures - using the imagination.?
- Claude Bristol
“There is a law in psychology that if you form a picture in your mind of what you would like to be, and you keep and hold that picture there long enough, you will soon become exactly as you have been thinking.”
- William James, 1842-1910, Psychologist and Author
Despite these glowing endorsements and a long track record, it?s hard for some people to get past feeling that this is just a “hokey” self-help technique. However, visualization is an effective and time-tested method for increasing personal achievement that has been used by some of the top athletes in the world for more than three decades.
Here’s a bit of background: The Soviets started to popularize visualization in sports psychology back in the 1970’s, as detailed in Charles Garfield’s landmark book, “Peak Performance.” They dominated in many sports during that period, which validated visualization anecdotally. In the last 10-15 years, there has been some groundbreaking new brain research which has also validated visualization scientifically.
Here’s something that was written by Dr. Richard Restak, a neuroscientist who wrote 12 books about the human brain:
“The process of imagining yourself going through the motions of a complex musical or athletic performance activates brain areas that improve your performance. Brain scans have placed such intuitions on a firm neurological basis. Positron emission tomography (PET) scans reveal that the mental rehearsal of an action activates the prefontal areas of the brain responsible for the formulation of the appropriate motor programs. In practical terms, this means you can benefit from the use of mental imagery.”
So much for visualization being a “cheesy” self-help technique.
Although visualization is widely used today, even people who are familiar with it often don’t realize its versatility and many applications. Arguably the most frequent use of visualization is by athletes (as well as musicians and other performers) as a form of mental rehearsal. Research has shown that “practicing in your mind” is almost as effective as practicing physically, and that doing both - mental and physical practice - is more effective than either one alone.
A common and simple use of visualization in the fitness context is ?goal visualization,? which is simply making mental images of yourself already having achieved your perfect goal weight or with the type of muscularity you desire (i.e., see yourself with the “body of your dreams”). Alternately, you might visualize yourself completing a difficult lift like a squat or bench press. However, visualization does not need to be limited only to mental rehearsal or seeing pictures of your dream body in your mind’s eye. The technique of visualization knows no bounds - because remember, you are working with your imagination.
One creative way you can use mental imagery is called ?process visualization.? It works like this: Once you’ve set your goals, it’s fairly easy to come up with a list of daily habits, behaviors and action steps you’ll need to take to reach your goal. So write the action steps down and visualize them (the whole process, not just the end result). In your mind’s eye, see yourself food shopping and making the right choices, see yourself ordering healthy foods from restaurant menus, visualize yourself saying no to sodas and drinking water instead, and mentally project yourself going to the gym consistently and having killer workouts. Some people literally visualize their entire ?perfect day? as they would want it to unfold. When you do this as vividly, emotionally and in as much detail as you can, you will be neurologically priming your brain to carry out those behaviors.
The newest and least known of all mental imagery techniques is called ?physiology visualization.? An example would be picturing the internal process of burning fat in your body or the seeing the muscle fibers grow larger and larger. Using this technique, could it be possible that you might actually be giving subconscious instructions to your body’s cells, organs and tissues?
Well, consider the work of Dr. Carl Simonton, a physician and cancer researcher who taught his patients (as one part of a comprehensive program), how to visualize what was going on in their bodies, down the level of imagining powerful immune cells devouring the cancer cells. I have to emphasize strongly that I cannot and will not suggest that you materialize a lean and muscular body just by visualizing, any more than I can or will suggest that you can cure cancer with mental imagery (there’s a step in between thought and manifestation - it’s called action - a step that many ‘new agers’ conveniently forget to mention). However, thoughts and mental images are the precursors to action and the fact that a mind-body connection definitely exists makes this an exciting prospect.
Scientists have established the veracity of a mind-body link in many contexts, and not just by the existence of a placebo effect. There?s also more direct evidence as in the way emotional and mental stress can contribute to disease. The mind does affect the body! The mere fact that a branch of science has been devoted to this area is proof that it?s deserving of critical investigation and is not just the domain of infomercial self help gurus. The science is called psycho-neuro-immunology.
With this ?physiology visualization? technique, you could, even as you were in the middle of a workout, imagine the fat burning process taking place, and visualize fat being released from adipose tissue storage (in your abdominal region or elsewhere). You could see the stored fat becoming free fatty acids, entering your bloodstream, being carried to the working muscles and being burned for energy in the mitochondria of the muscle cells. If you’re interested in building muscle, just think about the applications of this technique as well! In fact, I can assure you, many bodybuilders have already used this method instinctively, without anyone ever telling them to do so.
Since we know more about the physiology of fat loss and muscle development today than ever before, you could make your imagery pretty detailed and vivid if you wanted to. My best suggestion is to refer to an anatomy & physiology or exercise science textbook that shows pictures of fat cells (adipocytes), blood vessels, myofibrils (muscle fibers), motor units, sarcomeres, and cell organelles like the mitochondria, so you know what the structures look like. You could also get more details about the processes by looking up lipolysis, hypertrophy, energy production, or beta oxidation of fat. This would allow you to run “mental movies” rather than just visualizing “still snapshots.”
Even if you had no idea what the internal structure and workings of the body were like, you could still use this method. Your body responds to mental imagery even if it isn’t anatomically correct. We know from the field of hypnosis that the subconscious mind responds well to metaphor ? maybe even better than literal suggestions. Facts, figures and logic are the domain of the conscious mind, while emotion and metaphor can slip right past the conscious and into the subconscious. Dr. Simonton often wrote about his young patients who created (metaphorical) mental images of immune system cells as “knights in shining armor”, slaying “the dragon” of cancer cells.
This is important, because as I mentioned earlier, one of your greatest mental powers is imagination. You can visualize anything you want and you can embellish and exaggerate your imagery as much as you want. For example, you could imagine the free fatty acid being burned for energy in the “cellular powerhouse” - the mitochondria - and you could imagine that the mitochondria is literally a furnace… “incinerating” the fat!
I think it?s a pretty cool idea to “see” your fat cells shrinking and visualize your body as a “fat burning furnace.? Even your very identity begins to slowly transform into that of a lean person, as you begin to visualize your body getting leaner and leaner, and you begin to say to yourself, ?I am a fat-burning, muscle-making machine!?
Should you not believe that there’s anything to the physiology visualization technique, that’s ok, because we know as a fact that the subconscious is deductive, so just give it a goal and tell it what you want and it will get you there by automatically altering your attention and behavior. Therefore, we can be confident that physiology visualization will be effective even if only as a subconscious directive about your desired goal. If science someday provides us with more conclusive evidence that visualization actually does cause cellular - physiological changes in the body, well, that’s just all the better.
Tom Venuto is a natural bodybuilder, an NSCA-certified personal trainer, certified strength & conditioning specialist (CSCS), certified master practitioner of NLP and author of the best selling diet e-book, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle. Tom teaches you how to lose fat without drugs or supplements using the little-known secrets of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and turbo-charge your metabolism by visiting http://www.BurnTheFat.com home of Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle and http://www.BurnTheFatInnerCircle.Com the Internet’s premier members-only fat loss support community.
2
Oct
Many panic attack sufferers continue periodic random attacks over time and develop panic disorder. One of the worst effects of panic disorder is the increasing dread over when and where the next panic attack might occur. Dwelling on this possibility often triggers another panic attack. It becomes an endless cycle of fear, dread, and panic.
If you?re suffering from this condition the most important fact to understand is that panic attacks cannot harm you. Period!
It is critical to understand this. Most people, especially those new to panic attacks, start thinking of all the bad things that can happen during the panic attack, thus making it worse.
A panic attack is like a false alarm from our brain to our body. When we are in true danger our body?s fight-or-flight mechanism kicks into action to get us out of harm?s way. When we have a panic attack we experience that same rush of fear & terror and all the physiological sensations that can go along with it, like a racing heart, sweating, tightening of the throat, and light headedness. The difference in a panic attack is that there is no immediate threat present.
If you think you are experiencing panic attacks there are many treatment options available. Panic attacks are a highly treatable disorder. The treatments range from antidepressants and natural herbal remedies to cognitive therapy involving a mental health professional.
2
Oct
Unfortunately, there?s no definite cause of panic attacks after years of study. Panic attacks can strike anywhere and anytime and in any circumstances. You?ll just be sitting there doing nothing and the next thing you?ll feel the world is crumbling on your with your heart beating very fast and you can?t really do anything at all. It?s almost a helpless situation for some as they will have to face the fact that a panic attack is just waiting to happen anytime.
Good thing though that there are lots of panic attacks treatment that have been proven to be effective. There are basically four types of panic attacks treatment, each of them has their own way of healing those suffering from panic attacks.
First of these types of panic attacks treatment is psychotherapy. This type of treatment deals with the way we think of fearfulness of symptoms. These are conducted by licensed therapists as they will give you a series of activities and sessions to dig deep into your personality. The aim is to minimize the fear of some symptoms altogether. The length of therapy varies for each person but when the panic attacks are more recurring, longer therapy is to be expected.
The next type of panic attacks treatment is cognitive-behavioral therapy. Compared to psychotherapy, this type of therapy doesn?t only deal with what you think but it will also cover on what to do when a panic attack happens. Muscle relaxation and breathing exercises are part of the program. One of their aims is also to eliminate that fear of having a heart attack as a common conception of people who is under the panic attack.
Medication is also an option. There are lots of antidepressant pills that you can get over the counter. This type of treatment is quite popular nowadays since people don?t want to attend to so much therapy. However, it should be controlled as these types of medicines usually bring side effects. You can also consider alternate panic attacks treatment. This will not directly address the problem for panic attack but your body will be healthier as you let go of stress ? one of the major causes of panic attacks. Yoga, meditation and relaxation therapy are the known alternate treatments for panic attacks.
These are the treatments that you can consider to avoid panic attacks completely. We may not know what caused it but we know how get that out from our system.
Neil Williamson got news about a drug free treatment of panic attacks and general anxiety. He runs a website about that, and it?s the best place to check this new method.
Visit now: http://panicattack-info.blogspot.com
Do you have panic attacks in your car, your job or in public places? Check some panic attack success stories and learn how the One Move technique helped many people. Think: your next panic attack would only last a few seconds and you would never have to experience another again! Get your Free mini-series here
2
Oct
“When you don’t have your health, what do you have? - Brett Rademacher
It’s sad, but true that most people don’t think much about their health…until they lose it. Think about it for a minute. If you don’t have your health, what do you have left? The pleasure of your existence and the significance of your purpose usually depend on being healthy enough to enjoy your life and do something with it.
I’d like to share with you some more keys to good nutrition and tips to eating healthy that just might help you to live to a ripe old age of 120 years and die healthy.
Here’s an illustration to consider. If I were to offer you $10 million for both of your eyes, would you sell them to me? On the one hand, you could sure use the money to help you achieve your purpose in this life and really enjoy yourself while doing it. On the other hand, you wouldn’t really be able to enjoy yourself that much without the use of your two eyes. You could have your $10 million dollars, build a beautiful house in the Swiss Alps, and yet never have the pleasure of seeing the beauty all around you including the mountains, forests, wildlife, snow, your house and your family. In other words, to lose the use of your eyes would defeat the whole purpose of getting the money.
Now, think of how this illustration relates to your health. If I were a big food manufacturer and restaurant owner, and I were to offer you cheap, great tasting food (including junk food of all kinds, fast food of every type, packaged foods of every variety and taste, canned foods that were highly convenient, sweet foods that were simply delicious loaded with fats, sugars, and carbs, etc.), would you sell your future health to me by buying my food?
You might say, “Well, what do you mean? I don’t have to sell you my future health to eat your food. That’s ridiculous!”
The TRUTH is - every time you eat unhealthy, denatured, packaged, man-made processed foods from the supermarket and from restaurants, you are selling your future health and will some day reap what you have sown into your body - sickness, physical health problems, and illness of all kinds imaginable. Most people just don’t want to hear this, but it’s true nonetheless. “What you sow, you will reap.” This is a natural and spiritual law.
The above illustration reminds me of the story of Jacob and Esau. As you may remember, Esau came in from hunting and was tired and very hungry. Jacob was relaxing and enjoying some good lentil soup he had made. Esau asked his brother if he could have some, and Jacob told him he could IF he would sell him his birthright. Esau then sold Jacob his birthright for the price of a bowl of lentil soup! Can you believe that? Esau gave up all of the inheritance rights and blessings of the first born son, just to satisfy his hunger for some soup.
Now, how does this apply to you and me today? Every day, in every town and city across America, this tragic story is relived by millions of people. Every day people “sell their birthright to health” to the food manufacturers and restaurant owners of America, just in order to satisfy their hunger for something that tastes good to them (junk food, fast food, fattening food, whatever). People are literally trading away their health for ill-health. They are exchanging their future health for present gratification.
I strongly encourage you and admonish you to value your health birthright for what it is - a gift from God for you to enjoy throughout your whole life. Don’t despise your health birthright, as Esau did, and sell it for some unhealthy processed food that will satisfy your stomach only temporarily, but that will eventually rob you of your health and enjoyment of this life.
One last thought. Do you want to end up in a nursing home or a hospital bed dying of some terminal illness when you’re 45, or 55, or 65, unable to enjoy the second half of your life with your family and friends? If you’re not sure, then go visit a hospital ward and a nursing home and meet the people there who are dying prematurely of dreaded illnesses. Ask them what they would give to have their health back and to have another 50 years to enjoy it. Then ask yourself if you want to follow in their footsteps and end up like them wasting half of their lives. Do you really want to die young and die unhealthy, or would you prefer to live long and die healthy when you’re 120?
The choice is yours, and you make it every day. Every time you put something in your body, food or drink, you are making the choice for a healthy future or an unhealthy premature death by illness. It’s your choice: health or ill-health, based upon healthy eating habits or unhealthy eating habits. What will your decision be today? Tomorrow? Next week? Next month?
CHOOSE LIFE!
CHOOSE TO LIVE TO BE 120 YEARS OLD.
MAKE THE CHOICE TODAY TO DIE HEALTHY AT A RIPE OLD AGE!
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