Tag Archive: teacher

Sep 07

Quick vs. Long term Mental Training programs

Are we in this for the long haul? Or are we looking for a quick fix? Mental Game Training takes time and commitment.

Quick vs. Long term Mental Training programs

Recently there has been some discussion on mental training programs among some of us that are practitioners of the dark arts. (You will need to read my book to get the inside joke, as I often refer to my transition from wanting to be a college coach to being persuaded by my mentors to come over to the dark side (Academia and sport psych).

Much of the discussion has been about quick fixes vs. long-term results. Too many people, not just athletes are looking for instant gratification and instant results. When I work with athletes I am helping them get long-term results, but quickly. No this is not an oxymoron. It is simply that in traditional psychotherapy progress takes place over the long haul. Sport Psychology and mental skills training are not traditional psychotherapy, so I believe we must look at our area a bit differently. Sport Psych is an educational process that uses psychological research, philosophy and technique to help athletes learn to perform at a higher level. It is a process and contrary to some beliefs, magic is not involved. Read the rest of this entry »

Dec 05

Hypnosis Demonstration

by Mike Margolies

Hypnosis Demonstration

Lecture and Hypnosis Demonstration for the Issaquah High School Psychology classes. History and use of hypnosis and how it is applied to sports. As I have been mentioning I recently made fourteen Hypnosis / Guided Imagery for Sports mp3s for a company called Best in U. I’ve already written that my involvement in hypnosis goes back maybe 40 years. I have used hypnosis with athletes and others individually and in groups. But until two weeks ago I never had done an active demonstration with an audience. So here is the story.

The day before Thanksgiving I did a lecture and demonstration for the Issaquah High School Psychology classes. My son is in the class and I have known the teacher for 10 years or so. This was the first time that I had volunteered to come into his class. I wanted to provide the students with something interesting that would get them thinking about how important psychology is to sports and other types of performance. I knew from talking with my son that this would be of interest to his class. His teacher Josh Moore was excited to have me in to provide a real link to his students on applied psychology. I asked him if as part of the presentation he would like to be hypnotized.

He had seen stage hypnosis before, but had never had a directed experience. I thought I would be just coming into class one day and do a short demo. Instead Mr Moore asked me to come in on a short day prior to Thanksgiving. This gave him control of time and place. So instead of meeting in the classroom he set it up that I would do the lecture in the brand new Issaquah High School Theater with three sections of students instead of one. Instead of 40 minutes I would have 90.

This was interesting for me as I said because with all of my experience I never had an occasion to do a stage like show using hypnosis. This was going to be fun, and in truth a trip for me into the unknown. Could I do a rapid induction on a single subject in front of my sons friends? Just have to see I guess. So here is the rapid induction.

If you go to my YouTube channel you can see more, including the teacher laughing, singing and demonstrating other aspects of hypnosis. My YouTube channel is SportPsychConsult . Just click on the link and like magic you are there.

This is of course only the demo. The first part was a lecture on hypnosis with class participation so they understood important concepts like relaxation, suggestibility and concentration, all critical aspects in performance success in sports and life. The video is grainy because we were negligent in asking someone to light the stage for video. We ended the session with a great Q & A session.

Apr 16

There is magic in the world

by Mike Margolies

There is magic in the world. I’ve seen it, heard it, touched it and smelled it, not to mention tasted it. Magic is all around us in my world and probably in yours. My world is filled with games. In my world we play games for fun and games to see how good we are and can be. I’ve seen people fly and I’ve seen them disappear. People grow into giants and shrink until they are nothing at all. This is my world , it is the world of sport.

Competitors all around can achieve everything and take nothing. This is the nature of sport and the nature of magic. Where does the magic come from, well mostly it is within you. How we get it to come out isn’t half as important as realizing that most of it is already there inside you.

Those of us that are sometimes call magicians, because we understand some of the language of magic can be of assistance in helping you find your magic, so that you can soar to new heights and dance your way to success.

Those of us with magic wands are the ones that know it is our responsibility to show others how to use their own magic. We do not wave our wands to enable athletes to find their aspirations; rather we help them discover their own magic so that it may be called upon at will.

The magic of the mind to go along with the instrument of their body is a marvelous thing to behold. Regardless of the level, watching people succeed can be breathtaking. Today I saw some magic with an athlete I have been working with for some time. She played her best game. She did it on her own. She discovered the magic inside her was bigger than the magic in the other players around her.

This magic comes in many types. This young woman’s magic was the one called confidence. Confidence is powerful magic. It can make you soar. Today she soared and I am grateful and gratified that I witnessed it. Like the baby bird being pushed out of the nest, I suspect that she will now understand much more about how to use her magic, be it confidence, belief, her imagination or mental toughness she is now in control. As a teacher of magic, as one who defines much of who he is by how his students perform, by my standards it was a very good day.

The more magic in the world, the more joy there is for all of us. When people discover what a marvelous magical ability they have at their command, by using their mental skills, it is a wondrous thing to behold. The athlete within you knows this magical state. Come share in their elation of understanding this state, it is not for all, but can be. It is learned by all, understood by few and wielded by artists. Why we all don’t get to use the magic may be in the way it was taught to us. I know I am a far better magic teacher than magician. Some are better students. The way we were taught it determines if we can waive the wand properly. We can be educated, but you have to want to do that.

So come spend some time in the magical world of sports. See if you can control the magic. Or does it control you?

Apr 06

All Things in their Time

by Mike Margolies

I have been looking back into the past to understand myself. I am doing this so that I can better understand how to help those I work with. While I firmly believe that our performance while built on past experience is not governed or controlled by it and we can learn to move forward despite our past experience there are times where it is important to acknowledge that we do have a past to reckon with.

Every athlete or person I work with one of the initial conversations is direct to “Why” do you want to do what you are doing. What is your Why? Simon Sinek‘s book Start with Why is a great example of the importance of understanding your why. His book is a best seller because it demonstrates to us how it is we find inspiration to achieve our goals.

I’ve talked about my why in working with athletes a number of times. I was the athlete that kept failing at the next level, basically until there were no more levels. I lacked a good understanding of how to be a successful athlete from a mental perspective. You can read about this in my blog. A good friend Deborah Drake prompted me, as good friends often do, to think a little bit more about my why. I started to tell her a story about my father and she has encouraged me to finish the story here.

My dad was a teacher. Actually he had been a lot of things in his youth. He was a boxer , a push cart peddler, a roofer, a hobo, a migrant worker, a panhandler (someday I’ll write his story of panhandling in from of Nevada’s more famous houses of ill repute, but that is for another day. During the 1950’s he was a successful traveling salesman. Insert joke here if you want. After I was born he decided to become a teacher so that he would be home and as he said he wanted to make a difference. So he taught elementary school and coached on the playgrounds from the late 1950’s till his retirement in 1987 at age 70. He was burned out by the system. He had spent his career teaching in a lower economic neighborhood teaching kids to read and trying to keep them out of trouble. He was as I recall in the same building for 27 years. He was an institution in his school district. He was Mr. Margolies. Another reason I guess I go by Mike to everyone. If you don’t read more then you too may miss the point. Read the rest of this entry »