Controlling your own mind: hypnotherapy for performance

The recent Euros were spectacular, teams of inspirational women challenging our misconceptions, shattering long held views and changing the face of football forever. It was a joyous, jubilant occasion as the victorious England team played out their dreams on the world stage.

Throughout the tournament the players and manager talked freely about the importance of the appointment of Dr Kate Hays, a sports psychologist, who helped the team create their vision, their mission, and helped them develop that rock solid winning mindset. Many of the players were keen to let the world know that they never for a moment believed they could lose. This was in stark contrast to the way they had performed under pressure only 18 months prior. It would be crazy to say that the psychological work alone is what made them win – they are hugely talented sportswomen – but my point is that they pointed out the difference the mind work made!

Bringing psychological tactics to your game is something very close to my heart, as my work as a Hypnotherapist for Singers follows a similar pathway. In my own career as a singer, I always craved that psychological edge, being able to go on stage and perform and, instead of being filled with nerves, feeling totally and completely in my power, able to access and engage all the resources I needed to give the performance I knew I was capable of. After discovering the incredible rapid changes hypnosis could make to my own performances I trained as a Clinical Hypnotherapist and am now on a mission to bring this transformational work into the mainstream for musicians as it is now, thanks to the Lionesses, becoming much more high profile in sports.

There are so many myths and misconceptions about hypnosis which can easily put people off, the most common is that it is a kind of mind control, that the hypnotherapist controls the client. This idea comes from films and the work of stage hypnotists whose main purpose is to entertain. Hypnotherapy bears very little resemblance to that. In fact, hypnotherapy bears far more resemblance to a music lesson! The hypnotic mindset (or trance) is really a ‘focussed mindset’. Imagine you are focussed on a piece of music to the extent that nothing else exists? I would say most musicians have experienced that, indeed in a lesson. Or imagine been so engrossed in a book or film that you’ve forgotten the world outside exists? That’s trance! It exists as a part of our everyday lives, and we can harness that focus and use it to make suggestions to our mind which aid and benefit us in collaboration with the hypnotherapist.

As a very simplistic example, we might suggest whilst in our hypnotic mindset, that we are in the place of performance, and as we step onto the stage, we feel relaxed, calm and in control. We choose to really see ourselves doing, feeling, being this. We then practise this work daily (it only takes a matter of minutes and as musicians we are, of course, used to daily practice), so when we get to a performance the feeling of being relaxed, focussed and in control is the automatic one. It is in effect controlling our own mind and getting it to work for us, rather than against us. I’m sure we would all rather be thinking we are relaxed, calm and in control before a performance rather than experiencing the myriad of catastrophic thoughts that can often take over at this point!

In my hypnotherapy practice I have developed a one-to-one programme for singers which helps them raise their game to the next level. It includes help with performance anxiety, self-esteem, imposter syndrome and includes a fair amount of self-hypnosis, which any singer can be taught in order to get into the right mindset before a performance. For example, have you ever been about to perform and found you have a terrible dry mouth? Here’s a hypnotherapy tip for that:

Remembering that hypnosis is all about focus, take your focus to your breath and slow it down. If it’s appropriate close your eyes, but if not just lower your gaze and use your imagination for a moment. Imagine yourself in a kitchen, opening a fridge door and taking out a big, ripe juicy lemon. Really smell the lemon, imagine the texture of the lemon and the coldness of the lemon as you squeeze it in your hand. Then imagine taking it to a chopping board, cutting out a piece and bringing it to your mouth, taking a big bite. Anyone salivating? Many of my clients just have to say the word ‘lemons’ to themselves before a performance and they no longer suffer from that dry mouth sensation.

Simple hypnosis like this can be used to brilliant effect to help musicians harness their minds to work for them and enhance their music making.

Julie Bale is a Clinical Hypnotherapist Dip.Hyp | HPD | MNCH(Reg.) | MUKHC.

She has over 30 years’ experience in the music industry as a singer, voice teacher and choral conductor. She runs online and in-person sessions. You can find out more about her hypnotherapy for singers here.