Ask anybody who plays

by Jeff Belyea, PhD

Golf is a mind game. Two or three good shots in a row and your mind starts entertaining a round in the low 80s or better. The pro tour, the senior tour, admiration from all your friends, golf buddies and family, and all the money in the world seem within your grasp. But then the next shot goes into the woods and your dreams go pop, pop, pop. You're back to reality.

Hypnotherapists believe that it is possible for many people; as a matter of fact most people, to enter a sort of daydream, a hypnotic state, in which they can be guided to vividly imagine playing golf at an entirely new level of skill. This is what we would like to believe. Imagine if it were true.

Are belief and imagination important? Jesus said, "If you have the faith of a grain of mustard seed, you can move a mountain into the sea."?And Einstein said, "Imagination is more important than knowledge." "It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness," says an old Chinese proverb. Faith and imagination are powerful companions.

Well, hypnotherapy uses belief and imagination to move people to action and deal with a wide range of health and achievement issues. Why not golf?

Some things about hypnosis

Hypnotherapy doesn't put you to sleep, but it does put you in dreamland. You are aware of what is going on in a hypnotherapy session, but it feels dream-like. And, as in a dream, you can fly, swim and breathe underwater, run like a deer, and hit a golf ball like Tiger. Logic is not needed in this dreamland. Hypnosis takes you to a subconscious awareness where dreams seem real. And maybe where dreams can become reality.

We all enter a light trance state several times during any given day; when we are just daydreaming, and sometimes when we are driving and don't remember a large section of the trip, or when we suddenly remember a name out of the blue. Ever happen to you? Well, you're probably hypnotizable.

Hypnotherapy leads us to a place of vivid imagery and new possibilities beyond anything that we normally think or imagine. When we deeply enter the body/mind/spirit reality that hypnosis, in expert hands, can reveal to us, it is possible to find ourselves in a place beyond words. A place of profound faith in the natural healing power and athletic grace of the body, a place often described in beautiful, loving, even spiritual terms. A place of miracles. A place of healing. A place of low handicap golf!

How is it possible to access this magical place?

Well, if a golfer-hypnotherapist such as myself were nearby, I might ask you to "Remember the future". That's right. Remember the future, a future round. While in the deeply relaxed state known as hypnosis, your subconscious mind (the mind that doesn't require logic) would construct an imagined future - and much like a dream, it would feel real.

I would guide you in the construction of this dream. I might ask you to imagine something like watching yourself sink a long, long putt or driving shot after shot off the tee, straight down the fairway - often.

We would explore this future vividly and joyfully, maybe focusing on the whiteness of the ball, the pock sound of a well-hit golf ball, and a score that you thought you could only dream of shooting. Mind over bogies? Is it possible? What do you believe?

If something resonated in your heart as you read this brief look at hypnotherapy and golf, I urge you to trust your intuition. Contact me or another golfing hypnotherapist, or any number of body/mind/spirit practitioners who are trained in hypnosis, meditation, relaxation techniques, guided imagery and visualization. And...dream a little dream with me.

Jeff Belyea is an artist and writer with a PhD in communications, and certification as a business and personal coach, certified hypnotherapist and master meditation teacher who works with individual, group and corporate clients around the country.

For more information visit www.LivingatWow.com.