Session #208: Joni Neidigh on Athletic Hypnotic Gold

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This is the Work Smart Hypnosis Podcast, session number 208, Joni 90 on athletic hypnotic gold. Welcome to the Work Smart Hypnosis Podcast with Jason Lynette, your professional resource for hypnosis training and outstanding business success. Here’s your host, Jason Lynette. Game on. It’s Jason Lynette here with a content pack session featuring Joni Ndy from down in Florida, working with athletes as a hypnotist.

And first things first, even if working with athletes is not necessarily your interest, this is a conversation you really need to listen to because Jonie is a worker, someone who’s out there really making a difference out in the profession, working with people, whether they’re athletes on the student side of things.

All the way up to professional and everything in between, and realize this, within most of the things we would often address as hypnotists, there is a performance related aspect to it, which of course that’s gonna rely over to the person who is a public speaker, but also this is gonna have some facets.

Whether you’re working with that person, let’s say, with fear of a certain situ. That there is some sort of performance aspect when it comes to actually stepping into the car and driving with an anxiety, without anxiety, getting onto the airplane, a moment where someone is building up to a specific point in time, and then realizing that outcome.

And you’re gonna hear some incredible nuances about how it is that we can best support the athlete, whether it’s the entire season leading up to a specific event or. Interesting nuances in terms of how to best support the client after the sporting event is over, to best internalize the situation and really create that desired outcome.

You could head over to work smart hypnosis.com to the show notes for this episode to get details about Joni’s upcoming training events, and just to check out her outstanding work as a real worker in the profession. And while you’re. Oh man. I’m excited to share this with you. Head over to work smart hypnosis.com/online because people have been requesting, if not demanding, an online hypnosis certification training from me for a number of years now, and we’ve just now launched it.

You can check out all the details by heading over to work smart hypnosis.com/. Online, it’s gonna be a combination of interaction inside of the hypnotic workers program, as well as live interactive modules to actually get that feedback, get in your practice, and really interact with a live training. The world has become a whole lot smaller.

And to have this opportunity where you don’t have to book a hotel, you don’t have to book flights. And even if you happen to be a few miles down the road for me in Northern Virginia, maybe the dates I’ve announced up until recently haven’t been a fit. And you can get the same quality training experience by interacting live and online.

Get all the details and watch the video to learn how it all is going to work. By heading to work smart hypnosis.com/. Online, Check that out. I’ll see you on the interwebs. And with that, let’s jump directly into this week’s session. This is session number 208, Joni 90 on athletic hypnotic gold.

So the very first entry. Was when I was pregnant in 1992. My husband was being trained in, he in hypnosis in Orlando, so he’s going down for these weekend sessions. And I wasn’t really, I was very skeptical and so I, I, you know, I had a choice to participate, but at the time, mental health was everything for me.

I was a new mental health practitioner, and so of course my focus was there and I was very excited about that process and not really interested in anything. And, um, so I wasn’t very open to the idea of hypnosis. And it’s interesting because he was, um, actually trained by Gerald Klein and so the, um, I didn’t, and I didn’t even know that for years.

So I write it, but the, but the beauty of it, So, so I finally have my daughter, um, you know, it’s just a couple months later and my husband uses hypnosis in, in lieu of, you know, I, I didn’t have to have any medication. So we used the process in, it was, Amazing. I was just, I was just amazed that I could do that, you know?

Yeah. And, um, and the whole time, you know, just kind of locked in on whatever he, you know, his suggestions and, you know, following his eyes and all of that. So actually it’s, it’s, it’s interesting that I didn’t, I wasn’t attached to the process. At that point, you know, that was such a significant time. Yeah.

But yeah, but again, you have to, you know, I’m a, I was in, you know, fairly new mental health practitioner and just kind of latched on to everything that I was learning at the time, so year. So my daughters both became involved in the sport of swimming. My son was into golf, and I, you know, was taken out of my office and into the real world.

Mm-hmm. and. Sports. And I had a lot of experience with that. You know, you probably heard of some, and, and a lot of people have my background, you know, my father having been a, a boxer and that my brothers were, uh, collegiate, uh, when was a swimmer. So we did have a swimmer, you know, some time ago. And then my brother was a tennis player, so athletics, you know, that’s just, that’s all we did.

We watched sports. Yeah. Yeah. We, we watched a black and white TV with sports and, uh, that was it, you know. Decided what channel we would watch. And so that was actually, you know, who knew back then? I was bored complaining that that would become very helpful. Nice. And so, yeah, so going through this process with my daughters and watching them start to advance, you know, from very young ages, you know, they would be in Florida top 10.

Sport of swimming and my son was playing ProAm matches and I thought, wow, the, you know, all of the challenges that we saw at each level were just, they were unexpected. No one teaches a parent, you know how to do that. You know what to say. Or actually at that time there, you know, sports psychology was, It was there and it still is, but it’s mostly, you know, it’s a lot of talk therapy often.

Mm-hmm. in, in programs, whether they’re high school programs, because some high school programs are very advanced as you know, you know, they’re, they’re feeder programs for these bigger colleges and division one programs and, and so, and that’s the type of program that my daughters were in in high school.

And so, I started putting together just, you know, really started observing this whole process and thinking, well this is, you know, what’s available just isn’t enough. Right. And, you know, sports hypnosis just wasn’t screaming , you know what I mean? I mean, in terms of anyone actually doing it and, and you know, to the point that they were getting the word.

Because I certainly didn’t know and I was willing to, you know, do whatever it, it would take to help my daughters have an edge. As all you know, parents would who have, you know, top competitors and they see their children progressing in a passion. And so I , you know, so one of those aha moments where I said, you know, What about the hypnosis?

And I started talking to my husband about it and then my, you know, my brother was just like, You need to sort of shift your practice and, and really focus on athletics. And I was, uh, somewhat resistant to that, just trying to keep my own little window, my own little thing and have my daughters, you know, I have too much overlap, but the need became so great and, you know, among the athletes, and I had the, you know, I had the privilege and, and of being involved in a program that produced, you know, amazing Olympians there, you know, our current US Olympians, uh, many of them now in this program, you know, where my daughter swam.

So we were able to, because the, the coach who was willing, a coach who was willing, and his name was Sergio. Lopez, he was, he was quite invested in the mental side. You know that triangle, I always talk about the triangle. It’s the first thing I introduced when I’m, you know, trying to break in and, and talk to coaches about why this is important, uh, that mental side, because they’re so great at the physical side of things, you know, they often have those.

Trainers and you know, they, you know, they have trainers who come in to just to do the, the dry land as they call it, or, you know, the, the, you know, working out with weights and, and all that. But the, and then the technical side, you know, sometimes they bring in specialists for those kinds of things in the different sports, but the mental side is just kind of left a chance, you know?

Yeah. What would you say is that element that’s perhaps the most missing on the mental side? Yeah. Um, information. Uh, connection. Who, you know, who do I take? You know, how do I get my, my athlete or myself if you’re the athlete, how, where do I find someone? Mm-hmm. , um, who do I go to and what can they do for me?

So I think it’s, um, you know, and the problem being, and I know that I can be quite repetitive and I al and I will when it comes to this, is the, the concept of athletes being so time poor. Especially student athletes, they don’t even have the luxury, like the pros, you know, because I’ve seen all, all facets of this now, to go home and take a, a nap, midday, midday and come back and train again, you know, they’re studying and so when are they going to get in the car?

Because see I was starting to set this up and I had athletes coming to me and they were driving, you know, cuz I actually live in Orange Park, but they were driving quite a distance, um, to come and see me, which could add another hour. To a session, which at the time was a mental health session, you know, But it actually was a great program I developed that aimed for success.

Adding the hypnosis was just amazing. Um, but yeah, I was gonna ask that too, that, to look at the shape of what you’re doing nowadays. Coming originally, let’s, let’s. Characterize it coming originally from, let’s say a talk therapy mindset. Mm-hmm. , and then bringing in the hypnosis. What tends to be that, that balance of how you’re combining the two?

Hmm. Yes. That’s a great question. So I came from the, uh, not so much, well, I started with the talk therapy, but I think. Being in the midst of developing athletes and watch and, and, and learning about their needs. I was adding a lot of visualization. Yes. So, and what I, I, I think that I appreciate now that I’ve always done naturally is I was doing a lot of conversational hypnosis.

Yes, . I just didn’t know that’s what it was and I actually, that was an okay thing, you know, It’s just to let that, And I think that that is why, you know, sometimes I, I think at the last talk I, I, you know, was talking about an assessment that I use and it do, it sounds like, Oh, I’m just, you know, using this assessment to put together this.

Very scripted thing. I can do things, you know, quite naturally in the moment if I need to, You know, when I get these, um, I, I was talking to you just, you know, previously about these very, um, you know, these, these sort of sense of urgency calls from athletes, right? We, we just have to go right into, you know, hypnosis.

You know, very quickly and so, and work with that. But, um, yeah, so I moved from visualization and like I said, I had this coach, you know, who was very open, very talented, um, very skilled. And he was also, um, not only appreciative of the mental side of the sport, but he also used visualization with the athletes.

So that was already in place. So, so what, So the question was what, how, what, what to add? So, yes. So that’s where I started bringing in that piece also to, to set myself apart from other practitioners as well. Yeah. And I, so I said I’m gonna try this. So I’m still in the trying phase, right? I’m still the somewhat the skeptic because with my.

You know, whoever comes in the door, what I want, you know, for them is I want results. And so if I go and I, I train with someone or, and I train a certain methodology and it doesn’t work, then I’m not most likely not going to use it after I’ve tried it, you know, with the variety of people and situations.

And so I was a hundred percent convinced that this was the right thing to do. And, um, I remember. Um, the greatest, I guess, confirmation for myself was actually recently when I was, um, I was speaking at this enormous event, soccer X. You’ve probably heard a little bit about me that I had have done this back in the fall, but it was a, a wonderful opportunity, um, that actually.

Fellow hypnotist, Mark Marshall passed on my way. And I really, um, I, I, I wanna say, you know, just kind of in this same, um, thought, uh, train here that I, I appreciate so much how we do support each other. Um, you know, we think about how our, you know, who would be best for. For this particular event, or, you know, just to recommend someone is, um, we have a really, really great network, I think, don’t you, Jason

I, I do. Yeah. Yeah. Where the deeper you get into it, it’s um, I’m in the process of, uh, moving my office and buying the next space and to hear the dialogue or what about your competition? You mean the people I keep setting referrals to? That’s right. . That’s, that’s right. Yeah. Well, and I’m in the business of competition.

You know, I teach, I’m teaching teams and coaches and athletes and parents all the time. How to be, you know, a good competitor and what that means, because competition makes us all better. It makes us accountable, it makes us, you know, have a support system somewhat, you know, because there is enough work to go around.

Um, so, but back to this soccer x. A moment because it was so special to me. And I, and, and I, I, I wonder about that with all of us, you know, What was the most so far in your career? Um, they only, they only wanted a hypnotist, you know, so that they really wanted a hypnotist. That’s something they didn’t have in this huge event that reaches 80,000 plus people.

And it was held in Marlin’s, uh, park here in Miami. And so I was so excited. I had a choice to be overwhelmed, right? Mm-hmm. by that or excited. And the way I look at that, and this is what I tell the athletes when you walk into an arena, and it was great cuz I actually had a team talk that week so I could tell them with conviction, whatever you’re afraid of.

This, this is what I want you to do because this is what I’m going to do. And in fact, I compete before you do this week. So I’m going to report back how it goes, how I did it, and what it felt like and what I did about it at different moments. Because I had two, um, main stage talks. And so those were, those are really amazing and I, you know, I taught them, I said, You have a.

I said, when I walk out there, my plan is to take their energy, all of that energy and make it work for me instead of the other way around where my energy, you know, is, you know, it’s working against me. You know that I’m worried about, you know, what they’re thinking or you know what I, what I’m like, you know, when I, when that type of energy is coming towards me, I decided what I was going to do with that, and that was just take it and turn it into, I always.

Uh, gold energy, kind of, that’s my, my theme. You know, gold medal, middle toughness, gold energy. There’s a lot of great things associated with gold, and especially in athletics. They, they seem to love it. But my, my favorite moment was my first talk when I stood up and the first thing I said. Was, I am a hypnotist, , you know?

And I think that for the first time, I fully understood that that’s a huge part of who I am. Yes. And a. Big part of why my clients are getting better or getting the results, you know, whatever it is, they’re coming in. Just seeing. How would you, how would you define that? How would you state that that is that thing that’s making it not just stand out from people being attracted to you, but that thing that really is getting in and making this outstanding result?

Well, I would say first of all, Conviction. Yes. You know, because we, I, I always tell my clients, and I tell people, You can, you can fool other people, but you can’t fool yourself. And so, and we don’t wanna do that anyway. We want, you know, the more authentic we are and the more we believe in what we’re doing, the more you know that it’s more real.

It is. And, and the more they believe it and they buy into it because they can, they know that, you know, I, that’s why I’m so interested in training other people to do the type of work that I do and, and somewhat the way that I do it. Not exactly the way that I do it, but you know, just to understand that there are a lot of things that I know that I can save them a lot of trouble.

Yes. And tell them, um, So, so how do I know that, that I get that you know, that this is the thing, you know, that hypnosis is that, that the thing that’s, um, producing the change or helping the result with the result? I know that because I’m using it , Yeah. Primarily. With the athletes. I feel that even the educational components, which I do think are important, even that assessment that I talked about recently that has all done, used the whole reason for that information gathering and is, you know, in order to make the hypnosis more effective, more.

Not, um, I, I do think, you know, um, more generic type programs where, you know, we’re talking about, and when I say generic confidence, you know, I hate to say that, but, but let’s get a little more specific about confidence. You know, where is it? That, um, what does that even mean to that person? Mm-hmm. , right?

It’s a construct. Well, even to get to the result of that, you know, you hear the person actually, they may even just say, I want to feel more confident, but you, to take that at surface structure, What does that actually mean? You’ve gotta delve deeper into what’s that gonna feel like? What are you gonna be seeing?

What are you gonna be doing differently? And this is where, as much as so much of our community holds onto the phrase that, Oh, the client writes the script for you. I think only a few are really living in that mindset and actually pulling it off rather than just saying it, because that’s the trending thing to say.

Right. I like what you just said too, because if the client doesn’t define the result, you know, how do we know they have it? Like if the example of I’ve got a, I’ve got a baseball player that I’m currently working with. That, I mean, as a, and give some hint to, to his skill as a sophomore in high school. You know, so he’s not even a junior or a senior yet, but as a sophomore, he’s already being scouted by professional teams.

Oh, right. And And to find out, Yeah. And to find out from him that confidence is gonna be this absolute stillness that everything else on the baseball field could be going crazy out in the stands for him. It’s this real auditory sense of silence. Even in spite of everything that’s going on, which that ain’t what it is for me,

Right? But to learn from him, that’s where the direction we need to take it. And that’s the state we need to build together. You’re right. And that, that’s perfect. And I think a great question. This is the question I I, the very first question I ask, um, I say, How will you know, right, that you’re better? How will you know that this.

Present how we, Yes. So that’s it. And so for your client that it was, it was at auditory, you know, that that component that it wanted, he wanted to look or sound, sound like that. Um, and I do, you know, I, one of the things I love about this sport of swimming, and I’ve learned how to incorporate this into the other sports as well, but swimming taught me a lot in terms.

Really taking advantage of using the five senses, you know, which is something we, we do beautifully with hypnosis, right? Yeah. But think about a swimmer. So with the swimmers, I can work with the sound. So the o, so well, let’s just start with the, with the visual. So they’ve got the, the arena, but they’ve also got the way the color.

We’ve got the color. So obviously the pools are that beautiful turquoise, you know, that color. And then you’ve got the auditory being above am, below the water because it sounds very different. And often, you know, they wanna work in a different place. You know, where your client wanted, wanted that silence in that arena.

Sometimes mine wanted underneath. Does that make sense? And so they were dealing with a. Sound and they’re describing that sound. Yeah. Of, you know, the crowd is now muffled, you know, for some, that’s more comforting for others, they get their energy when it’s louder. So we te we, we simply teach them how to turn up that val volume under the water.

Right. Nice, nice. And that they can do that. And so, and then can aesthetically that there are all kinds of things to do with feel, you know, the way the body feels before, during, and after they perform. And the. Body actually feels as technically, and that’s something that I love working with coaches and I’ve been doing a lot of that recently.

I just finished a guide, um, for volleyball. I’m going to work with a volleyball team this weekend in South Carolina College team and, and a club team up there as well up. Um, that coach helped me, Tremend. With the language so that he, you know, whereas sometimes it’s uncomfortable for an athlete to look at the coach

Yeah. And, and actually be able to, you know, just soak in that language and translate that to the body. But if they can get away sometimes from maybe a situation that’s uncomfortable for them, they may be socially, you know, have that anxiety when they’re around a certain coach or a voice, or, you know, we can, we can get into so many things right now, but you, I think you understand.

Thing is we get ’em to a place where they’re comfortable and they’re training that tech technique, Um, listening to, you know, with maybe a live hypnosis session or even an on audio or both. They, they do, they tend to do beautifully. Um, and it’s, you know, cuz they’re relaxed, right? They’re, they’re. Who No systems as, so they’re, they’re swimming with their minds and then they, the body and the mind work together and they’re like, the coach is like, Wait, what?

I’ve told that kid, you know, a hundred times. And I’m like, And I did it once. How about that? You know, And this is what, you know, this is how I, I approach the different coaches and teams to say that. This is very, very, very different. Um, and it’s all important having someone to vent to having a sports psychologist or a mental health practitioner.

Um, and, and of course if other things are involved, very serious matters. There’s always a place for everything, but there’s certainly a huge place for this. And then, um, just to finish, My thoughts here. Um, moving on to Old Factory, you know that you’ve got the smell of chlorine with the swimming. Yes. And then in other sports, what I’ve started to do now is create smells.

If they don’t, if they can’t really identify with anything specific like that. So we create a smell, we have them choose scs, you know, the scent of winning or the scent of this or that. And so I’m having a lot of fun with that right now, and it seems to be working really, really well. So, um, and then a geator, Oh, okay, well, swimmers taste, they taste the water and they taste.

Probably a lot of other gunk in the water too, you know, , I’ll let you, I’ll leave those stories to them. They like telling them, but, um, Well, I mean, I’d ask the question is that, do you, do you have the experience, the background of being the swimmer or these things that you’ve picked up from working with them so much over the years?

So I have the background of the sister. Yes. Um, and, you know, We didn’t not have, of course, all the technology, so I was quite bored, um, at these meets with my brother, but I learned a lot. And so, um, you know, I, I have actually been in the pool, but I’ve never compet, you know, never competed. Uh, I don’t think that I, at that point, but I’m thinking maybe if my joints start to break down and, and I don’t think they will, but I love running, maybe.

Stick my head under the water and do that and, um, you know, when I’m 80 or something, you know, this is my 60th I’ll be 60 this year. And, um, everything’s still good, you know, , So, but, um, we find that element that, you know, that being the chameleon of picking up what’s around you that, you know, it was, uh, suddenly I found myself working with body builders and power lifters.

And it wasn’t just because I was getting an interest in those things myself, though. Zero interest in competition, just wanted to feel stronger, but to have one who just suddenly dropped the statement of, as soon as I walk in the gym and I smell the environment. Mm-hmm. . And what was happening was that his competition wasn’t in the grungy old style gym.

You know, he’s not like going into an LA. Fitness or somewhere that’s really pristine and clean. It’s these really old school dirty style gyms where all the stuff is like one step away from being so rusted, you’ve gotta throw it out. Um, but he goes in competition. We’re an arena and I don’t have that smell.

And as soon as he brought that up, it’s the whole. Yeah, there’s our copy and paste. There’s our click and drag. And you know, we start to pick up what are these sensory cues that are already there and how do we activate them? So I’m curious to ask with, with that process, are you exciting all of the sensory representational states in the hypnosis?

So by the time they’re there, everything that suggestion wise, is now anchored to that experience. Is that the thinking? That’s the thinking. And you know, you can’t miss if you do that because if you don’t know, If you don’t quite know what their, you know what works best for them, you’re hitting all of the senses.

So if you, you know, you’ll see that I, I believe in the audio that I’ll talk about later. Oh, cool. Of one of the first ones I did. I try, you know, I, I, I try to hit all of those senses, but I do, yes, I do that because sometimes they don’t know. Maybe this is a great way for me to learn, but no one’s ever done that.

Um, so what I like about what you said about, um, you know, your client walking into the. You know, walking into the competition, but as it had the smell of the gym, we know, and I’ve al you know, we’ve always known that, you know, one of the things I did and, and, um, and then when we do in our practice is we work with, um, both sides.

We work with, uh, child abuse and we work with the offenders as well. Mm-hmm. . And so what we know is that we’re all very attached to familiarity. And so if you’re right, if you can create that familiarity and you know, And we can anchor that, you know, we can have them create their, that smell and call that up anytime they want to.

Um, you know what’s so great now is with all the, these essential oils and the kinds of things, you know, just put, That’s so crazy. But we do that. I, we, you know, I’ll have like a whole team will pick a scent or something. They’ll pick lavender and that’s their. The scent of winning for them. And they, they actually after, if you look at a team sport like volleyball, after they win a match is the best time for them to have that if they have that on their wrist or something and ha and really reinforce that smell of winning.

And it seems to, you know, they, they really love it. You know, it’s just another. It’s another way to celebrate and incorporate, you know, just keeping that momentum, if you will. Yeah. Now you brought up something there that I love, which is that so often let, let’s even expand this out. I’m sure that everything we’re talking about also applies to working, let’s say with the first person with public speaking, the person with some sort of testing anxiety or interview challenge.

That a lot of these principles are gonna be universal, but you just brought up something outstanding there, which is that post game strategy. Any thoughts on what we can do to enhance that aspect of the work? The post game? Yeah. Yes. So one of the things that I do, that I have available in the guide that I use with the athlete is called a post, uh, post meet or post race or post match or whatever reflection.

And so I have them think. You know what just worked, you know, what didn’t and sort of anchor start creating anchors for, for those things that went right, you know, and then they look at, um, and the question, I think it’s always a good question to ask. I do that, you know, I’ll do that today. You know, what could I have done better?

Um, so, and, and how am I going to accomplish that? So how can we do that as hypnotist? I think we first of all have to find out what their perception, um, is of what went right. And what, what do you wanna work on next? You know? And instead of saying what went wrong, , right. I’m kind of careful about that. Of course I wanna make a suggestion that something did.

Um, but that, so yeah, using strategies like that, you know, you can even use, um, You know, I, we, we don’t tend to, I don’t tend to use a verse of type strategies again, you know, using negative suggestions, but I have had clients who chose to have something represent, you know, refocusing, if you will. Not necessarily to say, Okay, well maybe if I put this on my wrist after we lose a match, right?

Mm-hmm. this scent, I mean, just kind of using an example to pair. Maybe that will be enough to help me. It’s not about being punitive or, you know, um, critical. It’s about saying this is a signal for me to refocus and get back over here. Yeah. And to remember all of the things, you know, let my body and mind come back together and remember how we, how we anchored all that in to begin with so that everything flowed.

Because, you know, I often hear, I had an ice hockey player and he said, you know, I went to. Higher level opportunity and I couldn’t do anything wrong. , I like, I love that. Right? And then he comes back to his, you know, private school, his high school situation, and he, he was, you know, himself very good, but not even quite himself the way he described it.

And I said, Okay, well, That’s great. Let’s go back and let’s go through that experience that you just had and you know, see what you see and hear what you hear and talk about what was going on and who you were, who was influencing you, because you know, I’ve always said this, coaches and parents are the great hypnotists, and we know that, right?

Yes, yes. So can we change that? Well, I think, yes. You know, I’ve had numerous opportunities to do that and I’m grateful for that. For coaches and parents that are open. They’re not all going to be mm-hmm. . And so what do we do then? We teach our clients how to, Okay. And this is would be a great example of a post, you know, something you do in post, post meet race.

Whatever reflection, um, that, that sort of post session, um, to say, Okay, you did. So when your coach spoke in that manner and gave you that kind of feedback, um, it quote ruined the rest of your meet, right? And so what, what can we do about. This. So, okay. So he said, Well, my coach isn’t gonna change. And I said, That’s right.

And . Mm-hmm. . And, and that’s gonna be true for a lot of people in your life, not just in this sport, but when you go to work or you know what, you might consider a horrible boss or you know, that, um, you know, a coworker. But what you can change is, Pull, you can politely nod and turn that volume down, right? Or change that, you know, change that voice to, you know, whatever character that you might not take seriously at the moment.

Right. And so I use, you know, and we call it all different things. For me, I call it voice shift. And I have a video that I have them watch and it’s kind of outrageous actually. I get bored sometimes, and I know they do, you know, they would too, if. You know, listen to a, you know, Cause I have every, every technique that I teach, especially if it’s an LP technique or I wanna reinforce something in hypnosis, I, I have these, this is, I’m using this in my training as well.

I’ve made videos. I see. Follow. Yeah. So, you know, there again, there’s your visual just in case they heard it, but they didn’t get it. And so, um, they, What famous is, I mean, what’s great about the athlete? Tell me, Also found this to be true. This is a person that’s used to practicing something, so That’s right.

I tend to find that compliance of, here’s a thing, uh, please do this thing. They’re more likely to do that thing than most of my other clients. And you brought up something great there of just simply the use of technology that here is some way that I can make it easier on you. Yes, yes. You know? And I know we all have like recorders on our phones.

I use a, an app I really like, it’s called Rev r EV’s free. Oh yeah. Um, I love it because you can record for such a long time. Uh, and so if I have an athlete, I know that’s gonna have a little bit of downtime on a bus and that’s where they struggle. Or maybe they kind of, you know, they just. That’s where the, they start to, you know, their negative self talk and, and they just haven’t quite, um, you know, replaced that habit.

I just make a really quick two minute recording and have them put it on repeat. Uh, that’s just, you know, there’s just so many different ways that I approach things, and that’s just from all these years of learning and trial and error. And, um, so now I have the nerd out on technology for a second because I use, uh, I used rev.com to write the first draft of my book because with rev.com you can, uh, record the audio, then click a button, and it automatically uploads to their service.

And within 24 hours you’ve got a transcript. Uh, are you using features that I don’t know about ? No, no. That’s great. Yeah. No trans, No, that’s. And, and I love, I I didn’t even mention that, but I do love that you can transcribe from that. That’s a, but no, I just use it, you know, because I can, I can text it to them Yes.

Immediately, you know, label it who it is, and also, you know, all of their affirmations and are on, I, we record those as they’re, as we’re developing. Together. And so we’re, that’s done. You know, And then as they change, they can add or subtract or whatever we need to do. So I mean, we just have so many tools available to us.

Right? Too many . I know we can’t, you can’t have too many though. That’s in the process of many projects at once. I have to sincerely thank you for non introducing me to something new that I think I need . Um, I think there’s a very. Minimal chance of that happening, but I’ll be really excited the day that it does.

Yeah, I’ll probably put that out there. All over the place. Yeah. Yep. Nice, nice. So looking at the, let’s, this will kind of get into the practical, but also the business side. How is it that you’re working with your. Plates. What’s kind of the structure? Are you setting a program? Are you starting with a series?

What’s kind of that entry point? If it’s the one to one? I know you do group seminars, but let’s talk for a moment about that one to one. Okay, so on one to one, my, my, my, I would say if it, if I had the choice and I don’t always, I really prefer to work. Season. Yes. Or you season to season, you beginning to end because then we can actually see a result.

Uh, and I always explain that if somebody comes in mid-season or they come in to see me right before a big championship, um, I never dis way, I never say, you know, you’re not gonna get a result. But I do say the, you know, this is a process. Because it is be it. See, whereas if someone comes in to us for smoking, obviously you and I know we know what to do.

Mm-hmm. , because, you know, we, we found something that we really, you know, value and we know that works. Um, the same thing with athletes. I know that if they start season, beginning of season to the end, they’re gonna have enough tools. To be successful and see a, a really nice change. Um, but I also know that through the process, they’re gonna, they’re, they’re, you know, just their training, they’re gonna experience a lot of things.

And so if they don’t have the tools, deal with those along the way. You know, they may or may not get. The same result that they’re gonna get if they come in last minute. I, I don’t think they will because have they learned to deal with, you know, teammates when they get to a new level and teammates aren’t always celebrating that for them and so they try to sabotage, unfortunately, you know, there efforts and create other problems for ’em.

So there are all kinds of things that you ha, you know, wanna work with through the season so that when that championship meet, you know, comes and it doesn’t have to be, you can get a great result that counts earlier. For some reason, that’s where the focus always goes, right? Mm-hmm. , uh, matters to the coach for sure, um, that they are, they are, as your client wanted, desired, they are able to stand there and tune out the noise and focus on whatever it is.

They just, Excited intentionally as we sat down during the first part of the season that they wanted to do. And so I start with, uh, an assessment just so before they even come into the office, just so I know I have a really good idea about what’s going on. And then I, you know, I, I am a big believer in if we have collateral information available, we should use it.

You know, just like your kid going off to school. Right. What does the teacher do? Sent home this little form, getting, wanting to, getting to know your child. I mean, who knows your child better than you, right? Yes. Other than themselves, depending on age, you know, awareness. But, um, so if I can get coaches and parent information, I get that.

But, um, so I take them through the process of, you know, really start with self-awareness. And using not only cognitive distortions is something I’m teaching in my hypnosis program because I do think it’s an important, I don’t, you know, you don’t have to be a therapist to understand that there’s a name for those and you know, the things that we do, the patterns and sometimes just.

Knowing that is very comforting. And what, what specifically are you referring to with that? Uh, with cognitive distortions? Yes. Uh, one might be an overgeneralization mm-hmm. so that, you know, and they, they don’t even know what that is. But you notice that they’re doing that because you see that in the assessment or you hear that in the conversation that when, Or emotional reasoning.

Emotional reasoning being, I feel something, therefore it must be true. Right. And so you hear that a lot, especially with a. Static, Right? So everything, even if, even though it’s not touched and they’re talking about an emotional feeling, they, it, they, they use that word feel, you know? So paying attention to their language as you know, is so important.

So, oh, well I feel like a, a loser because, you know, my relay would have won if I’d gone a faster split. I was, I had the slow. Split. And so they start, you know, doing a lot of labeling, you know, so that would be one. So now there are losers and they’re also, you know, they’re, they’re just, you know, poor performers and they’re, you know, they’re the ones that cause that relay, even though anyone.

Any one of the four could have gone faster, right? Yeah. Yeah. And so you start to do that, you start to have them learn how to dispute those things. You know, I think self disputation is very important because, you know, when it’s a great, uh, really quick reframe, refocused tool and then incorporating, taking that and, and incorporating that in with hypnosis, you know, makes it stick.

And, and I know that because. I, you know, for 26 years I’ve been working with, uh, you know, cognitive behavioral techniques and I’ve seen that, yes, they do work and I tended to see clients for a long, long period of time. And now that time is much, much shorter because I can back that up and, you know, have a more, very quick change.

And so, you know, there again, I, you know, I feel a lot more convicted in saying, Yes, this is how hypnosis. And let me explain to you, you know, some of the benefits, but by cognitive distortions there’s, so there are many of them. So I have an audio that takes the athlete through specific examples and I, um, have thank, thankfully my, the athletes said I’ve worked with that have had a lot of success, have generously, um, allowed me to use specific examples of things they had to overcome.

And that’s, that has a, you know, a lot of influence with the athletes too. And I think. That’s a good, good thing to do. It’s also good for the a, those athletes to be able to pass something on. Um, I think that’s a, you know, they’re all becoming ambassadors now and able to really do some good and if they can, if they’ll, you know, say, and, and also you need to really consider hypnosis.

We are really getting somewhere with that now, and I’m, I’m really proud to be a part of that. Um, I’m starting to see. More clearly that I am a, I’m becoming a large part of this movement, and I know, especially in USA Swimming and, and I’m, and I’m proud to be a part of that and I can’t wait to see more names attached to that.

Um, and it’s happening. We know that. I mean, they’re, you’re working, you know, you work with athletes. Um, but that’s how we get the word out. Yeah, absolutely. So how can, uh, how can people learn more about your work? Well, so they can go to my, I have two websites. Um, I tend to post a lot of, uh, athletic articles and information and success stories on AIM hyphen.

For hyphen success.com, and then my website, joni knight hypnosis.com as well. So either of those are great, you know, to learn more about me. Excellent. And you mentioned an audio a little while ago. I did. So I wanna offer, uh, a free product just so you can get a sample of my work and how structured things.

Um, if you go to, you can go to the website, there’s a link, but I have a store, it’s aim. store.net. And I have wellness products, but I have, uh, tons of athletic products. I haven’t even posted the volleyball audios and products that we just made. My guide is hot off the press actually, hopefully tomorrow morning before I walk out the door to, uh, to head to the airport.

So, um, yeah, that’s how we roll, right? Jason ? Yep. That’s. So if they go, So if you go to, and I would, I would say after, well, by the time, uh, you’re able to, you know, they’re able to hear this, they can go to aim hyphen store.net, and if they’ll just type in, in the, the coupon where it says coupon code, the word Jason, the name Jason, That’s pretty easy to remember.

They’ll be able to get that product. Excellent. And we’ll link, uh, directly over to that in the show notes [email protected], uh, to kind of bring it, uh, to kinda bring it home. Uh, any final thoughts, although I may, uh, respectfully lead that, getting an immediate result, getting some sort of significant foot in the door from day one, um, you know, to really set that expectation at its peak.

Any, any final thoughts to share with the listeners? Just I, I would like to share that they already know a lot about teaching athletes. This great inner coaching style, you know, and I think sometimes people straight, they, they stay away from accepting athletes or referring them, but there is, there’s, at the very least right now, they can do some great basic work and they can get a quick result.

And, you know, we’ve seen it, we’ve seen that just by providing this new, not just so, I mean, this is a huge tool, hypnosis, but by, by providing something to them, you’re gonna see, we’re gonna see. That. And, and so don’t be afraid to, to take those clients and feel like you don’t have enough. I would certainly suggest, you know, I’m a , I’m gonna encourage everyone to work in this market because it, first of all, it’s huge.

Um, so it’s great for, for the practitioner, but it’s also just so needed, and I say that from, You know, sitting in front of many, many clients, but also as a mother who really wishes that my son had had more of that in his sport and that I’m grateful that my daughters had some exposure to that and that, you know, Ashley certainly has a lot of exposure to that.

Now, she’s also, um, in the mental health field, she’s, she’s in graduate school for. So hopefully she’ll be passing this on at, at some point in, in the combination of all of this. So, but yeah, so do the work, you know, sign up for the work, come train with me. Of course, I’m gonna ask people to do that because I’m very excited about it and I know that I have a system that’s very easy to use and, um, Again, I do believe that it’s a process and it it also affords you the opportunity to build rapport and connect with an athlete and have a relationship over sometimes a very long period of time.

And that’s not a bad thing. It doesn’t mean we’re not making them better. It means that we’re, we’re, we are available and helpful to them every step of the way. Because when things like, you know, when these athletes become, and if they become professionals or you know, they, they’re receiving scholarship money, things start to change in their minds because they’re not, they don’t know.

Exactly to navigate that. You know, And they are always, you know, they, they, they, it normally starts with a little bit of fear of, Oh, now I have something else to lose. Right? And it can affect all kinds of things. So, ugh, Jason, there’s so many different things I could say, but, um, I hope and, and, and believe that we’ve talked about some things that’ll help people today.

Jason, Lynette here once again, and as always, thank you so much for interacting with this program and sharing your reviews and leaving your feedback online. And once again, head over to work smart hypnosis.com/. Online, it’s live interactive online hypnosis certification training to get trained and certified by me through Work Smart Hypnosis plus those seeking certification.

You can get it from the I C B C H, the International Certification Board of Clinical Hypnotherapist. Check out all the details online and reserve one of your spots in this upcoming [email protected] slash online. See you on the inside. Thanks for listening to the Work Smart Hypnosis Podcast and work smart hypnosis.com.