Visualization: the power of imagination
We have all lived that moment at one time or another. That moment when you risk everything to one card, that moment when you have the feeling that your life depends on it. The driving test, an audition, a game, a job interview, an opposition ...
We can train, study or prepare the event in question, but it will never be the same. That is, we will never be able to recreate the specific elements that imply the day of the test, such as the presence of the examiner or the classroom, or the unforeseen events that may happen (heat, noise, the rival comes out with another strategy to the expected ...). In psychology we have a very useful technique in this type of situation: visualization. Next we will see what it is about.
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What is visualization?
The visualization consists of experience, through imagination, any situation that might occur in real life. It has traditionally been used in phobias, as a resource to carry out an exposure that was not feasible to do because of not having the phobic stimulus itself. For example, we cannot buy a plane ticket every time we have to resort to the exposure technique in front of a patient with fear of flying, for Therefore, we rank the different situations according to the anxiety they would cause in the patient and we would proceed to experience them in imagination.
The case of Michael Jordan
They say that Michael Jordan sat on the bench before games, and he imagined the different possible situations that could hinder your objectives (a blockage there, a plug over there…). In this way, he felt more prepared for such situations because they were not "unforeseen", he had already prevented them, indeed, he had already trained them and had already experienced them.
Well, this little "trick" of the legendary NBA guard, together with the clinical experience of visualization, leaves us a clear path to mental training, that is, an adaptation of the visualization technique to sport and personal development.
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How to use it combining it with your imagination
We must differentiate between "imagining" and "visualizing", because although imagination is necessary for visualization, it is not enough. For the visualization to be carried out as successfully as possible, you have to meet certain conditions. First of all, we must design the scene that we are going to experience.
We will start with simple stimuli, like the color of the ball, and little by little, as we dominate each of the scenes, we will sophisticating, getting to design the driving test, a job interview, or the first few meters of a race. In this sophistication it will be advisable to incorporate more stimuli in addition to images. The sounds, smells, touch, balance or emotions can help us to give realism to the scene, and to help create that memory trace that is activated in the moment of truth.
In addition, it is always very useful to add the perception of stimuli in 360 degrees, especially at the moment of beginning to imagine, the moment in which we transport ourselves to the visualization. The examiner's indications in the back seat, the feel of the ground on my feet, the clouds they plan on my soccer match... all this gives the scene that natural realism that we seek.
Once we have designed the scene, it will be time to execute the visualization. It is advisable to start by checking our activation through the breathing technique, with the aim of limiting activation at the cognitive level (leaving the mind blank) and directing our attentional resources to the task at hand.
Once we have controlled our activation level, we will begin to activate the scene that we have designed in our imagination, in real time. This does not mean that we cannot “jump in time” if, for example, we want to prepare the moment to start the car, passing and parking (this is another of the advantages of visualization compared to training real). We can help each other by creating auditory support, recording the description of the sequences with our own voice. and reproducing it at the time of viewing (if we do it with our eyes open we can use videos).
Besides for phobias and personal development, visualization is beginning to be used with people suffering from cancer and, although its effectiveness in these struggles is yet to be demonstrated, it is still indicative of the power of the technique, of which we have given a mere sketch throughout this Article. To do it in optimal conditions, we will require the guidance and instruction of an expert psychologist.