Mental Training

Mental Training means that you consciously and actively influence your mind. This is best done when you are in a state of deep relaxation or meditation (the alpha state). Mental Training is a modern term for ancient techniques that are found, for example, in yoga and tantra but also in many religions. The technique aims at consciously affecting the brain and create new control images and control patterns. It is thus a matter of self-programming. If these control images are to be fully operational we must let them influence mind and body without knowingly interfering with them.

The theoretical basis for this is that experience engages both mind and body and is triggered by an internal or external event. The memory of this event then becomes a kind of stored copy of the state of both mind and body which arose in that moment. The brain remembers thoughts, emotions and body states as a whole. By repeatedly imagining an upcoming event or situation as we wish it to happen, we can create memory images and control programs of something that has not happened yet. This will affect the function of both body and mind when the expected event or situation actually occurs. The principles for mental training are thus to program control images for a desired goal, after which you should let the expected event or situation happen by itself.

There are different ways to program control images into the depths of our mind. You can do it in the waking state. In this case you use suggestions and formulas. ”Pep talk”  in team sports is an example of this. It means that the players before the match suggest each other to certain control images which will help them to play the game. Formulas are short expressions which summarise the desired control image in a powerful way. An example is, ”I am good enough”. But suggestions and formulas still must pass some sort of reality test of the of the mind and must therefore be repeated often and in many different ways in order to affect it. In the world of advertising this technology is widely used to influence people.

A more powerful way to give yourself new control images is programming of these images when you are in the alpha state (visualisation). Here the reality testing of the mind is put out of play which makes the creating of target images, in the form of detailed imaginary fantasies, more easy. You imagine an upcoming event or situation as if it is happening right now and in exactly the way you want it to happen. It is important to simultaneously evoke and experience the right emotion in order to program it into your memory as well. If you live through a body movement in your mind, for example a perfect high jump, then you are already creating a mental control pattern for the whished muscle interaction in this jump. In the real competition it will then be important not to disturb the pre-programmed pattern. You have to ”let it happen”.

Programming images for body movements is called ”ideomotor training” and is widely used in elite sports. In the same way you can positively affect your self-confidence and your self-image. This is possible to do in the alpha state by imagining again and again how well you can handle a situation that you are worried about. This is called ”target image training”. The technique can also be used by repeatedly giving yourself images and symbols which support your own desired development as a human being. From an ethical perspective it is of course really important that you give yourself good and positive images and symbols of what you want to be.

Another consequence of mental training is that you imperceptibly will achieve greater distance to your problems. That makes them easier to process and will build up more and more courage to tackle unpleasant situations with greater confidence and better overview, instead of pure emotional reactions. It is easy to understand that this gradually creates better conditions for coping with difficulties of many kinds. In other words, mental training is a way to grow and mature as a human being in this world.