The Psychology of Sailing for Dinghies and Keelboats by Ian Brown

Author:Ian Brown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Use all of your senses to make imagery as real as possible

Attentional control – by incorporating imagery into your pre-race routines you help to ensure that you are focused on things that are controllable and task relevant rather than disruptive distractions.

Imagery then, as with most mental skills, has plenty of potential uses and can be used in many different situations or circumstances. You must however be prepared to practise it and the more you practise, the more you can find what works for you. Remember to use as many senses as you can, though taste and smell might be difficult at times. Using your senses, trying to feel emotions or moods, and recalling your thoughts all contribute to the overall vividness of the image, and the more vivid the better. However, it doesn’t matter how vivid your imagery is if you can’t control it. What I mean by ‘control’ is that you have to be able to see different outcomes from what you actually experienced. For example, in the lee bow example given above, you need to have the ability to imagine yourself achieving the positive outcome having used the negative picture to identify areas for improvement. In other words you need to be able to alter and manipulate your image so that you are achieving the desired outcome. If you are unable to control the outcome then imagery may well be counter productive in that you will keep seeing or reinforcing the negative outcomes.

The final point regarding imagery concerns the perspective that you are seeing the images from. Some people see the recalled images as if they were looking through their own eyes. This is known as an internal perspective. Others see the images as if they were looking at a video recording, or through the lens of a camera. This is known as an external perspective. Neither is wrong and each seem to work equally well, but it would be a bonus if you could develop the ability to do both. Both perspectives can be used in different ways. For example, an internal perspective might help you to ‘feel’ certain things better and an external perspective might be particularly useful if you wanted to see an image of yourself performing a given task and comparing it to a positive role model performing the same task. It really is a case of trying different things to see what works best and gradually building them into your mental toolbox.

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