Skip to main content

Flexing Your Mental Muscles

Studying with Marc Lebert at the CanFitPro conference this summer I learned a new way to set goals. Marc's lecture was titled "flex your mental muscles" and I found it very interesting.

The conscious minds drive the unconscious, and we live mostly in our unconscious mind. Think about brushing your teeth, driving your car, and other daily tasks that we do on automatic without conscious coordination. It's how we learn and function. It has a place, but we live too much in our unconscious mind.

Let's analyze a goal such as "I want to lose weight". The only word that we can visualize is "weight". You cannot visualize "want" and "lose" is a negative thing. This encourages the conscious mind to drive the unconscious with images of "weight" and most likely, that weight you want to lose. This will create a mental image of an overweight self, accompanied by all the feelings surrounding that image. Because the unconscious is now driven by that conscious image, the reinforcement of that self image is on a loop.

The conscious mind is driven by our senses. Marc suggests that when visualizing goals incorporating sensory suggestions will better reinforce the message. Most of us focus on visualizing the path to success rather than the experience of the success itself. Marc discussed flooding the mind with the sensory imagery of the experience of the success, in order to achieve the goal. I have to admit it inspired a shift of thinking for me. 

Marc referenced "The Secret" and anyone who knows me knows that I think that video was a crock of hokey pokey. Marc pointed out that what "The Secret" glaringly omitted was the emphasis on the fact that it requires work to achieve any goal. You can't just lose weight by visualizing yourself as a thin person. However, the idea of using sensory information to visualize goals will bring the conscious mind into the decision making process, and drive us to achieve our goals. That is pretty cool.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Kate's Guide to Getting the Correct Sports Bra!

I wear an unusual size and it took me years to unlock the secrets to bra fitting (and finding!) I suffered for years in improperly fitting bras, and during exercise I would wear 2 or 3 just to get the support I needed.  E very woman needs support while performing sports; not having proper support means that there is extra stress put on the back during various activities. Even low-impact exercise s done without the support of a sports bra can result in strain on the upper back and shoulders that can result in pain or worse- injuries that may develop over time. Sports bras affect a woman’s posture. Exercising without support can result in slouching to prevent painful bouncing which throws the back and hips out of alignment and impedes form, leading to potential injury. The most common mistakes are when women wear a bra that is too small in the cup and too loose around the body for example a 38e instead of a 36f. Note: When you go down a band size, go up a cup! Step 1: T
Post a Comment
Read more

I don’t have a Diastasis- Why is my abdomen still distended postpartum?

I get asked this question all the time! Here is my answer: Research has shown that 100% of pregnant women will develop some degree of diastasis recti. A diastasis is a lateral separation in the abdominal wall between the recti or “six pack”, due to a stretching of the midline connective tissue or “linea alba”. Although some diastasis will heal postpartum, in many cases a separation will remain without restorative exercise. Distention from DR will present as a doming in the midline. Women who heal a diastasis spontaneously or through restorative exercise may still find that their abdomens are distended, particularly after a meal and/or at the end of the day. If there is no diastasis, why is this? This abdominal distention does not occur in the midline, but rather across the entire abdominal wall. This is due to a weakened hypotonic TVA- transverse abdominis muscle. The TVA is the deepest anterior abdominal muscle, wrapping around the midsection like a girdle, with a left an
2 comments
Read more

7 Day No Sugar Challenge!

Here is a Challenge I put on Facebook: OK Folks.... It is THAT time of year again. Halloween is upon us. 'Tis the season of wee chocolate bars and wee bags of chips, wee bags of cheezies, candy, and more chocolate. Some of us have already dug into Halloween stash and have had to buy more- this year I bought none and therefore have eaten NONE. You know I am all about my strategies! After Sunday there will not only be leftovers, but also piles of loot from our kids who rarely notice when it goes missing, little by little :) It's time to get strategic with this CHALLENGE! I am leading a NO sugar for 7 days challenge, beginning tomorrow. The only sweeteners allowed are honey, maple syrup, agave, etc and natural sugars in fresh food. No added sugar in coffee, no bon bons, ice cream, chocolate, donuts, cake, pie....... c'mon it's only 7 days! WHO IS WITH ME? Join us on Facebook for support!
Post a Comment
Read more