Hey it's Cyrus.
Welcome to this high pressure and high performance visualization.
This one is for you if you're an athlete,
A musician,
Or anyone who's interested in high performance in pressure situations.
If you want to make the most of this session,
Start to think about an area of your life where you feel nervousness or an internal pressure that sometimes disrupts your performance and you want to feel calm and collected so you can access that best,
Smoothest,
Most present version of yourself in those situations.
For the purpose of this session,
Pick one specific situation that you want to work on and we'll go with that.
As you notice improvements from doing this work,
You can use this on other situations as well if it's helpful.
Take a slow deep breath in through the nose,
Close your eyes,
And exhale slowly out through the mouth,
Relaxing your muscles as you let the breath flow out.
Take one more slow deep breath but make it a breath hold.
Hold your breath at the top and feel the energy in your body as you hold and slowly let it out through the mouth,
Super slow,
Releasing any internal tension as you let go.
And if it feels safe in this moment,
Begin to visualize yourself in that situation that you picked.
Notice what you see,
What you hear,
Any sense of touch or movement,
And allow any physical or emotional reaction that wants to arise in the body to arise.
Don't push it down.
In order to get the most out of this work,
You want to let up as much of that reaction as it feels safe to do so,
So that you can practice navigating that situation mentally in advance.
So notice any subtle reactions in the body as you imagine that situation.
Whether it's a subtle quickening of the heart rate,
Or a subtle tension,
Pressure,
Or tightness in the throat,
Chest,
Or stomach,
Wherever you notice those sensations.
Don't try to change them,
Just allow them to flow through the body for a moment as you observe them directly.
And now notice how that might normally cause you to speed up or alter your performance or process in some way.
Perhaps you notice a cycle that you get in of subtle resistance of this emotion or energy that's coming up.
Perhaps there's part of you that's rejecting that energy and trying to make it go away so you can just be as calm and clear as possible.
But instead,
I invite you in this moment to imagine yourself taking a slow deep breath,
And imagining that breath expanding an energetic space around you,
As if there's just more space around that feeling,
Around that reaction that you notice.
Imagine that space being big enough that you can just allow that reaction to be there.
You don't have to change it,
You don't have to make it go away,
You don't have to make it mean anything personal about you.
It's just a reaction or sensation that's happening in this larger space that you've opened up by taking that deep breath.
And notice by allowing that part of you that has that reaction to exist in this larger space without trying to get rid of that part of you,
You're able to feel a little bit more relaxed and spacious even if the feeling of pressure or anxiety is still there.
It's paradoxical,
But notice how with this space you can be relaxed about that nervous reaction.
Just notice that for a moment in slow motion as you see yourself in that pressure situation.
And from that greater space now see yourself taking the second step,
Choosing to step into that other calm process oriented part of yourself.
The part that you always wanted to be in control but might have had a harder time accessing with all the resistance to the other part.
So just notice how from this bigger space you're able to simply choose to calmly execute your process.
And see yourself doing so now in as calm,
Slow,
And methodical a way as necessary.
Notice how any nerves or anxiety or quickened heart rate can still be present in the body.
You don't have to get rid of that or pretend that's not there or hide that from yourself or others.
And you don't have to get rid of any extra or racing thoughts.
You can simply let them be in the background.
So see yourself very specifically able to calmly execute your process one step,
One action,
One moment at a time.
Even with any nerves or thoughts simply allowed to be there,
But in the background as you calmly execute your process in this pressure moment.
See and feel yourself going about your process in as slow a way as you need to,
To maintain that control,
That smoothness,
That flow,
While still allowing space for any physical or mental reaction to be there.
Taking one more final moment to practice seeing yourself in this balanced spacious state where whatever feelings are there can be there and you can still see and feel yourself trusting your training and flowing with it one moment at a time.
If it's helpful now perhaps even visualize and feel yourself getting into a rhythm with your process where the nerves start to wash out and evaporate and fade away and you start to become relaxed and in a flow with your process effortlessly.
See now how you took a moment to breathe,
To make space for all parts of yourself and whatever you're feeling and then simply chose to calmly shift gears into executing your process one moment at a time from that place.
And I invite you to practice this simple two-step process in real time in these pressure moments going forward and if you notice improvements in your ability to handle these moments come back to this track,
Keep practicing it,
Keep stacking up those gains and your ability to handle it even more and more smoothly until eventually your ability to be fairly relaxed and in an effortless flow even in these high pressure moments becomes more and more second nature.
Take a moment to breathe in deeply,
Let go of the visualization and relax your muscles on the way out.
Open your eyes when you feel ready and re-ground yourself in the present moment and your surroundings.
Allow yourself to bring that relaxed alert state back into your day one moment at a time.
Thanks for taking this time for yourself today.
Be sure to practice this track often if it's helpful and share it with anyone you think it might be useful to and I hope you have an amazing day.
