[Mad Magyar]

Does anyone know if the self-hypnosis tapes that became a fad back in the 1980’s are still around and be used by current shooters on the circuit? I understand that John Pride, quite a shooter in his own right, would be seen wearing earphones listening to these tapes. He might have been involved in the promotion and selling of these tapes, but not sure.
For those who might be wondering “what the hell” is he referring to. IIRC, these tapes were used prior to the match to counteract the effects of match pressure. More than just a “pep-talk” concerning the fundamentals of shooting, but included tapes of an actual PPC course of fire, from beginning to end with sound effects. I believe the goal was for the shooter to go into a match with positive suggestions ingrained in his subconscious. Does it work? Can someone shed some light on this subject?

[RyanM]

Self-hypnosis can work on some people, but it takes a long time to actually work, other than a placebo effect. Same with subliminal messages. It seems like the instant people started to realize that waving a watch around and saying "yooouuu aaaarrrre aaa cooowwwwww" doesn't make people crawl around and moo, they started to think that putting a hidden "you are a cow" message in a commercial will do the same thing.

It typically takes weeks of repeated exposure to subliminal messages for hours a day to have any noticable effect at all, and months to really cause a change in behavior or thought. Hypnosis (real hypnosis, which requires a trance-like state, so it's only going to work somewhere with no noises and distractions) may work a little faster, but it's still not as powerful of an effect as people think it is.

[longeyes]

Please snap your fingers when you get the answer...

[Rabid Rabbit]

Way back when I competed in smallbore and air rifle events I used self-hypnosis to help me shoot better. It was just a way for me to focus on shooting and get rid of distractions. There was no pep talk stuff, just focusing on relaxing the head/neck and each arm and leg one at a time then blocking out distractions and getting my breathing under control. Took me about 10-15 minutes. I learned the technique at a USWIRO clinic in Pheonix. I'm not sure how much it helped I learned a lot at that clinic and my scores rose about 15-20 ponts afterward.

[Oldtimer]

CONCENTRATION! SELF-CONFIDENCE! LOOSENING-UP! PROPER BREATHING! TOTAL FOCUS!

John Pride won the Bianchi Cup two years in a row, but DIDN'T come out #1 in ANY of the shooting events. His "trick" was CONSISTENCY for his overall wins!

I know John, and you would have to look long and hard to find anyone who is more "focused" on being relaxed. I think that his first win came as a surprise to him, but not the second time. He was even MORE relaxed, but remained "focused", and used all of the basic handgun skills to his advantage.
You can be #1 in ONE, maybe even TWO shooting events, but by posting #2 in SEVERAL events will get you the gold! It doesn't hurt to be fully-sponsored and have more than enough time to practise, practise, then practise some more!

[dairycreek]

Years ago I was a practicing psychologist and taught patients self hypnosis for a variety of reasons. When correctly taught by the therapist and learned by the patient it can be very, very effective. Reducing anxiety is one way that it can be effectively employed. When competently used it will work in a variety of situations. It is not some sort of a parlor trick though.

[Ovid]

There is a book called "my voice will go with you" which is about psychiatrist/hypnotist Milton Erickson, that has a short but interesting part, about a hypnotist being hired to teach the US rifle team to beat the Russians. I don't have the book handy, but I think that the book is still available.

[Mad Magyar]

Appreciate the replies, quite interesting. Ovid, checked on Amazon and there are copies of that book, used, for about $9. I might check it out...Thanks...
I think John Pride, and I don't know him like Oldtimer, would use any technique to get into the minds of his fellow shooters. IIRC, he used a 5-6 lb revolver in a Bianci Cup match in the 80's which got a lot of attention, but failed miserably in the match, tapes withstanding.:o