By: Shantanu Das Sharma, Sr. Associate Editor-ICN Group
Quick recap of what we have covered in Part 17
Take Charge of Your Physiology
Exercise 1 – Get into a State of Feeling Really Bored and Tired
Now, Snap Out of Boredom by Changing Your Physiology
How People Usually Manage their States
Exercise 2 – Experiencing a Change in State
Exercise 3 – Get into the State of Being Totally Depressed
You Can Direct Yourself into Peak States for Peak Performance
Multi-Tasking and Peak Physiology
Choose To Fake it Till You Make it!
Choose Getting Yourself into a State of Confidence
Modeling Steps To Your Own Physiology of Excellence
KOLKATA: Whenever you need to feel particularly motivated, confident and even happy, you don’t have to depend on something external to put you in that state. As long as you have experienced this resourceful state in the past, you can tap into it now by modeling the physiology you were in then! There are six steps you must take to access any resourceful state. Let’s say you have to take on a challenge and you want to put yourself into an absolutely confident state in order to perform at your peak.
| STEP 1
Think of a time in the past when you felt totally Confident |
STEP 4
Have the facial expression, focus in your eyes when you felt totally Confident |
| STEP 2
Stand the way you would stand if you felt totally Confident |
STEP 5
Gesture the way you would if you felt totally Confident |
| STEP 3
Breathe the way you would breathe if you felt totally Confident |
STEP 6
Say what you would say to yourself if you felt totally Confident. (Use the same volume, tone and pitch of voice) |
By modeling the exact same physiology your body was in previously, you will be able to feel the CONFIDENCE surging through your Body, readying you to take on any Challenge!
Sports People Use the Physiology of Confidence to Win
This technique is especially powerful in the area of competitive sports. At the highest level of competition, where sports people beat each other by mere milliseconds, points or strokes, it is not the level of capability that gives them the edge. At that standard of competition, all of them have the potential and capability of winning. What sets them apart on competition day is the state in which their mind and body is in. Aren’t there days when you can hit perfect golf shots or connect with the tennis ball each time? On those days, you happened to be in that peak state. But on some days, despite having the same mental and physical capabilities, you kept missing the ball or tripping over yourself.
How Andre Agassi Regained His Confidence
At one time, Andre Agassi was invincible on the tennis courts. The world’s number one tennis player would be in a state of total focus and confidence each time he faced his opponent. As a result, he performed at a standard that gave him the winning edge. Then he started to go into a slump. For some reason, he lost his focus and couldn’t get into the right state. He kept missing the ball and making the wrong moves. He consulted peak performance coach Anthony Robbins who explained to Agassi that the reason he was not winning his games was because he was not in the same resourceful states he was in, in the past. Robbins got Agassi to watch videotapes of the matches in which he won and Agassi started noticing that in those instances, his physiology was different compared to the way he presently carried himself on the courts. In the past, his posture was different, the focus in his eyes was different, his breathing pattern was different and he moved differently. So Robbins instructed him to watch and model the physiology he had in the past. In the next few matches, Agassi would go in and consciously adopt the exact same physiology he had in the past. He started getting into his peak state and played the winning way he used to. As a result, he won the US Open within six months & regained his ranking as the world number one.
Human Mind-Body Connection
What psychologists and medical practitioners now know is that the mind and body are more neurologically linked than we ever thought before and affects your state both ways. As a result, your internal representation and physiology are in a cybernetic loop. What this means is that when you change one, the other would change as well. If you had an internal representation of depression (you thought of something totally depressive), your body would shift into a depressive physiology. This is pretty obvious. At the same time, changing your physiology affects the way your mind represents things internally. Your state gets affected by either and in turn affects the other.
┌─────−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−┐
↓ ↓
| Internal Re-presentation → | State | ← Physiology |
↑ ↑
└─────────────────────────────────┘
For example, if you put yourself into a depressed physiology, then I guarantee that you will start perceiving things in a ‘can’t be done, too hard’ fashion. You may look at a particular challenge, and feel totally overwhelmed by it. But when you are in a physiology of power, you start to perceive similar events very differently. Looking at the same challenge, you will start to see it in a much more positive light. You will start focusing on what is possible and start thinking about solutions instead of putting obstacles in front of you.
Exercise 4 – Think of a Challenge You are Faced With
I want you to think of a particular challenge or task that you are faced with in your life, right now. A challenge which you feel overwhelmed by, like you are not sure whether you can tackle it or not. As you think about this challenge, notice the physiology your body is in. Notice the state that you are experiencing at this very moment. Now, I want you to stand up and put yourself into a physiology of Absolute Confidence.
–How would your physiology be if you felt unstoppable?
–Stand the way you would stand if you felt totally confident.
–Breathe the way you would breathe and put an expression of confidence on your face.
–Put a look of focus, intensity, alertness into your eyes.
Now, while remaining in this physiology, I want you to think of that same challenge or task, but this time staying in this physiology of power. As you think of the challenge now, do you perceive it differently? Does it feel like you could take it on a lot more easily? For most people, the answer would be yes! In a powerful physiology, your brain starts to re-present the issue in a much more empowering way, thus getting you into a more resourceful state to take action.
Modeling By Replicating Another Person’s Winning Physiology
Have you have ever been in a situation where you felt overwhelmed? The challenge or task seemed so daunting? And that feeling of being swamped, of being overcome by fear (of failure) made you keep putting it off? I am sure you have encountered such situations. But didn’t you eventually manage to get the task completed? Now, what was the difference? You were the same person, with the same resources available to you. The difference was that in one situation, you happened to be in a resourceful state because of your physiology, and when you represented the task, you felt more empowered to do it. What do you think would happen if you were to model another person’s physiology exactly? You will experience the same state that person is experiencing. Why? Because when you replicate another person’s exact body language, you are sending the same neurological signals to your nervous system (as had happened to him). And this would fire off the same neurophysiological state in you. What is truly amazing is that if you were to replicate that person’s physiology exactly, you could even fire off the same internal representation of that person in your brain. In other words, if that person was thinking a particular thought, you could experience those same thoughts as well! That is how connected your brain and body truly is. I know this is hard to believe, but I have seen this result many times. One person A would think of something (let’s say his child) and get into the state and physiology associated with it. Another person B would observe and copy person A’s exact physiology. The third person C coaches B to make sure that he is almost exact in replicating A’s body language. When they are done, C then asks B what state he is in. In 100% of the time, B would experience the same state that A was experiencing (for example, a feeling of love). In about 20% of the time, they even see the same pictures that A sees, in their minds! I had a woman A imagine herself on the beach feeling extremely relaxed. When her partner B modeled her physiology, she (B) said that images of the sea and sand kept firing off in her mind (B was not told what A was thinking at all). In other words, by modeling someone’s physiology exactly, you not only tap into their states, you can even tap into the way they are representing their experiences in their minds.
From a neuro-physical standpoint, the motor cortex that is functionally similar in all our brains fires in the same manner. What could result is our being able to fire off similar neurological patterns, thereby resulting in such a phenomenon. I encourage you to test this out with two of your friends. You will be truly amazed at the results you experience. How can you use this knowledge to help yourself to produce exceptional results? Let’s find out…in the next article.
(I facilitate Thought Leaders, Change Makers; Professionals & Business Owners translate NLP concepts into actions to achieve and elicit personal excellence. I conduct NLP Lifestyle Coaching Certification programs for individuals, corporate and celebrity clients. In the next article, you will learn how to model successful people’s physiology of excellence. And after that you will come to know in subsequent articles, how you can utilise concepts of NLP+ in all walks of your life to replicate the success blueprint of a winner mindset to win through life. So, stay tuned every Monday & Saturday and fasten your seat belt to ‘Enhance Your Lifestyle With NLP+’)
My #1 Amazon Best Selling book ‘Awaken The Incredible Within – Incredible Is The New Giant’ is available at Amazon in English at http://bit.ly/Awaken-The-Incredible-Within
Shantanu Das Sharma, Creator of the concept NLP Lifestyle Coaching with NLP+, Founder of Neuromind Leadership Academy is an Amazon #1 Best Selling Author, NLP Lifestyle Master Trainer & Coach, Clean Language Facilitator & Strategic Interventionist.
