Visualisation: Helpful? Hooey? A bit of both?

[Namowal 0]

For as long as I can remember, visualization (that is, imagining yourself achieving goal X) had been trotted out as a valuable tool. To what extent do you think this is, in fact, the case?
One on hand, it's well known that humans can trick themselves (for good or bad) with self fulfilling prophecies (and while we're at it, placebos.)
On the other hand, there has to be limits. For example, even if I took singing lessons 7 days a week and visualized myself as a talented, top billed opera singer... ...I'd be very surprised if I ended up performing at the MET.
Or perhaps it's a matter of what you visualize? In the opera singer example, perhaps it would be more helpful visualizing yourself doing the more mundane stuff- skills, auditions etc.. to prep your mind for the practice and work required- instead of, say, picturing yourself performing to a packed audience?
What do you think?

edited to fix formatting

My blog with the skydiving duck cartoons.

[billvon 2,426]

Visualization is a tool used by a lot of top competitors in skydiving. It's not as effective as actual training but can significantly improve performance especially in skydiving, where our "natural" reactions often get us into trouble.

[DcloudZ 0]

I was told at one point (or perhaps it's in the movie to which I make reference to at the end of my post) that there was research done on the topic. Professional athletes were hooked up to machines and observed while being asked to visualize yourself in, a race per se. The researches found that portions of the athlete's brains that "lit up" during actual races, had the exact same reaction while the athlete was simply concentrating on visualizing themselves racing.

Sorry for my lack of technical knowledge but I hope what I'm trying to say is understandable..

There is a movie on a similar topic to what you're saying in the original post. It's all hypothetical of course but it's worth watching! It's called "The Secret" there's also a book about that. Anyway, the movie can be watched on Netflix and I certainly enjoyed it!

"Better to have a short life that is full of what you like doing than a long life spent in a miserable way." -Alan Watts

[cocheese 0]

This stuff costs $25-100 a minute to learn. Visualization is free.

If Janice Joplin can still sell records, you can probably be trained to sing opera.

Visualization helped me pass AFF. Now I do free "swoops" in my head when I think about the dz and different wind directions.

I visualize beautiful women wanting me, but since they know I can't afford/ will not put up with their bullshit, then they will instead have to visualize what they are missing.

[skybytch 259]

Skydiving is way more mental than it is physical; your mind can help you or hold you back just based on what you focus on. I've seen using positive visualizations help my skydiving performance and I've also seen it improve the in air performance of others.

It's certainly worth trying. If it doesn't work for you, try something else.

[ghost47 18]

Quote

For as long as I can remember, visualization (that is, imagining yourself achieving goal X) had been trotted out as a valuable tool. To what extent do you think this is, in fact, the case?
One on hand, it's well known that humans can trick themselves (for good or bad) with self fulfilling prophecies (and while we're at it, placebos.)
On the other hand, there has to be limits. For example, even if I took singing lessons 7 days a week and visualized myself as a talented, top billed opera singer... ...I'd be very surprised if I ended up performing at the MET.
Or perhaps it's a matter of what you visualize? In the opera singer example, perhaps it would be more helpful visualizing yourself doing the more mundane stuff- skills, auditions etc.. to prep your mind for the practice and work required- instead of, say, picturing yourself performing to a packed audience?
What do you think?

Visualization can be a great tool, used on a multitude of levels.

For where you are in your skydiving career, I think visualization is best used to cement things you know already.

For example, there is no question that you have the physical ability to do every single thing required to be a great skydiver. You can arch, de-arch, drop a knee, shift your weight, etc.

So, what's stopping you from doing all those things in a skydive? It's mental. One, everyone's IQ drops in the sky. Two, you need to learn "up = de-arch", "down = arch / get smaller" etc. And you need to learn it instinctively.

How does one learn it instinctively? Repetition. But you can only do so many jumps per day. So you can use visualization.

Unlike your opera singer example, you're not visualizing yourself as a great skydiver -- that's too abstract. Visualize instead that you're on a dive, and you're high. Train your body to react appropriately whenever you see that picture -- arch, or get smaller and visualize falling faster as you do that. Next visualize that you're on level, but not docked. Extend your legs, and visualize yourself approaching the formation. Etc. Combined with regular skydives where you put these skills into use, I think soon the moves will become instinctive.


Once that happens, you may not need to visualize the actual body movements anymore. But you can till visualize how your body will move to take the next grip, what picture you'll see.


Good luck!

[rehmwa 2]

Try it, keep records.
Don't do it, keep records.

compare and decide for yourself.

It works VERY well for me and most. YMMV

...
Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[Niki1 1]

You're right. Visualizing that you're a successful opera singer isn't going to change your vocal cords. However, if you listen to opera a lot and begin to softly sing along I think you'll find that your voice improves to some degree. People have been learning guitar this way since record players were made.

For skydiving, watch as much video as you can. Imagine you are one of the people in the video and imagine what you would be seeing and feeling. I did some thing similar to get to the next level in RW. (From flailing 50 percenter to a much smoother 90 percenter.) This was 1972 and all I had at hand were pictures in the magizines. I looked at those pictures for literally hours before the first time we went to Z-Hills. We made 5 loads and it was the best skydiving day I had ever had up until then. Another similar story. Before I started skydiving I was a springboard diver. Not a real good one but I had a full list on low board and I really liked showing off at the pool. I was asked to judge an AAU meet one day and spent several hours watching national class divers do thier stuff. I went to work out that night and it seemed like I could do any thing I wanted. Everything went in the water the it was supposed to. Because of all that time watching divers much better than I was.

Skydiving is not difficult. In fact, it's one of the easiest things you've ever learned.
There are only three places you can be on this planet. On the ground, in the water, or in the air. There isn't any other place you can be.
You were probably about a year and half old when you learned to walk. That was after around 6 months of calendar time and about 3 weeks (500 hours) of practice time. You might have been 6 to 9 years old when you learned to swim. That probably took you 2 weeks of calendar time and 12 to 15 hours of practice time. By the time you had 1 hour of freefall, you had the same degree of mobility in that medium as you did when you first learned to walk or swim. 1 hour. Skydiving is the easiest thing you've learned to do as far as mobility in a medium goes. You don't think about how to walk, you just do it, You probably don't think about how to swim, you just move yourself through the water to get close the girl in the small bikini.

Now that you know how to do it, you need to learn WHAT to do. That's where the visualization comes in. Concentrate on what to do. LeBron James doenn't think about how to dribble the ball or how to make a jump shot. He's thinking about where the shot is going to be taken.

So realize that you know how to skydive and learn what to do.
And smiling make it even easier.

Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossilbe before they were done.
Louis D Brandeis

Where are we going and why are we in this basket?

[Coreece 190]

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For as long as I can remember, visualization (that is, imagining yourself achieving goal X) had been trotted out as a valuable tool. To what extent do you think this is, in fact, the case?

This is all true, it works...but in the end all you're really doing is simply giving yourself a chance...nothing is guaranteed.

Your secrets are the true reflection of who you really are...

[NWFlyer 2]

Watch people on the airplane next time you're at the dropzone. I bet you'll see some people (especially RW teams) closing their eyes and moving their head and hands around in a rhythmic way. They're visualizing - mentally running through the points on the skydives. Their head is turning in the direction of their turn, their hands are moving in rough approximation of their grips. They might be saying the name of the formation under their breath while they do it.

So yeah, it works. I do it regularly and have since I was a brand-new skydiver. It helps me to cement the dive flow in my head and be one step ahead of it in the skydive.

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[Namowal 0]

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They're visualizing - mentally running through the points on the skydives.

Even I do this. My motive was to keep the tasks fresh in my head, but it does seem to fall into the visualization category.

My blog with the skydiving duck cartoons.

[JohnMitchell 14]

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Skydiving is way more mental than it is physical;

I think skydiving is completely mental.


Seriously, visualization is a very powerful method of achieving peak performance, esp. in as high speed of a sport as ours. To Namowal, keep using it. Just remember that it's a tool, not a miracle worker. Keep the faith.

[Coreece 190]

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Skydiving is way more mental than it is physical;

I think skydiving is completely mental.

Nice...

Your secrets are the true reflection of who you really are...

[MikeJD 0]

I've been encouraged to use visualisation by every coach I've come across, and I do reckon it's a great tool. But I think it's important to stress that you have to use the right visualisation - else you can end up with negative reinforcement that will do you no favours at all! That sounds silly, but if you're feeling apprehensive about your performance it can be surprisingly hard to picture it in a positive way.

The first step is getting those positive pictures in your head, so try to recall what it feels like to do well, and watch lots of video of successful skydives. Then imagine yourself performing at your best, and using the techniques your coaches have taught you rather than the bad habits that we're all prone to falling back on.

Watch yourself pulling off the perfect exit. Visualise the big picture, not a tunnel view of the grips you're going to take. I find it helpful to picture the whole dive from a third-person perspective, and then 'zoom in' to repeat it from my own point of view. All the while I try to recall the muscle movements that I'll use to achieve those turns and transitions.

The more you do it, and the more you integrate it with actual skydives and tunnel sessions, the easier and more effective it becomes.

[JohnMitchell 14]

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They're visualizing - mentally running through the points on the skydives.

Even I do this. My motive was to keep the tasks fresh in my head, but it does seem to fall into the visualization category.

That's exactly one of the best reasons for visualization. I've seen videos of airshow aerobatic pilots doing visualization. Some pilots walk back and forth, pitching their head and moving their arms, like a solo dirt dive. The Blue Angels sit around a conference table doing a group visualization of the performance, with the flight leader giving the radio call outs. Some of the pilots hold a pencil like a control stick and "fly" the table thru the routine. So the best of the best use it. That's good enough for an old flyer like me.

[adagen 0]

In another sport I was taught to use visualisation in this way:
When you're learning a new technique and the right way to do it suddenly clicks, really concentrate on what it feels like. Then before you go to sleep at night, relive that feeling in your head.

It's surprisingly effective at improving the muscle memory, and it also helps if you need to be away from the sport for a few weeks.

Anne

[Shotgun 1]

The two most recent autobiographical books I've read were by two very different people - skydiving's Dan BC and Rick Springfield (the musician/actor). But I noticed that both of them talked a lot about using visualization and considered it a huge contribution to their success. And they are both very successful people, so I tend to believe them.

I have used visualization in a slightly different way - mostly to deal with chronic pain, anxiety, and depression, but it's probably been the most useful tool I've found. Though I've recently started using a self-confidence/performance-enhancing visualization CD that might be more along the lines of what you're talking about, and it's helping me a lot so far.

[godfrog 2]

used to walk the motocross track and pick out lines that I liked, go back and visualize riding the track, go out in practice make a slow lap and visualize it and feel it and then go for it wide open

Experience is a difficult teacher, she gives you the test first and the lesson afterward

[Niki1 1]

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I've been encouraged to use visualisation by every coach I've come across, and I do reckon it's a great tool. But I think it's important to stress that you have to use the right visualisation - else you can end up with negative reinforcement that will do you no favours at all! That sounds silly, but if you're feeling apprehensive about your performance it can be surprisingly hard to picture it in a positive way.

The first step is getting those positive pictures in your head, so try to recall what it feels like to do well, and watch lots of video of successful skydives. Then imagine yourself performing at your best, and using the techniques your coaches have taught you rather than the bad habits that we're all prone to falling back on.

Watch yourself pulling off the perfect exit. Visualise the big picture, not a tunnel view of the grips you're going to take. I find it helpful to picture the whole dive from a third-person perspective, and then 'zoom in' to repeat it from my own point of view. All the while I try to recall the muscle movements that I'll use to achieve those turns and transitions.

The more you do it, and the more you integrate it with actual skydives and tunnel sessions, the easier and more effective it becomes.

We've all heard, "Practice makes perfect." That's not true. Practice makes PERMANENT. Perfect practice makes perfect.

Proper visulazation is one reason the Air Bears used creepers in '85. Dirt diving standing up didn't give the correct spacing or view of the real thing. It also practiced turning on the wrong axis (the spinal axis instead of the dorsal axis.) It must have worked. They won the Nationals and the World meet. And started a new industry to boot.

Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossilbe before they were done.
Louis D Brandeis

Where are we going and why are we in this basket?