Mental state and skydiving performance

[skybytch 259]

This rapidly got buried in the Talkback forum so I thought I'd post it here too.
I noticed/realized something I thought was very interesting this weekend. Thought I'd share it with all of you and see if you've noticed the same thing in your own skydiving and if maybe someone has some tips for me...
The last few days I've been jumping (last 8 jumps or so) my performance in the air has been way worse than how I normally fly - going low, lack of control (sliding around), bad landings, just kind of all over the place. At first I blamed my new jumpsuit/booties for my problems, but that didn't really explain the going low and bad landings... booties usually make people fall slower, the new suit is actually baggier than my old one, I was flying it fine two weeks before this and landings just can't be blamed on a suit!
After I went low on a five way yesterday the load organizer made the comment to me that skydiving is 90% mental. He was referring to how we can get into slumps at times, where no matter what we do we just can't seem to get past a certain block. It didn't really hit me until after I'd done two more jumps that maybe, just maybe, there was more to my current "problem" than jumpsuit/body position issues.
I've been in a weird kind of mental state for the past few weeks, up and down between happy and depressed; the whole cutting away from the b/f thing hit me a lot harder than I thought it would and it's been a kind of delayed reaction. Looking at the past two weekends of jumping I think I know what my "problem" is - a "bad" mental state, even something that I am conciously denying, affects how I fly. Revelation!!
Now the question is.... how to fix the problem so I can get back to flying as well as I know I can?
pull & flare,
lisa

[NtheSeaOrSky 0]

Lisa,
Dr. John DeRosalia (sp) has a book on that very thing. Its filled with ways to overcome different mental blocks. Well worth the money, in my very limited opinion.

[rgoper 0]

Lisa:
Go back to your roots,complancey could be creeping up on you after so many jumps. You know what you can, and can't do, like nike says: "Just Do It" Good Luck!
Richard
"I'd Vote For Myself If I Was Running For President!"

[skybytch 259]

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complancey could be creeping up on you

?? Explain... to me complacent means not paying attention to what's going on for whatever reason. I'm very aware of safety and very aware of what's happening around me. If I thought my performance was so bad that I was a danger to myself or others I'd find something else to do for the day. What I noticed was a lack in my flying skills, not in my survival skills, and I'm thinking that may be caused by what's going on in my life right now...
pull & flare,
lisa

[Zennie 0]

Just to start sort of a cyber-pseudo-psychoanalytic session here... .... what do you think about on your ride to altitude?
"Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

[skybytch 259]

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what do you think about on your ride to altitude?

I'm visualizing the skydive from exit to opening and focusing on my breathing... looking out the window and enjoying the view; and trying to keep from overamping before I even leave the plane.
pull & flare,
lisa

[Zennie 0]

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and trying to keep from overamping before I even leave the plane

<>
Ah yes. It's all sex.
"Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

[Zennie 0]

Seriously though.
Sounds like maybe you just have some good 'ol performance-related jitters.
You have been out of it for a while. It'll prolly take quite a few jumps before you get your rhythm & confidence back.
"Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

[rgoper 0]

Lisa:
i meant NO dissrespect. i was drawing off of my own experiences. i do know whenever i get to thinking to i "know it all" i'm humbled for what i don't know. ragardless of my liscensing holding, or my previous goals that heve been met, i still get complacent, and i know it happens alot. i did not mean you no harm, your one of my favorite people! just trying to help, i'm sorry! please forgive me bytch!
Richard
"Is That A 777 In The Landing Area At 2K?"

[billvon 2,400]

There was a good article a while back in Skydiving magazine (I forget the author) about visualization. Basically if you get on a creeper and do a really good job of visualizing the dive, you actually exercise the parts of your mind responsible for coordination, body position control etc. It sounds goofy but apparently it works. (That, and making a lot of jumps, that is.)
Occasionally when I start getting flaky in the air I'll find someone with 50 jumps and do some coaching dives with him. Teaching basic air skills seems to use a different part of my brain, and I generally do better when teaching. Once I get the feel back I go back to whatever I was doing (4 way etc.)
-bill von

[skybytch 259]

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It'll prolly take quite a few jumps before you get your rhythm & confidence back.

What seems really strange to me is that I was flying great in January, February and the first half of March - felt like I hadn't lost much at all during my year and a half of not jumping. It's just been the last two weeks that I've felt like a total spud in the air.
Thanks for the input everyone. I'll just keep jumping and hope it improves soon. Glad daylight savings time is here, gonna do a no-pressure freefly jump with my coworkers after work on Wednesday...
pull & flare,
lisa

[Zennie 0]

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It sounds goofy but apparently it works.

It definitely works. Positive visualization is absolutely critical. I know from personal experience that in golf visualizing the shot is as important, if not more important than the "real" stroke. Golf coaches hammer this into you and the really good professionals "see" the shot in their minds before they even walk up to the ball.
The more elements you add to the visualization, the more you immerse yourself in it, the more effective it will be. And while you're visualizing, really concentrate on relaxing your mind. Breathe while you visualize the skydive. Relax. See each point turn real time. Reach out and take the grips. Release. Feel the wind over your whole body as you move to the next point.
Somebody said (can't remember if it was here or at the DZ) that they make at least 4 skydives every ride up. 3 mental ones and then the real one.
Despite all this visualization pre-jump. When you get out the door, clear your mind and just "be there". After all, at that moment there's nowhere else to be.
"Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

[steve1 5]

Lisa,
I wish I knew more about positive visualization. I think everyone tries to get fired up in their own way. It seems like my relative work is best when I think less and just try to enjoy the jump as much as possible. I take in the sounds, smells, images around me, etc. until I can't wait to leave the air craft and have fun. It could be you are tired and run down and maybe a break from skydiving might help. It's hard to be up for a jump when you are worried or stressed about other things. I know I mess up if I try too hard to do something. I need to think less and have fun. Maybe going out on smaller way jumps will get you tuned up for big ways again. Getting on some fun loads where there is less pressure may help you get used to your new jump suit and regain the edge you had earlier. Steve

[Lindsey 0]

I bet that since you've recognized that the problem may be because of mood problems, and the big cutaway....you'll probably be able to focus better. I think it's certainly true that a problem often becomes less big when we acknowledge what it is.....
Remember "Illusions?" One of my favorite quotes from the Messiah's Handbook: "There is no such thing as a problem without a gift for you in its hands. We seek problems because we need their gifts."
You recognize the problem is there, and if you don't fight it, but just let yourself glide across the rough spots, things will work out.....funny how life's like that.... Ohm, ohm, ohm...
Peace~
Lindsey
Eve was framed!
http://home.earthlink.net/~linzwalley

[SkyDekker 1,122]

I am just going to chime in on this issue and say my 2 cents worth.
I think that visualization is important in any sport. Even bodubuilders tend to actively visualize the contraction of the mussle gruop they are working. Tests show that such a visulization has benefits.
Lisa, it doesn't sound like that would be the issue with you though. You said yourself that you are still dealing with a breakup with your bf. Usually those with "mental stress", consciously or sub-consciously, have a very hard time relaxing. Since relaxation is such an important part of skydiving, my guess is that you are sub-consciously tensing your body, which makes your body react in ways different to what your norm would be.
SkyDekker
"We cannot do great things, only small things with great love" Mother Theresa

[riggerrob 558]

Two pints, er points.
Talk about your Freudian slips on the keyboard! Ha! Ha!
First, breathing exercises vary depending upon whether you are trying to psych yourself up or calm yourself down.
If you are trying to psych yourslef up, breath quick and hard. Blow hard on the exhale. Make primal noises while you exhale.
On the other hand, if you want to calm yourself down, take slow deep breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth. Slow breathing oxygenates your body and forces your mind to slow down. You can only truly slow your mind if it is empty. I do slow breathing exercises with tandem studnets and surprise, surprise, most of them arch.
Robin Heid says that breathing exercises work because you can forcus on fear or breathing, but not both at the same time.
Another airplane exercise - that I do with tandem students - is wiggling fingers and toes, because when you relax small muscles, you also force big muscles to relax. This wiggling fingers exercise easily transitions to freefall. When they see me wiggle my fingers, they wiggle their fingers, which reminds them to wiggle their toes, reminds them to breath through their noses and reminds them to look at the horizon.
Take it from a compulsive worrier: you have to empty your mind to skydive well. This is the same reason I enjoy aerobics and flying. To fly well, I need 100% of my mind checking airspeed, altimeter, wings level, rpm, landmarks, airspeed, how are the engine instruments doing? etc. Any extra thoughts just clutter up my scan.
Jim Slaton put it a different way. He finds that complex freefalls require so much brain power, that he cannot focus 120% on canopy flight. So the last few weeks before a blade running competition, he doesn't bother with freefalls, he just does hop-and-pops.
The other side of that would be the person who is trying to take their freefall skills to the next level. They chose a moderately-loaded canopy with a "tame" reputation (ie. Spectre). As they are walking out to the plane, they watch windsocks and mentally plan their canopy ride. Then they put that plan on a shelf in their mind. After opening, they pull the canopy flight plan off the shelf and fly the plan. This process demands a minimum of thought about the canopy flight, leaving more brain cells to think about freefall moves.
To sum up: skydiving happens too fast for you to think your way through through every move in the sky. The more pre-planning you do, the less you have to think in the air. Pre-planning things like your canopy ride frees up brian cells for better things.
Do breathing exercises to empty your mind shortly before exit. then get out there and do it!

[nacmacfeegle 0]

Okay we are all agreed that visualisation works well, Dr John's book really kicks ass, I was into seriously hard core climbing long before I took up skydiving and would (still do) use visualisation techniques to help me achieve success, so to me its kinda natural to use the same techniques in my jumping. Side note, it is very important to visualise everything going just perfectly, don't visualise 'failure'.
Okay, I've also had a few personal injury traumas and lost far too many good friends in my time and suffered PTS as a result (mild clinical depression), I was in some pretty dark places back then and got some great counselling to help deal with it. What worked for me was to take some time out from a lot of everyday stress, and go visit some of my favourite places, with my favourite friends, and spend some 'chilling time' soaking up scenery, sunsets etc. The important thing is to break from your daily routine and spend some 'me' time doing whatever flicks your switch.
Another great way to relax physically and mentally is to use meditation, a good way to start is to completely relax your body. Get yourself nice and comfortable in your favourite chair, close your eyes you don't want distractions. Start at your toes and foucus on relaxing each muscle group in turn, feel the stress drop from the muscles, work your way all the way up your body, finishing up by relaxing your face muscles, then go all the way back down again, breathing as described earlier. Think nice pleasant thoughts, picture yourself lying on a beach, hear the water gently lapping on the shore etc ......Are you there yet, nice ain't it . There ya go, you are now meditating! You can get all sorts of tapes/CDs of whale songs, forest sounds, river sounds etc try some out, they help block out junk noise from traffic, towns etc, and help you get to that special place. If this works there are loads of books available to help get the most out of it.
This works for me and with practice I can now relax like this in quite a short time.
Of course this is all hippy shit, and may not work for you, YMMV, if all else fails, just go out and get laid, do some 'sport' shagging to make yourself feel good again I would lay of the booze though, alcohol is a downer and will inevitably only make you dwell on darker thoughts.
Breaking up with someone you love is traumatic, but trust me sis, you will heal. Take some strength form your friends and family, they are all here for you, so lean on them. Hell you have a load of friends on this forum who have never even met you but take time out to try and help........
Once your head is sorted you'll find yourself skydiving like you used to again, stress free freeflying obviously helps you, so do some more of it, hell I hardly ever see unhappy freefliers......
I'll see you in may, and I hope to see a happy Lisa.
Cya
D

[Zennie 0]

What he said.
"Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."