Sport Psychology: Self-Judgment and Self-Criticism

Interviews

Sport Psychology for Dressage Riders

Question: In competition I become very critical of myself, and I know this hurts my performance. How do I stop thinking negatively? Can I use visualization to do this?

Answer: When we achieve our finest peak performance state there is no self judgment. The thoughts are very quiet, allowing our deeply engrained skills to happen automatically. These skills involve a precision of feel and timing that the conscious mind could never achieve. When we become self critical we switch over to the “non-athletic” portion of the brain. The state of flow becomes interrupted by judgment and criticism.

I think it must be very difficult for any rider who is also trained as judge. It must be very hard to stop the impulse to critique and evaluate every aspect of your performance. Judges must be trained to look for problems within the performance, yet a top performer must be an eternal optimist. While a judge must look for what is wrong, a top performer must constantly strive to emphasize what is right. A judge must analyze, but a top rider must imagine. Images are the language of athleticism. Imagine what you want, and trust your body to do it.

Horses can respond to our thoughts and out images in an uncanny way. When there is good communication between horse and rider, the horse is usually quite compliant and willing to do what we ask. If you think a negative thought, a thought about what we do not want to have happen, then in that moment you are holding an image of what you do not want. And the horse, being a willing participant, will then do exactly what you do not want!

It is important to learn to direct the mind towards what you want to have happen, rather than worrying about the mistake you are afraid of (or the mistake that just happened). Try to teach yourself to think in positive phrases. Rather than thinking, “I will not let my horse fall heavy on the forehand”, a more productive thought would be, “I will keep my horse’s forehand light”. The first phrase elicits an image of falling and heaviness, while the second phrase encourages a feeling of lightness.

Positive thinking does not mean that you ignore potential problems. Developing a strategy for working with potential problems is positive, proactive thinking. Our horse partners are wonderful, generous creatures, but they can also have a mind and an agenda of their own. When you are riding a horse that always spooks at the judge’s stand, you have to prepare for that possibility. Once you decide on how to deal with the potential problem, then let go of your fear of a mistake. Focus on the positive effect you would like your correction to have.

Mirror Neurons

Our nervous system is beautifully constructed to be a learning machine. Our bodies have developed a type of nervous tissue called “mirror neurons”. The job of this type of nervous tissue is to imitate, or mirror, what it sees. A lot of learning is automatic and occurs through mimicry. This allows you to use a learning shortcut. You are capable of imitating actions even when your logical brain doesn’t understand all of what you’re imitating.

For this reason it is very valuable to watch good riders perform. If you can create a powerful image in your mind, you will help your body to perform by utilizing your mirror neurons. Imagine your favorite advanced level dressage rider. Sit back and close your eyes for just a moment as you let a vivid image form of a top rider. Ask your body to imitate the

picture you are showing it. Notice what you feel. Did you notice your body responding to the image you sent it? Could you feel your spine lengthen, or your shoulders drop? When you send your body an image it will automatically try to imitate the image you send. When you send your body an image of an Olympic rider, it will try to emulate that rider. But if you are careless about the images you send your body, you run the risk of imitating bad riding. Your body will happily try to respond to any image you send it.

This type of positive thinking is not always easy! It requires a lot of mental discipline. Visualization is a way to practice this mental discipline. Train your mind to stay focused on positive images, and at the same time you are training your mirror neurons to perform the way you want. Imagine your perfect ride, but also imagine yourself working successfully through a number of different problems.

In competition last week I noticed the second half of my tests became a little disorganized. This week I will visualize, putting careful notice into how I use the short side of the arena, especially towards the end of the test. I will try to take those improvements to my next show, and then I am sure I will find another area to improve!

For more in depth information on visualization you can see my new book. It can be found on my web site, seanaadamson.com. If you have questions or comments you can email me directly at seanaadams@aol.com. I enjoy hearing from you!