Doug Mirabelli is right on the money when he describes his experience catching . . . Mirabelli Gets to Catch Wakefield in World Series:
"You just kind of get into a trance there," said Doug Mirabelli, who has recently made his living catching Tim Wakefield’s floaters. "You just kind of go into a relaxed state, even more than when a guy is throwing straight. . . . You’re just, sort of, you know, there." Mirabelli acknowledges it’s a little strange to invoke partial hypnosis in discussions about pitching, but then again, knuckleballs aren’t exactly normal. Unlike fastballs, which go straight, or breaking balls, which curve at predictable angles, knucklers are erratic.
High quality athletes, the really good ones, the superb ones . . . naturally enter a trance-like state when they are in what is commonly referred to as "The Zone" . . . runners get the "runner’s high" and professional drivers become one with the machine with time slowing way down and hitters are able to feel the ball as they swing to meet it and others find their own zen-moments, including catchers with their knuckleball hypnosis.
The trick is to find a way to enter these states where time slows down and every move seems like the perfect one and reproduce that state reliably and consistently. A truly gifted natural athlete already enters a trance-like state, The Zone, when performing. The rest of us have to learn it. That’s where hypnosis comes in. When someone like Hsu Ming works with Taiwan’s Olympic class athletes or when I hae worked with performers, that is part of what we are doing. When I have worked with athletes or performers for my DTM, or Deep Trance Modeling, work, I have worked with them on "zone" states as well as modeling of others performing the skill sets they wish to work on and becoming one with those sets. Skill improvement accellerates at an exponential pace when compared to non-trancework practice.
Of course, hypnosis won’t do all the work for you. World class athletes have a LOT of natural talent, but they still have to do the work and get their butts out there and practice, perform, practice, evaluate, and practice, practice, practice. The best hypnotist in the world can’t hypnotize you to be what you are not by virtue of potential and practice. Sure, we can help you maximize your potential, but you still have to practice, of course, with hypnosis, you’ll enjoy the practice so much more!
