FINAL. FOR SOCIAL MEDIA Hannah.Christy Podcast 2. Sports Hypnosis
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Christy: [00:00:00] Welcome back to another conversation with myself and Hannah. Hi. Before we dive in, I wanna set the stage for our listeners. So when people hear the word hypnosis, they often think of stage shows or they think of relaxation recordings, right? But in reality, you and I know that hypnosis has been used quietly for decades by elite performers, including athletes, to help them train their mind for focus, for confidence, for resilience.
And athletic performance isn't just physical. It's deeply mental. The unconscious mind influences our motivation, our pacing, our pain perception, and even how we respond to being fatigued or having our muscles be fatigued, right? So when athletes learn to use this part of their mind. Instead of fighting against it, something really interesting can happen, and that's where [00:01:00] Hannah, you took the last blog article and also this is something that you are doing in your real life right now.
Christy: So I'm so excited to talk to you about this topic of using hypnosis for mindset, for getting ourselves and our body in peak performance.
Hannah: So excited to talk about this today. And it's just another great example that hypnosis can really be used for so many things and things maybe you [00:02:00] wouldn't necessarily instantly go to, to think how helpful hypnosis could be.
But it has been so helpful for me for so many reasons and this achieving athletic performance is now one of them.
Christy: I love that. And I know that you likely got your blog idea from what you're going through personally with training for a couple of running events and some of our audience has chimed in that they loved that blog article.
So let's talk about that. 'cause in that blog you talk about unlocking peak performance by working with the unconscious mind rather than fighting against it. And I mentioned that a little bit in our introduction. And as hypnotist. We understand this distinction really well, but what does that really look like for you right now as you're starting to train for pushing your body a little bit more for these running events?
Hannah: Yeah, so I think for me, one key. Piece that's been really helpful is figuring out what actually are my roadblocks to begin with. [00:03:00] What is in my way, preventing me from reaching my peak potential for, in this case doing some running events and races and hypnosis has helped every single one of those to the point where they, I don't even think about them anymore.
They aren't really, aren't even issues. A couple, most of them really are mental for me. So one was this concept of, oh, I'm gonna be injured, I'm gonna train, and I will get, I'll get an injury at some point during this training, I'll get injured and maybe that will be the end of it. And then I won't be able to compete in this one event.
And so that was probably the biggest mindset shift for me that hypnosis helped with, and focusing more on my body is so powerful. My body is so capable, look what I'm able to do with it. And so that was the biggest reason why I sought out hypnosis [00:04:00] for this, is I realized that was initially the biggest hurdle for me personally.
Christy: What you're describing is so common, right? Like we all have worries. Like we, we look towards the future and we're like, what if I get hurt And what if this happens and what if I can't race on race day for whatever reason? And what you've been able to do is flip that, right? And we're taping this in March of 2026, so we just got through the Winter Olympics, right?
And if you're watching the Winter Olympics, you would see. The athletes with their eyes closed, rehearsing their ski run, perhaps rehearsing their success. They certainly didn't have their eyes closed and they weren't rehearsing their injury.
Hannah: Yeah.
Christy: So part of what hypnosis allows us to do is what's called mental rehearsal and visualizing our success.
And that's what you just gave some really great language to and. [00:05:00] How then are you using hypnotic imagery as part of preparing for your event or preparing even maybe for your weekend training? How are you using hypnotic imagery? Imagery? What does that look like?
Hannah: Great question.
Something that I do now every night before I go to bed, and or especially those nights before I do have a longer run or a more intense training session, or especially the night before a race. I did just have a race yesterday. That was fantastic. And I, the night before, remember getting into a hypnotic state and telling myself.
That I am gonna get such a great night's sleep tonight, and whatever amount of sleep I get is going to be exactly what my body needs. And no matter how many hours it is, I will wake up really refreshed and I'm gonna wake up with energy and wake up with [00:06:00] confidence, and I'm gonna have so much fun. And whatever the outcome is gonna be the outcome and it's gonna be really great and fantastic, and that's had an impact.
Not just on my mental performance, but I have better breath control when I run. Because I'm doing regular hypnosis, I am able to regulate my heart rate in a much more efficient way, and that also helps my physical performance. So there are so many added benefits of doing this hypnotic work that does translate physically as well.
So that's one of the ways that I am using that currently.
Christy: I love that you gave us such like real ways that you're finding that your mind is actually responding. When you're in the middle of a long run, you're noticing that you're breathing and your paced breathing is better.
That you have better control of your heart rate. Because [00:07:00] in your article you mentioned that the unconscious mind, and I guess just for listener's sakes. Hannah and I are both trained in Ericksonian style hypnotherapy and NLP, where we call that part of the mind that is not the conscious mind, the unconscious mind instead of subconscious, right?
So if you're listening and you're like, are they talking about subconscious mind? Is unconscious mind the same? The we're describing the same thing. It's. The part of the mind that has all of our habits, our motivation, our endurance lives there. And that's what you mentioned in your article, right? The unconscious mind plays that major role in our habits and in motivation in our endurance.
But what you gave voice to was how your unconscious mind actually has responded when you are actually in the middle of that long run, right? And so you go to bed at night and you're using hypnotic imagery. And basically placing some positive suggestions there. I'm gonna get enough sleep, my [00:08:00] body's gonna perform just like it should.
And the outcome for that is your body responds to those suggestions, right? So another question that I have, and maybe our audience has this too, you said, I put myself in a hypnotic state, right? Ooh, that's Do you get out the watch? Do you swing it back and forth? I know what people are like. How does she do that?
What does that look like? You and I, we know the answer to. But people who are still maybe a little skittish about the word hypnosis, how do you get yourself in a hypnotic state? What does that look like?
Hannah: Yeah. Such a good question. And it's gonna look different for everybody. And I think for me it looks different day to day.
Most recently, what that looks like for me is being in a nice, calm environment. So making sure I don't have any other distractions, making sure I'm in a safe, comfortable place in comfortable clothing. A really great time to do that is before bed because that's often when, hopefully most [00:09:00] of our distractions are out the way, out of the way.
And I personally tend to close my eyes and sometimes I'll put some. Relaxing music on, but often I just will sit in silence and start by focusing on my breath and my breathing and just first start off by noticing what is my breath actually doing? Does it feel labor? Does it feel like it's hard to take a deep breath?
And with no judgment, just noticing what that breathing is like and sometimes. It's the first breath I've really noticed that day and wow, what is my body actually feeling? And once I just notice that, then I will work to slow my breathing down and try and take some bigger, longer, more relaxing breaths.
And I then will go into, relaxing by body system. And so I always start at the top and I think about where is there any [00:10:00] tension in my forehead? And I'll even sometimes tense up my forehead and try and get all the lines like I'm frowning. And then really when I exhale, really feel that forehead relax.
And you can spend as much time as you would like depending on how much time you have and working on, going all the way down your body or just. Do it for a couple of minutes and work with some like large larger body groups. I am a big fan of a countdown and so I will, in my mind picture a really beautiful staircase and I have the same one pictured in my mind.
And that's often a way that we will help induce someone into a hypnotic state is by having someone imagine a staircase. Manmade or imaginary. And I imagine myself and say in my mind's eye, those steps counting down from 10 down to one with the intention that when I hit one, I'll be in a really relaxed, focused state.
And that's where I can help rewire parts of my brain that maybe need to be rewired. [00:11:00] And once I'm down in that space, I will go into those positive. Things that I want to have happen. So those positive suggestions, I'm gonna get really great sleep tonight. I am going to, and whatever it may be. For me it was, is focusing on, physical performance.
It might be, I'm gonna crush that work meeting tomorrow. I'm gonna pass that nursing test, I'm gonna pass my ncle, I am going to. Respond really thoughtfully to my kids. I'm going to, whatever it is. Really thinking about the way you want things to go and having them be, not just, I want this to happen, but really having it be in a present state like this is happening, this is going to happen.
And I usually will drift off to sleep. With repeating those affirmations to myself in my head. And so it's a beautiful [00:12:00] way to fall asleep. And that's how I wake up is thinking about those things. And it's almost like I wake up and I'm like, oh, I'm gonna, I'm gonna kill this run. This is gonna be awesome.
I got great sleep. I'm gonna have so much fun. And definitely takes a lot of the pressure off.
Christy: Yeah, I love that. So it takes the pressure off and. All hypnosis is self-hypnosis, right? So you are using this hypnotic experience on yourself. There's nothing strange about it. What I heard you say is you, that you take some deep breaths.
That sounds a lot like. Classic mindfulness, right? Just being mindful of our breath, you mentioned that might be the first breath that I've paid attention to all day, right? Because there's that other part of your mind body that is breathing for you all day. So you're focusing there. And then what you described as a traditional progressive muscle relaxation and kind of an active one.
You, you mentioned scrunching up your face and then allowing it to release, right? Very, a [00:13:00] very. Traditional cognitive behavioral tool, if you will, to help us get in into our body, right? Because we're so busy being human doers instead of human beings, right? And then there was the countdown, really traditional of just like preparing yourself for arriving more inward and even your language I heard like then I'm there, then I know I'm in my place where it's.
Safe and comfortable, and then you just start talking to yourself as if all of these things have already happened, and at the same time that you're doing that self-talk, I could see it in your face that you're also envisioning this happening, right? So if you're saying, I have a wonderful night's sleep, you are imagining waking up in the morning feeling refreshed and alert and ready for your run and whatever the mind starts to conceive, the body achieves right.
And this has been a secret, if you will, a secret right? That almost all athletes, all performers, right? Fantastic musicians [00:14:00] are going to have this mental rehearsal of doing great. And I loved how you gave some voice to other real life concepts 'cause we're not all like athletes or performers, right?
But I'm gonna, I'm gonna do great on this test tomorrow, right? See yourself actually getting a hundred percent or an answering all the essay questions in the alad amount of time, seeing yourself. Holding your cool when times get tough with your kids, if you're dealing with that. So we can use mental rehearsal outside of athletic performance, right?
Absolutely. And. The other thing that your blog that really talked about hypnosis in the flow state, right? You described like athletes being able to access this focused and you gave voice to that. You know that you're using the countdown to really get into your focused state and. You said in the blog focused almost effortless [00:15:00] state, right?
That sense of flow. So have you in your time using this for preparing for your running have you experienced more moments like that during your actual training where running starts to suddenly feel easier or more automatic? You talked about the breath and the heart rate, but is running itself like easier?
Do you find that flow?
Hannah: Oh, absolutely. It. Is so much more fun also, and I think we have all experienced this state of what I described as flow. And that may not, that term may not resonate for people. So I'll describe what that means to me. And that's when you're engaged in a task or activity and you don't, you lose sense of the time around you.
You're not staring at the clock waiting for this task to be over. You're not. Begrudgingly completing something because it's a task you have to do. It's where you feel light and you feel aligned in everything that you're doing. And so the running itself is so much [00:16:00] easier. My body feels stronger.
I previously, the last time I was training for running races was five years ago, and initially I was like my body is five years older. Is it gonna show, is it gonna be more difficult? Considering I have, I am five years older and my will, my body show it and my body feels. 50 times better than it did.
Christy: Oh,
Hannah: Than it did five years ago and five years
Christy: ago you weren't using hypnosis as one of the
Hannah: things in your tool. No, I was not using hypnosis and when I think about just, I think what it's most given me, which I'm most grateful for, is I don't stress about it anymore. I don't stress about doing a new experience of.
Of going to a race war by myself where I don't know people. And historically I would definitely have some anxious feelings around that of being somewhere new, of being by myself [00:17:00] of, what is this gonna be like? I don't know. I don't know what the course is gonna look like, or I don't know how I will do.
And that historically would, those thoughts would just circle in my mind. And I don't feel any of that. Anymore. And so the, there is, I would say, virtually no stress anymore in training or in performing. And my mindset is now when I, get to the end of the week and I have a longer run scheduled, I'm not spending the week thinking, oh, Sunday I'm gonna have to run six miles.
Now I'm gonna have to do this. It feels more. Exciting. It feels, oh I get to do this. My body allows me to do this really cool thing, and I'm filled with more excitement and gratitude. And I solely credit that honestly to hypnosis. You can have the right shoes, you can have the best trainers, you can go to the [00:18:00] best gym you can.
Have a nutritionist put all the right things together for you. But if your mindset isn't in the right place and you aren't working from this unconscious part of you, none of that really is gonna make a difference.
Christy: Gosh, it makes so much sense. And we use, we have. Physical coaches right?
To coach us into our strength performance. We might have nutritionists to help us balance how do we eat and maintain this level of energy. And is that secret sauce having a mental coach? And you and I we're in a group of how strong are we now? Eight nurses who also practice hypnosis and, I think.
Could reach out to one of us for that mindset coaching, right? If that's a component that the would-be athletes out there, or maybe it's been five years since some of our audience has run and they wanna get back to running or moving or test taking [00:19:00] better or taking care of the kids differently or musical performance, right?
This can be a really great tool that. We can coach somebody through, but more importantly, you've given voice to them. They do it themselves. It's like learning how to do this is something that then you're able to access that.
Hannah: Yeah. For anyone listening, if you're thinking about a topic or a problem that you may have or something like, oh, could hypnosis help with this?
I can almost say with 99% certainty that it absolutely can.
Christy: Yeah, absolutely. I can say that too, right? Oftentimes hypnosis, if we wanna try to explain it in a quick elevator pitch, right? We're motivational and meditative coaches, right? What we are, or some people say, even mindset coaches, but we know how to get in there and create motivation and how to leverage a sense of mental mindfulness or meditation in a way that [00:20:00] actually results in change.
'cause that's the difference between what you are starting to do when you just focus on your body and relax your body. And then when you start to shift into giving yourself those, affirmations. That's what changes the neuroplasticity, that's what changes the receptivity in our brain to go from, ah, like you said I'm not looking forward to Sunday.
That's gonna be really hard to instead just like your identity is now, I can do this right. I am, I'm not too shy to go and run a race and my body's gonna give me what it needs to do that. I love that. So thanks for spending time talking about this and we'll definitely post a link to the actual blog that you wrote for for this topic on bringing hypnosis to athletes.
Is there anything else? I'll give you the last word. What would you like to say? This is a passion project of yours.
Hannah: I would just like to say that. Anything is possible, and that may sound super cheesy [00:21:00] but I think there's a reason I didn't run for five years is because the way I was running didn't work for me and I was getting injured and there were things in the way.
And so nothing is too big to stop you from doing what you'd like to do.
Christy: Absolutely. And when is your big race? I know that you're, you've been doing some big things on the weekend. When is your, the event that you've been training for now?
Hannah: The thing with accomplishing things like that, it ends up feeling so good when you succeed.
And not even just in the metrics of did I run quickly and, how fast was I? But it just, that feeling of accomplishment is so rich and wonderful. But I signed up for two more races this morning, so I have another one. April, and then I have a half marathon I'm gonna do in October, so
Christy: Oh my gosh.
Hannah: May sprinkle a few more. So
Christy: wow. So you got that mindset in order and now your body is just taken [00:22:00] off and you're just like looking for more races. That's awesome. Cheers to you, girl. I love to see all that success and more importantly, I've known you for a little bit and it's also good to hear about how some of that other, those anxious thoughts that you would've avoided before are all.
Also by the wayside, like what is, what other use of a mind tool, like can, you're solving one problem and other problems just melt away. It's no longer a problem for you. So thank you so much for your talk today.
Hannah: Thank you. This was so much fun and I hope everyone listening finds some little gem in there that they can use.
Christy: I'm sure they can, and if not, listen to it again because you probably just missed it the first time. Yeah. All right.
Hannah: Amazing.
Thank
Christy: you.
Hannah: Bye.
