Visualisation

[tracethebass]

Does anyone here use visualisation as a learning technique?
I'm thinking about when someone does single form Juho in practice which by it's very nature has to involve an element of visualisation.

Am I making sense? Probably not.

I read about a Rugby player who was laid up for six months with an injury and spent time every day visualising his normal training routine. This apparently speeded up his recovery. What I want to know is if you visualise techniques does this speed up the learning process/acquisition of muscle memory?

Ta ta Tracey

[KempoCat]

its a tool that ive found useful many times.

i think its applicable to all aspects. even down to kihon, i always try to visualise my targets on the body. also an important aspect when doing something like tenchiken etc...

as for regarding the rugby player story, ive a similar tale. about two years or so ago, fell ill with some kind of virus affecting my heart, and subsequently in hospital for a couple of days. doctors at the time told me i was lucky to have lasted this long before going to hospital (i was in lying in bed for 4 days at home and didnt call anyone). anyway, when i was in hospital all i was visualising so to speak how i was ridding myself of the virus (sounds really silly, but i had nothing else to do, apart from listening to the muscial sounds of a flatulent man opposite me) - ended up the doctors let me go due to my fast recovery, and also because they were quite annoyed that i was wandering around the hospital and could never get hold of me when they were doing the rounds :laugh: i just made it in time to go to sensei's christmas party and scoff lots of food :D :D

on another note, its also very useful when im down the gym.. it always helps to visualise yourself doing the exercise, going through all the steps, imagining the senses of the equipment and the heavy breathing etc... keeps the mind focused on the task at hand, otherwise i just end up dropping lots of weights on my head :laugh:

[KempoCat]

o yeah,

i too have read that it helps speed up learning process and muscle memory aspects as well...

[Tripitaka of AA]

I use visualisation techniques virtually 100% of the time... ;)

and in my dreams it is proving 100% efective :karate:

[Uriko]

Me....

I fight/excersize/practice/etc. in my dreams ~_~

[tracethebass]

Further thoughts on this subject,
This from The Human Mind (Robert Winston)
" The neurons of the brain fire in the same pattern whether we are performing a task or whether we are just going throught the motions in our heads. For that reason many sports psychologists now teach visualisation techniques to their charges. The regular exercise of the related neural pathways cements the ability within the lower, unconcious regions of the brain."

Regards Tracey

[David Dunn]

Tracey, is it a good book? I've got a lot of time for Prof. Winston, even though he is a bit of a self-publicist.

Cailey suggested that it was a good way to practice for a grading when you can't do the techniques. That was in 1992 :eek:

[RickMatz]

What I've learned from my YiQuan practice about visualization is this: don't just run a picture of yourself in your head doing a technique, no matter how perfectly; rather imagine what it feels like to actually do it. Your muscles and nerves will actually respond.

[tracethebass]

Tracey, is it a good book? I've got a lot of time for Prof. Winston, even though he is a bit of a self-publicist.



It's a bit light, basically a research review with some entertaining anecdotes. The full title is "The Human Mind and how to make the most of it", however the latter part of the title was dealt with briefly in the last chapter and I'm still none the wiser (take fish oils, do crosswords... the usual). An easy read, I'm just trying to stop my mind turning to mush whilst on maternity leave (to much Balamory :eek: )
Regards Tracey

[KempoCat]

tracey, david,

since both of you are in the vincinity of university resources, have you checked out the athens site. there's actually quite a lot of material there to get more info from.

[David Dunn]

Felix, good point. What kind of journals?

[KempoCat]

best place to start is the British Medical Journals (BMJ) site.

others to try are; BIDS SilverPlatter PyscINFO service, Biomed Central and probably IngentaConnect... the latter tends to have journals on pretty much everything.

[Rakkis]

www.pubmed.org :)

[David Dunn]

Thanks Rakkis.

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