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Visualization is the most underused technique in all of the mental skills and techniques one could develop to improve their pitching.
Visualization or Imagery is training your mind to see your positive results before they happen. These techniques are used far more often than people think in everyday situations.
Thinking about a job interview before it happens. Thinking about a job interview AFTER it happens. Thinking about how you may ask someone out on a date and playing possible scenarios out in your mind.
Here are a couple of ways to use the concept of visualization in baseball: Understand that your mind is like an instant replay system. It works especially hard after a performance is over. Usually replays negatives. Your mind saves the images your replay system plays and tells your body to react much the same way the next time you are in a similar situation. This is why slumps last so long. An athletes instant replay system is shorting out and saving dozens of negative mental clips.
The key is to create a positive image bank for your instant replay system to play over and over. Once this happens your body begins to expect the results your mind is projecting. The more positive the images in your mind, the more positive the results your body experiences You can best utilize your replay system:
a.When you have a positive result, replay it a few times
b.When you have a negative results (walk, home run allowed, a loss, blown save) replay it again with a different ending.
c.The key is consistency in this area. The skill is simple, but takes a lot of patience to make it second nature.
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