Peripheral Vision - See The Bigger Picture!

"I was seeing the ball clearly", "the goal just seemed so much bigger!", "I felt I couldn't miss a shot, with the way I was seeing everything".

Researchers have long known that perceptual awareness is vital if you wish to improve your game.

Cognitive psychologists tested athletes by asking them to look at circles of different sizes and pick which ones matched the size of an ordinary ball. Those that performed better in their sport tended to choose circles that were larger than the actual ball size. However, the poorer performing chose circles smaller than the actual ball size. 

The question rose: During a game are the better performers actually seeing the balls larger than they really are, thus able to strike the ball better?

Athletes actually stated that when playing well, they are seeing the ball much clearer and larger! This shows that performance is linked to perception and also suggests that the interaction between the mind and body are indelibly linked.

The same test was conducted with golfers. What were the findings? Research shows golfers that performed well were indeed seeing the cup larger than what it really was.

The Use of Expanded Awareness

Are You in Foveal Vision?

During play, even if you are not having a poor game, you are most likely using foveal vision or tunnel-vision, meaning that you will not be using the outskirts of your visual field.

When in foveal vision you activate the fovea centralis, which is situated in the centre of the retina, at the back of the eye. Because foveal vision is likely linked to the autonomic nervous system, which triggers adrenalin, its no wonder you will feel anxious, breathe shallow, have an increased heart rate and generally feel uneasy. Objects may appear smaller, you will likely expreience a low mood state and you will find it hard to judge distance, etc.

On the other hand, when you are using peripheral vision or expanded awareness - the outer extremes of your visual field - you are more like to have a much better experience.

The Much Sought After Peripheral Vision

It is my belief that the better performers mentioned above were most likely were in peripheral vision. It is very much the opposite experience of foveal vision. You will experience a calmness of mind, you'll see objects like balls as larger, you'll become more aware of your surroundings, and your body will feel more relaxed than when in foveal vision.

There is eveidence to suggest that you are in peripheral vision when you enter the 'flow state' or 'the zone'. And it makes sense, as those who describe being in the zone mention all the attributes of being in peripheral vision.


It's not an easy state to get into without practice but it can be achieved.

Learn how you can quickly get into peripheral vision and encourage flow state to improve your sport. Being in peripheral vision is vital if you wish to control nerves and anxiety, even outside of sport.

You can pick up my guided audio "State & Mind Control Sports Program", which takes you step by step, through each of the much sought technique. In no time you'll be able to quickly get into peripheral vision and raise your game to a completely different level.

• Easy Ways To control your anxiety as and when it happens
• How to spend Less Time worrying about nerves in sport and more time living your life
• The little know trick to increasing your confidence in seconds
• The one thing to avoid if you ever want to overcome caving in to pressure
• And much. much more

Sports & Health Performance Program

My program isn't just for those involved in sport, as the system can be used in health and business too. As an extra bonus, I have also included other techniques that you can combine and utilise alongside the peripheral vision program.

Imagine being able to rid yourself of  negative feelings and instantly becoming more productive, motivated and focussed, what would that be like for you? To have the ability to shake off a poor performance in your sport, what would you be saying to yourself? Imagine seeing how you would handle a tough situation at work, in a much more controlled effective way? Well, this will really be a fantastic opportunity for you to begin a journey into perception and state control.

The techniques discussed quickly help you to change your state and mindset, regardless of what situation you may find yourself in. It reaches into your unconscious mind to create the mindset you need to be that person you know you can be  by changing the structure of your perceived experience. See how this program will change your perception...instantly!

Click here to visit the downloads page and within minutes you can be listening to it. Plus, if you opt-in to my eLetter, you will also have access to a FREE gift.

Feel free to leave a comment below. I look forward to hearing from you.

Chris Thomas

The Mind Coach
You Too Mindbody Fitness

Boys v Girls: Boys Get Greater Rush from Caffeine Than Girls

Boys 1 - Girls 0

Coffee Girls?

It's official: Boys are better than girls! I know what you're thinking ladies...but I can't write those thoughts here. The age-old question goes on: Are boys better than girls? Well, that's not quite the question under review here...or is it? Among the many differences between girls and boys, add the effects from caffeine -- physiological, behavioral and subjective -- to the list.

Results of a double-blind, placebo-controlled, dose-response study of the response of youth to caffeine found that, in general, boys get a greater rush and more energy from caffeine than girls.

Boys also reported they felt that caffeine had a positive effect on their athletic performance. Girls didn't report on this issue.

The study, conducted by Jennifer L. Temple, PhD, a neurobiologist and assistant professor of exercise and nutrition sciences at the University at Buffalo, appears in the current (December 2010) issue of Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology.

"Our findings from this study and from our previous study suggest that boys and girls respond differently to caffeine," Temple says. "We are hoping that our findings from our studies on caffeine will help us to determine why males and females differ in susceptibility to drug abuse and respond differently to treatment."

The study involved 26 boys and 26 girls between the ages of 12 and 17. To take part in the research, the teenagers were required to have previous experience with caffeine but no adverse reactions, and not using hormone-based contraceptives, not smoking, not on any medication that could have adverse interactions with caffeine (e.g., methylphenidate) and were willing to visit the laboratory four times for 90 minutes each.

Participants were instructed not to drink caffeine 24 hours before each visit and to eat nothing or drink nothing but water for two hours before each visit.

On the first visit, participants completed a 24-hour dietary and physical activity recall, including how many caffeinated drinks they consumed, while parents completed a demographic questionnaire. Teens provided a three-millimeter saliva sample analyzed to make sure they had abstained from caffeine as required and weren't taking steroid hormones.

After researchers took baseline heart rate and blood pressure, participants drank a beverage containing 50 mg, 100 mg or 200 mg of caffeine, or one with no caffeine that served as a placebo. The order was randomized across the four visits for each participant.

Blood pressure and heart rate measurements were taken every 10 minutes during the first hour. The teens completed the behavioral checklist again and munched on snack food. After the fourth session, participants had their height and weight measured, and were debriefed about the study.

In addition to the general findings, the study revealed several differences in response to caffeine between girls and boys. Diastolic blood pressure increased and heart rate decreased as percentage of caffeine increased in males, but not in females. In addition, boys who were regular "high consumers" of caffeine showed greater increases in blood pressure than low-consuming boys.

"Caffeine is known to increase blood pressure, but the fact that it caused an exaggerated response in high-consuming males was a surprise, since at the time of measurement the amount of caffeine consumed by boys and girls was the same," says Temple.

"We would have predicted that high consumers would have developed some tolerance to the effects of caffeine and would have reduced responses."

When researchers examined eating behavior as a function of chronic and acute caffeine use, they found that high consumers of caffeine consumed more calories, protein and fat in their typical diet, and ate more high-sugar snack foods in the laboratory, compared with low-caffeine consumers.

The third and perhaps the most important question in this investigation focuses on the effect of caffeine consumption during adolescence on later use of legal or illegal drugs. That paper currently is in preparation.

University at Buffalo (2011, February 18). High-caffeine-consuming boys get greater rush from caffeine than girls. ScienceDaily. Retrieved

Leave a comment today!

Chris Thomas
The Mind Coach 

youtoo.mindbodyfitness.co.uk

First Friday Frenzy - Sports Practitioner Certificate Course April 2011

Normal Price £1550

For 24 Hours Only 
£100 Discount

You Pay £1450!

It's First Friday Frenzy!! As part of my gift to you, you can receive a discount of £100 off my NLP Practitioner Certificate Course, starting 15 April 2011. This offer is for 24 hours only, commencing at 3:50pm (GMT)  Friday 4th February 2011.

OK, I'm gong to be frank with you. Often when people offer these kind of discounts they'll try and blind you with a million persuasive words as to why you need to buy whatever it is they're selling. I'm not going to do that! 

I'm looking for the right kind of people for the certificate course, and yes, I want you to join because it is a great course and you will discover much about how your and others "thoughts" affects your outcomes (mind=thoughts=behaviours=outcomes) and how you can get your mind performing even better for you, on autopilot, whether in sport, health, family, business or personal improvement. That's it!

You'll need this code to receive your discount: firstfridayfrenzy_4april

Just copy & paste the code, it's simple.

Remember, this is valid for 24 hours only,

commencing at 3:50pm (GMT) Friday 4th February 2011

After that, it goes back to the Original Price

Click Here To Enter Your Discount Code

But hold on, that's just part of the gift we're giving you today. After all, this is First Friday Frenzy. It wouldn't be much of a 'frenzy' if I offered just the discount, now would it?

So in addition, and upon request, a small quota of people will receive 3 FREE mind performance consultancy sessions.

I know what you're thinking, "Supposing I live in Alaska and you can't get to me, what then?" That's not a problem. I offer the simple service of telecoaching, which costs you & I £0, absolutely nothing at all!

If you would like to take advantage of the free sessions just send an email to themindcoach@youtoo-mindbodyfitness.co.uk, entitled "First Friday Frenzy Free Sessions". Now there's a mouthful!

This offer must expire at the same time as the discount offer above and is only open to a small quota of people.

Of course, if you just want to join the course, without requesting the free consultancy, that's fine, please go ahead and book your place today. Or, if you just fancy receiving the free sessions, without booking the course, all well and good - just send me an email, as mentioned above.

Normal Price £1550

For 24 Hours Only 
£100 Discount

£1450!
Book Now

 firstfridayfrenzy_4april

Copy the above code

Follow the link below

and paste the code in, it's simple.

Remember, this is valid for 24 hours only,

commencing at 3:50pm (GMT) Friday 4th February 2011

After that, it goes back to the Original Price

Click Here To Enter Your Discount Code

Claim your place at 3:50pm (GMT) Friday 4th February 2011. 

That's all for this First Friday Frenzy, until next time! Thanks for stopping by.

Chris Thomas

The Mind Coach

Failure - What's Your Strategy?

You're feeling great. You notice that there's a bounce in your step, as you walk down the road. You're feeling much happier than normal. Then...you find yourself slowing down as you pass your most favourite location...the bakery shop. You can smell the wonderful aromas, wafting from inside, as you stare longingly at your favourite pastry. Without realising, you end up walking into the shop and before you know it, you've bought yourself not just one item but many. You don't know why this happens. It's not like you mean to do it!

You wake up and it's another day, just like any other, except your alarm clock has mistakenly gone off an hour earlier than normal. Laying there, you try to clear the cobwebs from your mind and try to figure out whether it's a weekday or the weekend. Alas, it's a weekday! And it's then you remember that you promised yourself you'd go for an early morning run to start your day. Amongst other things, you picture yourself half asleep running around your neighbourhood, as everyone else is tucked up in bed and it doesn't fill you with excitement. In fact, half an hour later you're still in bed in the land of nod again, after resetting the alarm to a more 'reasonable' time. You wake up feeling bad that you didn't stick to your plan and wonder why this always happens?

You have a presentation and just the thought of it fills you with dread. On a scale of 1-10, ten being 'Ok, I'm about to faint', you're at a 11! Your stomach begins to make noises, and tightens up. You begin to sweat as disquieting thoughts fill your mind. 'I can't do it!' you say to yourself. This upsets you because you really thought you could hold it together this time!

Have you ever been in a similar situation as the above? Not great is it? Why is it that when you want to do whats right, you seem to fall back into an old habit or way of thinking? How can you ensure that you'll not crack next time? The answer: Change your strategy!

Now, I'm not talking about walking down a completely different street, so as to avoid the bakery shop or changing your morning run to a lunchtime or evening one. I'm not even saying that you should seek help with your presentation. But hey, if you those kind of strategies help, then go ahead and do it.

No. The kind of strategies I'm talking about are the unconscious kind. The strategies that you've created that will lock you into the type of thinking and behaviours as loosely illustrated above. That they are unconscious means that we abide by them, often without a second thought, which can be dangerous. I've successfully helped clients change their strategies and they've found it of great benefit removing poor habits that they previously had, which they've desperately had tried to shift, but never could.

As you may have already discovered by other posts in my blog, we all absorb and filter information and experience through our senses, i.e. visual , audio, kinaesthetic, olfactory (smell) and gustatory (taste). How we perform and think about things are stored as strategies, using one or more of our senses.

For instance, using the example of the bakery shop above, you stand looking into the shop window (visual). You catch a waft of the aroma coming from inside the shop (olfactory). In your mind you may even feel like the pastry is literally 'calling' out to you (audio). Your tongue may actually begin to water (gustatory), as you continue staring (visual) at the food. Then finally you might say to yourself (this is self-talk) 'I need that pastry', so you walk in. When inside, the aromas (olfactory) of the cooked pastries may intensify, etc.

The same applies to the other two illustrations given. We run these strategies unconsciously and it's why we wonder 'why do I keep doing that?'. So, what's the solution? Change your strategies! How do you do that?

Just because your strategies are unconscious, it doesn't mean that they cannot ever be changed to serve you better. However, the process of doing so takes some skill. The secret is to find a strategy that you currently run, that works great for you, and replace the 'bakery shop' strategy (or whichever unhelpful one) with the more resourceful one.

It might sound complicated...and it is! I'm not going to lie to you. It involves eliciting each step of your behaviour, and using the mind to switch the strategies. But once accomplished it will bring you much joy, and peace of mind, as you create better unconscious 'autopilot' strategies.

We have strategies for many parts of our lives such as: love strategies, motivation strategies, buying strategies, strategies in sport and business, etc. 

So gone will be the strong desire to stop at the bakery store and the desire to buy some pastry. Gone will be the procrastination you used to have at the dawn of the day. Gone will be the intense feelings and thoughts you used to have when you had to deliver a presentation. Hmmm...What would that be like?


The Mind Coach

Feel free to leave a comment below. I welcome and appreciate your time!