“USING ‘VISUALIZATION’ TO CREATE RESULTS!”

“USING ‘VISUALIZATION’ TO CREATE RESULTS!”

(“Using the Power of the Mind to Get what you Want! Part II”)


Somewhere along the line in all my martial art training and empowerment explorations, I learned about the power of visualization. I can’t quite recall how or from whom I learned the techniques from, and I cannot truly explain in a scientific way, why the process I’ve used truly works. But I eventually learned to use it to my benefit, over and over again for the last twenty some-odd years.

The results have proven unbelievably powerful! It was the determining factor with winning a gold medal in the 1988 Olympics when I had a debilitating injury.

It helped me overcome immobilizing fear when performing stunts, like a car-hit as a Stuntwoman on a Hollywood film.

Visualization enabled me to work through severe and debilitating pain and extreme temperatures when on stunt jobs.

And most importantly to me, it was the prominent factor with me learning to rise up from the ashes of child-hood to discover freedom, peace of mind, prosperity, and happiness.

Of course, being the very human and imperfect person that we all are, I need to develop and use this proven power, much, much more often! So my message to you today, is also a reminder and rehearsal of what I, myself am working on currently.

Now, have you ever wanted something so very bad? Yet just before you felt you might achieve it, the ‘floor felt out from under you?’ Have you ever struggled day and night, week after week, month after month for that goal, only to realize that it was not possible?

Well, guess what? We are MUCH stronger and powerful than many of us ever learn that we are! We just need to learn to USE that power for our benefit.

For example, our United States Taekwondo team arrived in Seoul, Korea two weeks before the Games, to do the final, most important training before our competition was to begin. Unfortunately, I had sustained a back injury at the Olympic Team trials a month and a half beforehand.

Although I had tried all kinds of modern medicine, sports medicine, and holistic remedies, the injury had gotten progressively worse. All of the doctors agreed, that the only thing that would help, was rest. But, there was no way I could do that, and have a chance of winning! By the time we arrived in Seoul, the pain was excruciating.

During our third practice in Seoul, we were doing a kicking drill where each of our teammates held a kicking pad at different heights, and one by one we would run the gauntlet of pads, kicking and screaming like banshees. When it was my turn, I started out kicking ferociously. “Hey…this was the Olympics…I was going to do this!” I was doing fine, until I came to the very last high kick.

As my foot reached for that pad, a lightening bolt of pain shot through me and dropped me to my knees in tears and agony. As my coach and teammates turned aside, I gingerly picked myself up, and limped off to the side. It was obvious to all of us that my Olympic dream was over before it even began! I was devastated!

That night, I agonized over this dilemma. This was the Olympics! I couldn’t just give up! I have sacrificed so much to be here! Yet, what could I do?

I knew that If I didn’t train these two weeks, I knew that, even if I could compete I would feel unprepared…and I knew that ‘mental’ negativity would interfere with my determination!

It was later that night, after hours of torturous twisting and turning in bed, I came up with a plan of action…or in-action as it turned out. I would practice by visualizing the things that I needed to work on!

So that’s what I did. For the remaining days before our competition, while everyone else practiced physically, I practiced mentally. I would find a quiet place, sit, meditate and visualize my attacks, and my counters. I saw myself executing everything with perfect precision and timing. I saw myself winning match after match!

As the morning of my competition dawned with my back rested enough to compete, I felt it in my spirit that I was ready for competition! When my first match was halfway over, I knew that although my body was not 100%, my positive mindset made up for it. As I faced my toughest opponent (Chinese Taipei) in the semi-finals, I knew in my heart, that I was good enough to win.

When my hand was raised after my final match to let everyone know I’d won the Olympic Gold, I smiled to myself, because I realized that I was, indeed, a winner. I had faced my fears, and overcome the limitations of my mind!

That was the first major result I gained from a simple visualization technique. Since then I have used it repeatedly in many different scenarios. In my next note, I will go into how YOU can start creating results with YOUR internal power…through visualization!

Dana's Olympic fight and win on Youtube ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44gy17PKDnk )