023: Hypnosis for Athletes with Dr. David Spiegel

Today on the Limitless Athlete Podcast, you’ll be listening to a conversation I had with Dr. David Spiegel. Dr. Spiegel is one of the United States’ most respected experts in the clinical uses of hypnosis. He is associate chair of psychiatry and behavioural studies at Stanford University. He has over 40 years of clinical research.

This conversation is all about hypnosis for two kinds of athletes, those who want to address their baseline mental health - so addressing sleep, stress, anxiety and the like - and those who want to unlock new levels of performance.

What I discovered through researching this podcast and having this conversation is that many of the tools we dismiss instantly are hugely valuable assets. I had always considered hypnosis as some form of trickery.

In Dr. Spiegel's words though, all we’re doing is accessing a different state of consciousness of intense absorption. You can use this pliable state of consciousness to enhance your mindset in ways that wouldn’t normally be accessible to you.

We’ll also cover some of the foundations of hypnosis and what to look for in a good practitioner, as well as how to utilise self-hypnosis