The Performance of a Lifetime
Note: This article is a case study of how to use performance psychology - specifically a visualization layering technique - in real time with an elite athlete at a high stakes event with a series of performances. It documents the steps in how I worked with Mary McCormick, an Equestrian performance vaulter at the 2010 World Equestrian Games held in Kentucky.
Mary and I sat down outside the barn on a patch of grass and began to focus. We weren’t even distracted by the clattering sounds of the eventing horses trotting by, four to a cart. They worked hard, bring riders and navigators back from practice runs.
Her compulsory performance was in a few hours. It was the first of her four high stakes events happening in sequence, over as many days. Mary felt a little nervous, by her own admission. We started our formal mental training work with a discussion of how nervousness isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Was she “nervous” or “excited?” I knew she could separate the two emotional states, as she’s probably the most positive, fit, and motivated athlete I have ever known.
Once we established she was “excited”, she calmed down. I love irony. Once you feel and face what you fear, it loses its power over you. Personal power takes charge.
Over her four events, Mary and I layered her mental training. The essence of my layering technique is to create a stable foundation, build on it for each new experience, and save the “fairy dust” for the final event.
That magical quality creates a hush in the crowd and produces a timeless moment when performer, stage, and audience become one. The crowd quiets to fully capture its essence, knowing it will never happen again.
The four layers, corresponding to her four events, went something like this:
Create a foundational state of mind, body, and spirit, based on her goals, and use that for the first compulsory event.
Once positively executed, use that state as a basis for her second event, the first round freestyle, where she focused on flowing from one element to the next
Her third event, the technical test, built upon her success in round two, and we allowed this to be her most focused performance so far.
Her final event offered the opportunity to surrender to the moment. She would do something she had never done before.
For her initial compulsory event, we focused on visualizing feeling comfortable in the large arena with Carolyn, her longeur, and her horse, Sir Anthony Van Dyck. I wanted her to feel the supportive connection between all three of them.
First, we released stress in her body with simple breathing techniques, clearing the way for positive visualization and creativity. I used an NLP technique (sub-modality mapping across) to create and intensify her expectation of success for the trio: Van Dyck, Carolyn, and Mary herself. Then I had her find a past experience, whose positive feeling she wanted to experience during the first performance. She actively applied that feeling (her performance state) to our light hypnosis with creative visualization. As she visibly relaxed and showed a hint of a smile, I knew we were on the right path.
I asked her to tell me how she felt about today’s compulsory performance. She answered that she was focused on being in the NOW. She ended up adopting this focus as her approach for the whole games.
Her first performance and scores were excellent: a perfect springboard for more success.
Mary felt confident in her second event, the freestyle. She didn’t even want to see other competitors or hear where she placed as she went along. Her focus was to experience, not quantify or document. Trained as a gymnast, Mary had a tendency to rush between moves, and on a cantering horse, this habit translates into bobbles. To improve that aspect of her performance, she wanted to let herself be more controlled, yet graceful and fluid, as she completed one move and flowed, catlike, to the next move. Van Dyck’s predictable canter was the perfect stage.
We mentally prepared her for this layer by accessing her first successful go at the Games. She was now anchored in a positive association with Carolyn and Van Dyck, and trusted their collective ability to perform seamlessly. We started from the premise of confidence and resolution and proceeded from there. I also knew she would be repeating this freestyle in the final round (I felt confident she would advance), and I wanted to save something special for that last performance. My approach was to access a fluid state in her, and I even used words alluding to water and feline grace as we visualized this performance from a more relaxed state. She was slightly nervous, although excited, and we reframed all that into available energy. I suggested she vault on Van Dyck as his lady, elegant and graceful. This visible connection between the two of them would continue throughout the competition.
I watched her warm up on her beautiful and serene horse, the old man of the group. His joy was palpable. Mary’s face was just as calm as his gait, and I found myself mesmerized by her extreme fitness and lithe movements along his musculature. I checked in non-verbally to make sure she was okay. My instinct told me she was fine and to just watch for any blips to smooth out as I watched from the edge of the white fence outlining her side of the warm up arena.
Mary, Carolyn, and Van Dyck ran into the arena to loud cheers and fluttering U.S. flags; Mary was a favorite. The crowd roared as Lenny Kravitz’s American Woman boomed from the speakers. Its strong vocals and driving beat allowed Mary, an expert technician, to hit each move right on time, every time. I could still see room for more passion and expression, for more surrender to the moment. We would add this to the final freestyle routine two days later.
Mary was ecstatic about her performance thus far, and she maintained her composure and elegance as she advanced into the final round. We built our mental training for her technical test around the two performances already accomplished: trust in her environment (the trio), while embracing her ability to be a technician, AND flow from one move to the next. We then added another layer of being fully present in her body and of being focused, aware of each moment on the horse.
To create this layer, once she had closed her eyes and was relaxed and focused, I had her go into the positive memory of her last performance, the crowd-pleasing piece to American Woman. She could feel Van Dyck securely supporting her feet and hands. She felt confident, an easy certainty coming over her as the performance unfolded and her moves flowed together. I asked her to choose a feeling as a resource – she chose the sensation of Van Dyck under her feet, solid and graceful, and kept that with her as she visualized her next resource.
Since we wanted to add the element of focused movement to her next performance, the technical test, she needed to that type of movement as a resource. She easily brought to mind a time in a dance class where she remembered moving seamlessly, not needing to think or analyze. I had her associate into the that memory, getting into her body to feel, see, hear, and know everything about that memory. (It’s not necessary to have the perfect memory, just that the person really believes it’s a valid one, and has chosen it herself). She could feel how every movement originated from her innermost self, the place inside her that loved to move, and did so without hesitation. Focus came easily in that memory and created a light feeling of warmth in her core.
To blend her resources thus far, I asked her to have her deeper mind find a way to combine the solid feeling of Van Dyck with the warmth in her core. She did so, silently, as the result was a non-verbal connection between her deeper mind and her conscious mind. A slight nod of her head told me she had successfully combined the anchors.
I suggested she keep the combined anchors with her, holding the feeling in her body as her mind cleared and made way for a future memory to be created. I asked her to visualize her next go, the technical test, while remaining aware of the feeling the combined anchors gave her. Her performance flowed in her mind’s eye, small micro-movements in her body telling me she was engaged. As her face brightened and I could tell she had taken in the essential information, I brought her back to the moment. She was ready.
Mary’s performance was brilliantly executed, and her inner knowledge of expressive movement within the context of a demanding and technical performance came through naturally. She showed poised confidence, and moved more fluidly than I had ever seen her move before. It had simply been necessary to have her realize that type of movement was natural to her, and that she could use it at will. Van Dyck was in his element. I noticed he was becoming more confident, eager to perform, and easy in his gait. He was mirroring Mary in her development through the competition.
The technical test was Mary’s best performance to date. And … we knew there was more, a potential yet unrealized, new magic to be experienced.
The day of Mary’s final round freestyle, Van Dyck was in his stall, peaceful, yet eager to show the world what he could do for his Mary. This was Van Dyck’s singular opportunity to participate in the World Games. For over 20 years, his life had primarily been limited to the Frankel Farm in Woodside, California. Those of us who knew him have always seen him as a mature and world-class animal, undoubtedly capable of rising to the occasion to carry a U.S. athlete to the top of the podium. This was his chance. I could sense it in his movement, and I could see it in the way he was carrying his regal body. His own micro-movements told me his deeper mind was preparing for the final round of the women’s event at the World Games. Even when his grooms were preparing him for his and Mary’s performance, he willingly offered his full mane for braiding. Elegantly powerful and handsome beyond belief, his “of course” attitude moved me. I felt free to go check on Mary.
We wanted to bring passion, focus, and surrender to the moment to Mary’s final freestyle performance. Although energized from the last performance, her intention was to focus on her experience, not the outcome. She remained oblivious to the others’ performances so she could pay attention to her own. Mary had found a bubble of peace in which to reside during the games.
I found her, smiling by herself outside the barn in a peaceful corner, and I felt certain she would bring her magic to the final hour. I reminded her she was about to not only have an experience, she was going to share it with the entire audience. She was going to create the hush, the moment where time stands still and you are grateful you are exactly where you are. It would be a beautiful collaboration between vaulter, horse, and longeur.
How do you tell the deeper mind to create magic? You bring everything into focus and tell it to be here NOW. First, we had to get her to access her passion for the sport, her love for Van Dyck, and her confidence in Carolyn. I had her go back to her last three performances, create and keep the anchors, and find a way to have all of them be one combined anchor of her positive past experiences at WEG thus far.
With that anchor activated within her awareness, I had her get in touch with how she felt about Van Dyck, knowing he embodied the passion and present time awareness she was wanted in her performance. His non-verbal communication was a perfect vehicle for her to access, since, obviously, a vaulting performance is just that – a physical and non-verbal experience. His state would be her fourth resource. Feeling the harmony with him would provide the magic we sought.
She went to a time when she remembered Van Dyck performing at his best, powerful and focused. Then I had her imagine she was in his body, moving as he moved, feeling his emotions as her own. I had her morph into standing on his back, vaulting with ease, grace, and the power of his animal instincts. She fell in love with him all over again. It was easy to find an anchor in that feeling, which she combined with her other three anchors. She found an energy that held it all together, yet allowed her to move fluidly with grace and ease. She then visualized her final freestyle from this state of mind and body. It was already magical.
I watched Mary, now standing in the tunnel, with Carolyn, holding her fine whip, and Van Dyck, his soft brown eyes aware and focused. The moment held a rich excitement that melted my heart. I knew that was how Mary was feeling – calm, easy, and in love with the moment.
Often, when I watch a performance, I get a little jittery. There was none of this in me as I watched Mary perform her freestyle. I only felt joy, pride, ease, and the complete and total expectation of her surrender to every moment, in harmony with Van Dyck. Mary captivated the entire audience for one flawless minute; time stood still as we all moved and breathed together with her effortless performance.
When Mary exited the arena after her scores, followed by cheers and smiles, she beamed like a satisfied champion. She said, ”That was the freestyle of a lifetime.” Thank you for sharing it with us, Mary. You are the best.
Mary placed 4th overall in the women’s individual vaulting event (.002 away from the bronze medal). Her final performance at the World Equestrian Games won the final freestyle round over the UK favorite, who earned the overall gold medal.