While Mark and Jill hold the fort I've had the tough task of chatting to some scratch golfers about what makes their game great. As I live in Scotland, where you can't turn a corner without tripping over a golf course and where the golf courses have some of the most breathtaking scenery in the world, it's been a tough job I can tell you.

I've been watching golfers and other sportsmen for our new HypnosisDownloads.com section on Sporting Psychology. Whether you swing a golf club, enjoy some weekend tennis or baseball, go jogging, power walking, mountain climbing. we all seek to improve our sporting performance at one time or another.

But sometimes it seems that the harder we try the worse our game gets. Actually, that's not as strange as it seems. What's happening is our conscious mind gets in the way and starts issuing instructions about how we stand, grip the racket - bat or club. Telling us to remember all those tips we picked up from the coach or on that video we bought.

Peak performance requires no thoughts
Yet peak performance involves 'not thinking'. If you watch really good sportsman they often seem to make it look effortless and, on one level (a mental level), it is. They've reached what we call a 'flow state', where they are unaware of themselves and have simply become one with game.

It is an intensely satisfying state that can be reached in any number of situations - not simply when you play a sport. And these periods of flow happen at points of low brain activity. This can be achieved through hypnosis and when we do achieve it we are at our most relaxed, our most creative and most capable of visualizing what we want to be.

You can be 'in flow' socially - that exact opposite of those occasions when you feel self-conscious. In fact, deeper psychological problems can also be viewed as conditions where individuals become hyper aware of what they're feeling and how they interact with people. And hypnosis can be a powerful tool to counter that awareness and the negative impact it can have.

Visit our Sports Psychology section to see how you can improve your flow.