Mental Preparation

Mental preparation is what we do to psyche ourselves into, or out of, a skydive

"Those who believe they can and those who believe they can't are both right."
Anon

All skydivers at every level mentally prepare and visualise before a skydive. Even if just doing a pass at low altitude on their own, they think through the exit, maybe something to do in those few precious seconds of freefall and hopefully the deployment sequence with safety procedures. Experienced skydivers will do this kind of preparation so automatically they probably don't even realise it's happening.

But mentally preparing before a more intricate or demanding skydive requires greater prior planning and structure if it is to be beneficial.

What is visualisation? We can practice a lot on the ground by dirt-diving the sequence of a skydive. But by using visualisation after the dirt-dive, it is possible to see in your mind's eye the pictures and sensations of that skydive. Most if not all skydivers use this technique to great effect when mentally reviewing a skydive on the ride to altitude. But to really use it to its fullest potential, even to the point where you feel it is a skydive you have actually done before, requires practice. This 'deja vu' of a skydive gives added anticipation, precision and confidence to your moves.

Photo by Keith Larrett

One way to achieve this level of focus is to start by visualising something you do everyday, walking from your bedroom to the front door for instance. See and feel every footstep, take in the pictures hanging on the wall, shadows, lights, sounds of the creaking floorboards etc. This is a relatively simple and uncomplicated task. From this you can expand the journey to include walking down the street to the car, starting the car and driving off. It's not important what the subject matter is, it's the degree of focus of the visualisation.

You may find that initially it's hard to keep that train of thought going uninterrupted for any period of time. But with regular practice over a few weeks quite detailed and lengthy daydreams can be made. This training of the mind to picture events happening is a prerequisite for both mental preparation and visualisation.

Sometimes when visualising it's possible to encounter a momentary lapse of concentration or brain lock. If not recognised this can start you panicking, especially if you're just about to climb out and start the skydive. This usually occurs if you've been overdoing the amount of mental preparation or repetitions or if you try to "see" too much. The best thing to do is relax and focus on what caused you to stall. That way you can see it's not that you have the memory span of a goldfish and you're going to blow the skydive, rather you can fix it.

When visualising, try to follow these golden rules:

• see yourself only doing perfect moves
• focus on the things you need to do (rather than not what to do!)
• keep the visualisation relatively simple (to avoid information overload)
• visualise for short periods at regular intervals (don't overdo it, you can only concentrate for so long).

What is mental preparation?
There you are running in at altitude for your first 3 second delay, first AFF skydive, Category 10 qualifying skydive, round one of the Nationals or World Meet. You're stressed, "I really hope I don't screw up, I'm not looking forward to that move, I'm going to look stupid here." Sound familiar?

Mental preparation is what we do to psyche ourselves into, or out of, a skydive. We can visualise the whole skydive perfectly and then blow it by focusing on negativity and feeling tense or tight. So how do you prepare yourself to perform at your best?

Finding your arousal level
Take a minute to think back to your worst ever skydive. How did you feel just before that skydive?
Make a note of what you felt your energy level to be.

Now think back to your most excellent skydive and do the same test. Did you notice much of a difference? Would you prefer to skydive at that latter level?

So with the knowledge of what energy or arousal level you feel most comfortable at, you can lift or calm yourself accordingly. If you are too tense (arousal level too high) you need to find a way to relax and reduce the level to your optimum. If you are so laid back that you are almost asleep, you need to increase your arousal level in order to be able to focus.

How to do it
There are several different ways to get yourself psyched for your skydive, the important thing is to find what works for you.

Listening to music
I've found that by listening to different types of music before getting into the aircraft I can direct my arousal level for the skydive. On training camps or competitions, I have four specific tapes which I listen to. These tapes pretty much cover the range of arousal level from 1-10 for me and just a few minutes listening is usually enough. Luckily our team's taste in music is identical but beware you don't alienate other people by playing Rage Against the Machine on your boogie box at full blast, get a Walkman.

Use of keywords
LOOK - REACH - PULL

The power of auto suggestion from keywords has been used in skydiving for many years. Keywords can both mentally and physically prompt us to react in a controlled way. By choosing between one and four keywords (more and the impact is lost) you can generate the focus and energy you need.

Repeat these three words to yourself for ten seconds:
SMOOTH - PRECISE - CALM

Now try this:
FAST - EXPLODE - PUSH

Did you notice any change in your breathing or heart rate? Keywords are only really useful if they are simple, positive and personally meaningful. The best time to use this technique is usually on the ride to altitude or just prior to climbing out.

Controlled breathing
Our arousal level is also related to our breathing and heart rate. So, by controlling our breathing we can directly influence our degree of alertness or relaxation.

Usually when we become tense, our breathing rate will increase and become shallow. This is the body's natural defense mechanism, 'Fight or Flight', coming into play. By focusing on slow breathing it is possible to slow the heart rate and calm the mind. This can also be used to great effect in the skydive as well.

Physical relaxation
Lie on your back with your arms and legs by your sides. Take 5-10 minutes to systematically work through the body's muscle groups, tensing the muscles before completely relaxing them. Once your body is relaxed, you should find a calming affect on your brain has also taken place.

Imagery
Imagining yourself in a situation which makes you feel comfortable, this is where your powers of visualisation really come to the fore. Such imagery could be anything from lying on a beach in the sun, to dancing your heart out at a party. By placing yourself in that past situation, the ambiance can be captured and the stress or tension displaced. Not only does such imagery help you relax, it can help put the skydive in perspective.

Putting it all in perspective
This basically falls into two categories:

• the skydive
• you

It can be so easy to make the skydive into some monster with tasks that appear impossible or threatening. But everything can be broken down into its component parts and from there, similarities to exits, skydives or moves you've done before. What's the difference between docking 4th to docking 150th? - surprisingly little, it's still about a good approach pattern, docking on a level with no momentum and maintaining fall rate. Yet it's surprising how given a chance we can give ourselves the idea we've never done anything like it before!

How many category 10 skydives have you seen or been on where only one point is accomplished yet on the 3-way before that you turned 5 or 6 points. It's not the complexity of the moves, it's the thought that all eyes are on us, "This is a really important skydive, I don't want to let anybody down, I mustn't screw up" scenario. At times like this it's good to look objectively at ourselves. Is it the end of the world if I don't perform perfectly? Will I be a failure as a human being? Will my friends honestly think less of me? Will I think less of myself?

After all, we skydive for fun. We should place ourselves in an environment where it is okay to make mistakes, it's all part of the learning curve. It's not about being perfect but about being positive.

"Argue for your limitations and sure enough, they're yours."
Richard Bach

Working out a personal plan
Armed with all this information you can now start working on your own plan! To give you an idea, here's a plan I use based on the methods and techniques already discussed. However, we're all individuals, so experiment and find out what works best for you.

1) First I work out the skydive using the PAKSS system (see April 1996 issue of SP Briefing & Debriefing).

2) Once the 'puzzle' is logged in my head, I start visualising the moves of the skydive and keep repeating the names of the formations e.g. Meeker, Offset, Bipole 540 Bipole, Adder. I start to then build a complete sequence from getting into the door at altitude to tracking off laughing and smiling (it was my best ever skydive!) This sequence can take anything from 2-20 minutes to construct depending on energy, concentration levels and the complexity of the skydive.

3) Then I relax, completely switch off from the skydive and assess how I'm feeling regarding energy, concentration and mood. Using music, key words, imagery etc., I get myself back on the right track.

4) If there is a wait before boarding the aircraft then I will alternate my focus between visualising the skydive and keeping my energy levels up. At this stage I won't do more than one run through every ten minutes or so.

5) On the climb to altitude I will go through the skydive about three times focusing for about 60 seconds each time; once after takeoff, once at about halfway, then a final run through a minute or so before exit. From about halfway I also focus on my arousal level and deal with any negativity or tenseness. This is where I use keywords, imagery and controlled breathing.

6) On run in, I totally clear my mind of everything, I aim to be totally calm, focusing on the 'right now' rather than what could happen or other outside distractions.

Taking this 'right now' focus into the skydive also switches you off from problems or glitches which may occur as the skydive progresses. After all, you can't change what has just happened and worrying about it or feeling you have to catch up won't improve the rest of the skydive; in fact, quite the opposite! Hopefully, if you've used the suggestions for mental preparation, you will have the optimum arousal level and your 'right now' will be spot on.

"Do what others say you cannot do and you will never pay attention to their limits again"
James R Cook

Article by Toby Stafford
TobyStafford@compuserve.com

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