They may respond cardiovascularly, gastro-intestinally or muscularly. The athletes use feedback units while they mentally rehearse their routine. To monitor physiological relaxation. To identify stressful components of the athletic performance during imagery rehearsal. To facilitate concentration training.
Thoughts affect body.
In fact, performance can be highly affected by the self-talk of the athlete. Many athletes were unaware of the extent by which thoughts affect their physiology and performance. Yet, this concept is the foundation of many mental training programs, which focus on self-talk changes. Consequently, during the first phase of our two year program, we used a small portable EDR feedback device to illustrate this concept. In the group meeting with the 17 athletes, one of the athletes was attached to the portable EDR feedback device.