Vivid Visualization

Three examples.

I couldn’t send an email to Jeff Dean requesting that I interview with Brain. But then, surrounded by friends, I proposed that I just see myself going through the physical motions in intimate detail in my mind. And thought that if I could see it in enough detail that it looked real, that I could open my eyes and do it in reality as if I was still merely visualizing it. And it worked.
Josh Waitzkin broke his hand. For 3 months, he trained one-handed, and then repeated the training and workouts afterwards in his mind with his other hand. When the doctors took off his cast, all of his muscles were intact.
Mind gym recommends going into a vivid visualization of all of your great moments of play, as part of your ritual before games or practices.

Decomposition:

Choose a target of visualization
1. For example, from a list of ‘things that would be good if I did them that I’m only not doing do to fear / aversion’.
Visualize the experience
1. Thoughts on how to do it -
  1. Slowly, moving through it at half speed
  2. Seeing many parts of the experience in intimate detail
  3. Zooming in on parts of the experience
  4. Repeatedly, say 10 times - more times than you think you need to have done it. Overkill it until the action will be easy.
Realize that reality is just another visualization.
Visualize once more in reality.

Sources: Mind Gym Art of Learning

Sleeping Technique:

Relax the muscles in your face, including tongue, jaw and the muscles around the eyes
Drop your shoulders as far down as they’ll go, followed by your upper and lower arm, one side at a time
Breathe out, relaxing your chest followed by your legs, starting from the thighs and working down
You should then spend 10 seconds trying to clear your mind before thinking about one of the three following images:

You’re lying in a canoe on a calm lake with nothing but a clear blue sky above you
You’re lying in a black velvet hammock in a pitch-black room
You say “don’t think, don’t think, don’t think” to yourself over and over for about 10 seconds. The technique is said to work for 96 per cent of people after six weeks of practice.