I was in my 30s. I had a small business I was running. A friend of mine, Carlos , who I met in a ping pong club, had a younger brother in the minor league baseball team. Carlos knew I had seriously increased my ability at ping pong after I rose to the top of our little club after being a below average player the year before. I attributed all my improvement to my decision to trust Dr. Maltz and his teachings. I had used it before in my life, with less than stellar success, but some things are very easily visualized. Hitting a cross table top spin backhand is an ideal visualization goal.
Carlos' brother, Flaco was in a slump, having gone 2 for 19 at bats. Carlos and I would attend all the local games, and some away games. I had told Carlos that his brother, Flaco should read Psycho Cybernetics by Dr Maltz. However, reading was not something the younger brother was interested in. I volunteered to narrate if he would close his eyes and follow my words. I didn't read the book to him, but I recited exactly how I would talk to myself if I had been Flaco. When he finally agreed, I made his improvement my personal goal. I spent one hour in the morning and 30 minutes right before each game for several of his next games. I even took time off of work when I had to. I used theater of the mind and third party visualization. I was conducting therapy and unaware of it. At the time, I was just helping the brother of my friend realize his goal of being able to remain a minor league player.
It really is hard to find a word which reflects how Carlos, Flaco and I all reacted after the snowball effect began. The snowball effect is a phrase I use to describe the feedback loop which occurs after successful visualization. In essence, the therapy helped Carlos' brother to slow down and see the pitches coming at him as if they were happening in slow motion. As he began to see unexpected positive results, Flaco began to realize that visualization has power that no other practice can match. This realization enabled the attitude of KNOWING that the visualization was the reason for his improvement, and of course, he knew he could hit the ball, where before, during his slump, he was questioning his ability to play at the minor league level, now he was sure he was heading to the major leagues. Flaco actually hit 4 for 4 at bats with a home run and a double in one of the first games after the snowball effect kicked in. I will never forget the look of hope in his face after that game!! He finished that season with a batting average over .300, where it was near .220 before our sessions began. Most of what I did for Flaco involved silencing that little voice in his mind that kept telling himself "These pitches are coming too fast to hit". Small change, huge results. He went on to the major leagues and played for over three years, until an injury ended his career.
I never charged Carlos' brother for a single session, as for me it was a friend helping a friend. It actually didn't occur to me to charge him. I also loved to watch baseball games, especially the feeling that would come over me when Flaco would go to bat and smack another single or double. It was worth all my time. Word got around and I would work with other players in exchange for tickets to pro games and whatever they had to trade.
I sometimes would recommended the book, yet most athletes just couldn't make it work by reading the book. My first actual paying client was a major league pitcher. He lowered his ERA significantly, and soon, he sent more business to me than I could handle as a part timer. It turned out that most retired ball players play golf. And golf is just like ping pong, a perfect candidate for visualizing. I loved the success. It was mine, yet it wasn't mine. I became addicted to helping people. And Maxwell Maltz gave us the blueprints in his masterpiece.
I was working on my farm and working for two companies part time. I always helped athletes as a sideline, until I retired from both in 2011 and dedicated my time to helping more athletes full time while still working the farm . This continued until the lavender farm I had been working was destroyed in 2016 by wildfire which wiped out 6 years of planting lavender. The entire property which I had been improving since 2010 when I purchased it was destroyed. Three homes, and all the farm buildings gone!! I was glad I had the therapy clients to keep me busy.
In 2020 I moved to the Midwest from California and now enjoy the rural life. I also achieved my hypnotherapy certification since moving from California. I still travel to the Bay Area of California, and to spring training in Arizona. I have personally helped more than 110 professional athletes with my methods. I have helped dozens of college athletes as well. I have helped amateur golfers lower their scores, chess players increase their ranking, pilots pass their check ride, poker players, wrestlers, various olympians, the list is long. I have donated my services to many people and have seen similar success rates among all my therapy clients.
While in California, I had the opportunity to meet amazing people across many fields. My work brought me into contact with medical doctors who were on the front line with patients whom were battling cancer, fighting for their lives. I worked with a group who used the Rick Simpson method to fight cancer, and they were curing people who were told by conventional doctors to go home and die, that the doctors could no longer help them. I learned a ton from the late Steve Kubby, who outlived his prognosis by several decades by using the methods Rick Simpson has taught called Phoenix Tears. His amazing methods can be seen by searching YouTube for "run from the cure". If you or someone you know suffers from terminal cancer, and the medical persons have told them to just "go die at home, we can't help you any longer", please look up Rick Simpson's method and contact me. If these doctors knew the power of those words, and their effect on the subconscious mind, they would never say them. I know over twenty people who were told to die at home who are now cancer free. I know several others who passed on, yet enjoyed many years more by not giving up hope. Never give up hope!!