Mental Rehearsal

How do you practice your magic?

Most of us practice physically. Especially with sleight of hand, getting the moves into our muscle memory requires practice.

Fair enough.

But what about the entire show? How do you practice that?

I’m always in favor of physical rehearsal. There’s something oddly comforting when an unfamiliar move suddenly ‘clicks’ and you can do it effortlessly.

What about your lines? Do you practice saying them out loud?

I do, especially new stuff.

What if there was a way to make your physical and auditory rehearsal more effective?

More on that in a moment. First, I’d like to share with you a study I heard about when I still had my hypnosis office open.

At the University of Chicago, a study was conducted with three basketball teams.

I don’t know when or many of the details of the study. And when I first heard of this, it sounded too fantastical.

Kind of like that study with Harvard graduates. Supposedly there was a study that followed a particular class over several years after they left school.

The ones who wrote down their goals accomplished much more than the ones who didn’t write their goals.

Sounds good, but no one can verify the details of that study.

I have a friend who is ex-CIA, worked in government for decades, was a Captain of a Nuclear submarine, and a high-level researcher for the government.

Neat guy. And he verified that what I’m going to share with you is absolutely true.

Back to that Chicago study.

The study involved three basketball teams. Over a semester or so, one basketball team was told not to practice. No dribbling, no shooting, nothing.

As you would expect, they showed zero improvement for the study. They were the control group.

The second team did everything you’d expect a basketball team to do. Ran through drills, practiced shooting, and so forth.

Throughout the study, they improved something like 30%. (Don’t quote me on specifics. I’ve forgotten the numbers but that’s not what’s important here.)

The third basketball team did nothing physically for the study. No dribbling, no shooting, nothing.

But for the same amount of time each day that they WOULD have spent in physical activity, they were led through visualization exercises.

They imagined themselves making the perfect three-point throw, the perfect free throw, the perfect pass, etc. You get the idea.

When the study was over, the team that just visualized success in their mind improved too. They improved almost as much as the team that did all the physical stuff.

I wonder what would have happened if that team had done both?

If you’re a basketball fan, know that Phil Jackson, coach of the Chicago Bulls and eventually the Los Angeles Lakers led his team through visual exercises.

The result? He coached his teams to a record 11 NBA championships.

Am I suggesting to give up practicing and just visualize it? Not at all.

When I’m working on a new sleight or routine, I have to grind it out just like every other magician.

But once that’s set, I spend a LOT of time visualizing. Every move, every line of the script, etc.

When it’s showtime, do things change in the real world? Of course!

I’ll adlib, try out new lines, cut things, and adjust on the fly for that particular audience.

However, I spend a lot more time visualizing than I do running through an entire show.

This is especially useful when I haul out a show I haven’t done in a while.

Every September I unload all of my Halloween stuff. From a sleight-of-hand standpoint, there is only one trick in that show I have to work to get back into my muscle memory.

I do the same thing when the new school year starts. In my Bully & Character shows (the two I book the most at the beginning of the school year), I have a few sleights I need to drill back in.

Other than that, I spend almost no time physically preparing.

The rest? I just visualize the entire show as I’m driving to a gig. But I start about a month before my first show to really drill it in.

I walk into these shows confident and eager to give the audiences a great show. All simply from the power of the mind.

Again, I’m not suggesting that you stop physically rehearsing. I’m just giving you another tool to consider.

Because I’m insane and have several shows, I have way too much material to constantly practice. But I have lots of drive time. I make the most of it by mentally drilling my shows into my head.

It’s easy, fun, and makes those long drives go faster.

Have a great week!

--Cris

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