HYPNOSIS FOR SPORTS PERFORMANCE
REACH YOUR TRUE POTENTIAL
If you want to raise your game no matter which sport you participate in, then hypnotherapy can help. Through mental imagery and the rehearsal of successful outcomes, you’ll overcome mental blocks, clarify your goals, increase your motivation and focus on being the best you can be.
Having completed seven triathlons, 47 half marathons, 109 marathons and two 56-mile/91km ultramarathons (which meant I could join the 100 Marathon Club), I have a special interest in enhancing running performance through hypnosis. I understand first-hand just what it takes to get across that finish line – whether you’re aiming for a personal best or just to complete the course.
I’m the co-author of the best-selling Running Made Easy (Collins & Brown/HarperCollins), which featured in the top 50 running books on Amazon for over a decade, and has sold over 110,000 copies.
My second running book, Your Pace or Mine? What Running Taught Me About Life, Laughter and Coming Last (Summersdale/Hachette), also reached the #1 slot in Amazon’s ‘Running and Jogging’ rankings and has sold well over 20,000 copies. It has over 1,400 reviews on Amazon.
My third running book, Still Running After All These Tears: A Runner’s Journey Through Grief (Summersdale/Hachette), was published in 2026 and has received very favourable reviews.
I am a Runner’s World columnist, and the hypnotherapy expert on Women’s Running magazine, and regularly write articles on running and sports motivation for national media.
I am frequently interviewed on podcasts including Paula’s Run Club, Runner’s World Podcast, Women’s Running Podcast, UKRunChat, Running Commentary, Band of Runners, Tough Girl Podcast, Brian’s Rod Pod and Women’s Running Stories. I have also been interviewed on Virgin Radio, BBC Radio Sussex and Talk Radio Europe, and was featured on BBC South East’s TV news.
I wrote the Slow Runner Manifesto for SheRACES, detailing how Race Directors can make races more plodder-friendly.
All this means that I’m an expert on motivation – and putting the fun back into every run.
SESSIONS REQUIRED
For therapy to be effective, you need to commit to a minimum of three sessions.
TESTIMONIALS & PRESS
‘Running my first marathon in London was amazing, due in no small part because of the time and support you gave me during our hypnotherapy sessions. I channeled you from the moment I left the house until the finish line. I had hoped I might be quicker, but I would not have missed the hugs and photos I took en route for being faster. People were suffering in the heat and I felt able to support several of those I met along the way whose stories were unforgettable. It was tough in the heat, but I was never out of sorts. I loved the bands, the signs, the energy, the flashmobs and the humanity of it all. When I ran over the finish line, I could not have been more ecstatic. I was able to not only do this, but to do it this way – and with such joy – because of your words and spirit. Thank you. I will never forget you.’ DB
Slimming World
‘I’d suggest you try something called the talk test to check your pace,’ says Lisa Jackson, co-author of Running Made Easy. ‘If you can still talk fairly comfortably while you’re running, you’re going at the right speed for a beginner. If you’re gasping for breath and unable to get any words out at all, you’re going too fast and need to slow down.’
‘I really believe in giving myself regular treats for completing runs or reaching goals,’ says Lisa Jackson. ‘They make you feel great and help you build lots of positive associations with running. One of my favourites is to have a shower with my Body Shop Pink Grapefruit body scrub – the scent has become like the smell of success to me, and I really love using it after a run.’
Women’s Running
MIND OVER MARATHON
Rhalou Allerhand enters a trance-like state of altered consciousness to ease her running fears
‘I called upon the services of the inimitable Lisa Jackson, a clinical hypnotherapist who happens to be a keen ultrarunner, too! I visited Lisa in her Croydon clinic and within half an hour felt a renewed lust for the sport before she’d even hypnotised me.
‘I was sceptical to begin with, but after my first session with Lisa, I promptly laced up my trainers, dashed out the door and ran all the way to work (12.5 miles no less)… By session two, I felt ready to conquer the world, so come race day, I’ll surely be ready to take on 26.2 miles.’
Harper’s Bazaar
UP TO SPEED
What is it about running? We love the idea of it – the appeal of being outside and able to exercise wherever and whenever we like. So why are we so reluctant to pull on our running shoes? ‘It’s because we’re naturally wired to avoid anything that uses energy,’ says Lisa Jackson, a hypnotherapist specialising in working with athletes. ‘We have to learn to trick our minds into getting on with it.’
BREAK YOUR RUN INTO CHUNKS Stop halfway to stretch, or try Jackson’s trick of mentally halving the distance: ‘More than 30 minutes is long for everyone, so tell yourself it’s a 15-minute run, then turn around and come home – of course, it’s another 15 minutes back, but it works every time.
