About Barry Jones – Sports Performance Hypnotist
Helping Athletes Unlock the Mental Side of Performance
A Lifetime Around Sport, Coaching and Human Potential
My work has been shaped by more than 35 years of experience helping people develop confidence, overcome challenges, and achieve meaningful change.
My journey into sports performance hypnosis has been built around a deep understanding of how the mind influences performance. Whether working with athletes, students, or teams, I have consistently seen that confidence, belief, focus, and emotional control play a critical role in achieving potential.
Athletes often spend years developing their physical abilities, but the mental side of performance is frequently the difference between training well and performing when it matters most.
My role is to help athletes strengthen that mental foundation.
My Sporting Background
Sport has been a central part of my life, both as an athlete and as a coach.
My own sporting experience began at university, where I competed in swimming, rugby and football. Competing in both individual and team sports gave me an early understanding of the different demands athletes face, from preparation and discipline to teamwork, pressure and the need to perform when it matters.
My sporting journey later developed into endurance competition. I competed in the Hawaii Ironman Triathlon World Championship, one of the most demanding endurance events in the world. I have also competed in the Death Valley to Mt Whitney biathlon, an extreme endurance challenge involving a journey from below sea level in Death Valley to the summit of Mt Whitney, climbing more than 23,000 vertical feet in extreme conditions.
These experiences gave me first-hand insight into the mental demands of competitive sport.
I understand what it feels like to prepare for a major event, manage uncertainty, push through fatigue, deal with pressure, and maintain focus when the challenge becomes overwhelming.
The lessons learned through my own sporting experiences now influence the way I work with athletes.
Coaching and Teaching Experience
My background extends beyond competing. I have spent many years coaching and teaching athletes, helping them understand the relationship between preparation, performance, and mindset.
I taught at university level for 12 years and was involved in developing one of the first university courses in triathlon training. This included:
Underwater video analysis for swimming technique
Bike setup and biomechanics
Cycling position analysis
Running gait analysis
Endurance training principles
This experience gave me a detailed understanding of the physical, technical, and psychological demands required for athletic development.
I have also founded and coached two university rugby teams, both of which went on to win their division championships.
In addition, I had the privilege of working with the England 7s Rugby team during their World Cup tour, gaining valuable insight into the preparation, pressure, and performance expectations faced by international athletes.
Working With Athletes Across Multiple Sports
Every sport has unique physical demands, but the mental challenges athletes face are often remarkably similar.
Confidence.
Focus.
Managing pressure.
Recovering from mistakes.
Trusting preparation.
Performing when expectations are high.
I work with athletes across a wide range of sports, including:
Rugby
Triathlon
Field Hockey
Football/Soccer
Basketball
Baseball
Golf
Tennis
Swimming
Figure Skating
Each sport requires specific physical skills, but the mental foundations of confidence, resilience, focus, and composure remain essential across all competitive environments.
Experience Working With Elite Athletes
Over the years, I have worked with athletes at many levels of competition, from ambitious juniors developing their confidence to elite athletes competing at the highest levels.
My experience includes working with:
Olympic-level athletes
National team competitors
University athletes
Elite clubs
Developing junior athletes
I have worked with a Division I university gymnastics programme and one of the leading gymnastics clubs in the United States, a programme that has produced 14 Olympians and more than 70 National Team members.
I continue to work with an Olympic field hockey athlete, helping develop the mental skills required to compete consistently at the highest level.
These experiences have reinforced my belief that mental performance should be developed alongside physical preparation—not treated as something only addressed when problems occur.
My Approach to Sports Performance Hypnosis
Athletes who work with me are not looking for simple motivation or positive thinking.
They are looking for practical ways to strengthen the mental skills that influence performance.
Many athletes know what they should do. They know they need confidence. They know they need to stay focused. They know they need to remain calm under pressure.
The challenge is accessing those qualities consistently when competition arrives.
Through hypnosis and subconscious conditioning, I help athletes:
Build genuine confidence
Overcome performance anxiety
Break through mental blocks
Recover confidence following injury
Improve focus and concentration
Manage competition pressure
Develop resilience
Trust their training and ability
The goal is not to change who you are as an athlete.
The goal is to remove the mental barriers that prevent you from performing freely and confidently.
Clinical Training and Professional Development
My work is supported by extensive experience and advanced training in clinical hypnosis.
I completed advanced clinical hypnosis training through the University of California, San Diego, a programme designed for healthcare professionals and clinicians.
I continue to follow developments in hypnosis research, neuroscience, sports psychology, and performance science to ensure my approach reflects current understanding of how the mind influences performance.
Ongoing Research in Hypnosis
My education in hypnosis didn't stop with formal training. I continue to study, research and explore ways in which hypnosis can be applied effectively to sports performance and other areas where a rapid change in mental state can be valuable.
Recently, I completed an initial research group of 40 subjects as part of an ongoing project exploring the validity and potential applications of a hypnosis measurement technique related to hypnotisability. I have adapted the Spiegel Eye Roll Technique as part of a rapid hypnosis induction designed to help individuals access a deep state of relaxation quickly.
For athletes, this has potentially important applications. Being able to access a calm, focused state quickly could be particularly useful when dealing with competition nerves, pre-performance anxiety and the physiological arousal that can occur immediately before competition.
I have used this adapted technique successfully with tens of thousands of individuals throughout my 35 plus years as a hypnotist, and I am now taking the next step by formally investigating its potential through structured research.
A further 60 subjects are planned as part of the project, bringing the intended research group to 100 participants. Following completion of the study, I intend to develop the findings into a paper for consideration by the Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, with a particular focus on its potential application to athletes and sports performance.
I also believe the technique may have applications beyond sport. The ability to induce a rapid relaxation response could potentially be valuable in emergency medicine and for first responders, where the ability to manage acute stress and access a calmer state quickly could be useful. I therefore also intend to present the work for consideration by the Journal of Holistic Nursing.
You can read more about the Spiegel Eye Roll Technique, including its history, methodology and some of the limitations surrounding its use, in my article:
Understanding the Spiegel Eye Roll Technique
The Athlete Behind the Practitioner
Although my work focuses on performance, I understand that every athlete is a person first.
Behind every competitor are expectations, setbacks, injuries, doubts, pressure, and challenges that are often unseen by others.
The most rewarding part of my work is helping athletes rediscover confidence and trust in themselves.
It is seeing them step onto the field, court, track, pool, or apparatus with belief.
It is seeing them perform with freedom.
Why Athletes Choose to Work With Me
Athletes choose to work with me because I bring together a unique combination of experience:
More than 35 years helping people create positive change
Experience competing at the highest levels of endurance sport
University teaching experience
Championship-winning coaching experience
Work with elite athletes and teams
Advanced clinical hypnosis training
A deep understanding of the demands of competitive sport
I understand that performance is not only physical.
The body performs what the mind allows it to do.
My role is to help athletes develop the confidence, focus, and resilience to perform at their best when it matters most.
I have always been fascinated by the connection between the mind and human performance.
Throughout my career, I have seen that talent alone does not always determine success. Many athletes have the physical ability, technical skill, and dedication required to excel, yet their performance can be limited by confidence, pressure, fear of failure, overthinking, or difficulty accessing their abilities when it matters most.
Barry Jones and Ollie Phillips England Captain of the World Cup Rugby 7s Discussing Sub-Conscious Programming
This is where I help
I am Barry Jones, a Sports Performance Hypnotist specialising in helping athletes develop the mental skills required to perform with confidence, focus, and consistency. I work with athletes from developing juniors to elite competitors, including national-level athletes and Olympians, helping them overcome mental barriers and unlock the performance they are capable of achieving.
My approach combines advanced clinical hypnosis, sports performance principles, coaching experience, and my own background as an athlete and educator.
I understand performance because I have experienced the demands of competition myself.