Guided Imagery — Visualizing a Healthier Life
Wish you had more money? Imagine you do! Maybe you wish that you felt better, had more energy and no longer suffered from that pesky chronic arthritis?
Imagine you’re healthy! Or do you wish you were no longer impotent, and could get it up every time?
Just imagine it! Too bad you can’t also imagine that you’ve got a gorgeous 18-year-old blonde, buxom girlfriend… but maybe you can!
Many people use guided imagery as a form of stress relief or relaxation, which isn’t that hard to fathom.
Guided imagery, or the practice of imagining yourself better, is used by many advocates of non-traditional — and traditional — medicine to accelerate healing and help people deal better with a host of ailments, from asthma to depression to chronic pain.
It’s quite simply a case of “mind over matter,” with some proponents of this technique saying can be helpful in an estimated 90 percent of the problems patients bring to the attention of their doctors, although it’s not a full cure.
The images evoked are not limited to visual ones, they can also involve hearing, sight, touch and smell.
An example is when you have a pimple on your chin. Instead of buying some acne medication and dabbing it on, try to visualize the nasty little pustule, even how it smells and feels, then wish it away.
Hopefully, you can make it shrink until you can actually see it losing volume — in your mind.
Did that work for you? Didn’t think so.
Guided Imagery for Relaxation
Many people use guided imagery as a form of stress relief or relaxation, which isn’t that hard to fathom. It’s really a lot like meditation, getting rid of the bad thoughts crowding your mind and instead visualizing a wonderful place where you felt happy and stress-free.
To get started is simple. Find a comfortable place that is away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life, such as the sanctuary of your bedroom (not your office with that unpleasant Paul from accounts constantly lurking around your desk!).
Get into a comfortable position, but not one where you would normally snooze or fall asleep completely (so the bed’s out of the question then).
Breathe deeply, paying attention to the rhythmic sound your breath makes as you inhale and (hopefully) exhale.
Then, begin to imagine.
Maybe the place you felt safest was on your summer vacations with Grandad, sipping mint juleps on the screened-in porch on a hot summer’s day as the crickets chirped methodically in the background.
Maybe you were happiest with your first girlfriend, running hand-in-hand through a daisy-strewn field.
Or perhaps you were felt the most care-free just last spring, when you went on your first family weekend away to Disneyland with the twins, little Tristan and Tiffany.
Once you think of a place, begin visualizing. Think not only of the taste of the mint julep, but of the soft, melodic noise the crickets make, and the way your Grandad’s face lit up whenever he saw you.
Set the scene, think it, then try to see it, taste it and even smell it. It should provide a haven of comfort and solace for you, a place you can return to again and again when the real world gets too much.
Many people can do this on a regular basis on their own after a bit of practice; others need the help of a professional guided imagist to nudge them along until they get it right.
Hint: you might want to set an alarm clock if you really get into this, or the day might slip away unnoticed in a comfortable fugue of stress-free relaxation….
Guided Imagery for Health
Most GI adherents believe it’s useful mainly in relaxing stress, which can have specific health benefits, such as lowering blood pressure, relieving certain types of pain, and getting rid of stress-related ailments such as certain headaches, muscular pain and even relieving eating disorders in some people.
Others, however, see it as a magical tool.
Like guided imagery for relaxation, guided imagery for health also involves as many of the senses as possible.
The idea is that attaining a stress-free form of “bliss” can not only help you manage better on the whole, and therefore handle health problems with more aplomb, but also help you concentrate on relieving specific ailments, from to bunions to bad breath.
So instead of just imagining a place, imagine yourself getting better, those hemorrhoids shrinking, or that swine flu receding into the distance.
While scientific evidence is scanty, research has proved that guided imagery can help patients dealing with chemotherapy following cancer treatment — actually stopping nausea and vomiting — and has also been instrumental in helping cancer patients put on weight.
It also helped people who were recovering from various surgeries, and as an added bonus made those who responded well less reliant on pain medication.
However, some people say it can help almost anything — from curing warts to getting rid of canker sores.
A (very) small study at Pennsylvania University, for example, found that seven people who suffered from recurring canker sores saw a decrease after visualizing the nasty buggers coated in soothing white blood cells.
Another study, this one from Denmark, found that college students who practiced GI regularly were able to boost their immune systems.
Guided imagery has been around for ages, and people ranging from the ancient Egyptians to Navajo Indians reportedly used it as a healing technique (some believed that GI rouses spirits which reside in the brain to influence other parts of the body).
It might do nothing for you, but as long as you don’t forsake it for conventional medicine it certainly won’t do you any harm.
If you are interested in practicing guided imagery, either to help alleviate a specific health problem or simply to relax, you can either try it yourself or visit a therapist for advice and support.
Many types of Guided imagery YouTube channels and instruction booklets are available on on-line, but as you may have good results on your own, you may want to try it independently first before shelling out the bucks.
Either that, or visualize yourself winning the Lottery first. Good luck!
The information in the article is not intended to substitute for the medical expertise and advice of your health care provider. We encourage you to discuss any decisions about treatment or care an appropriate health care provider.
