Visualization and Guided Imagery:

• Visualization and Guided Imagery are both ways we use our imagination to help relieve tension and produce greater relaxation within the body.  Very early in infancy, we begin to perceive  images – even before we know how to speak or comprehend words. It is through these images that our minds take in and begin to assimilate information. 

• According to the Academy for Guided Imagery, it is these mental images that form the basis for “who we think we are and what we believe our world is like, what we feel we deserve and what will happen to us and how motivated we are to take care of ourselves.  These images have a strong influence on our emotional and physical health.  

• Extensive research has shown that repeated listening can:

a)  Lower anxiety
b)  Decrease depression
c)  Strengthen self-confidence
d)  Increase attention and concentration
e)  Improve performance
f)  Overcome destructive habits or obsessions
g)  Reduction of binging and purging behaviors in bulimic disorders
h)  Alleviate pain
i)  Boost the immune system
j)  Assist in medical procedures

• Through visualization and guided imagery, we activate our right brain which is responsible for the feeling, sensing, and perceiving parts of us. In comparison, the left side of our brain is for thinking, judging, and analyzing. 

• Listening to the scripts allow us to bypass the seemly intractable beliefs and assumptions we have about ourselves and our experiences and become receptive to new ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving.