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• Imagination is more than visualization. While imagination is typically defined as a visual experience of the mind, it actually includes all the senses, just as dreams do. In our dreams we not only see, we often hear, touch, taste or smell. So too when using your imagination. As in any state, the more vivid the experience and the more senses you use the more powerful lasting is the effect. • Everything you've changed or created in your life has relied on your capacity to imagine. If you pay close attention, you'll notice that before you change a light bulb, go shopping, hit a golf ball, prepare a meal or make a presentation, you see or sense yourself doing it. When you become aware of and harness this capacity, you can use your imagination to direct your choices. • Guided imagery, whether directed by yourself or another, is a form of intentional daydreaming or imagining. It uses words and phrases designed to generate a rich, multisensory fantasy or to evoke memories. In this receptive reverie, you build—gently and naturally—the neural and emotional foundation that makes it easier to change your behavior and the way you perceive yourself and the world. • Guided imagery and hypnosis work together
to help you make positive changes because you have access to
subconscious and intuitive information in the hypnotic state
and are more open to suggestions and new possibilities. Four reasons why imagery works • When you imagine an activity or a state of being, your brain changes. Research has revealed that the human brain doesn't distinguish between a vividly imagined event and one that is a physically acted out. This means that you can reinforce desired behaviors and generate positive states of being by imagining them in rich sensory detail. • Whenever you vividly imagine yourself
in a setting associated with a desired emotional state, your
brain triggers the release of biochemicals associated with that
state. It doesn't matter what kind of setting you actually are
in. In the middle of a stressful work situation, for instance,
you can take a sixty-second inner holiday at your favorite vacation
spot and raise your endorphin and serotonin levels. • Because imagery speaks the language of the subconscious, it can help you make certain kinds of changes much more effectively than talking and analyzing can. Many of your beliefs and behaviors became embedded during highly emotional states, often when you were under stress or traumatized in some way. In these excited states the brain perceives a possible threat and goes into danger mode. It focuses not so much on what is being said as on nonverbal cues such as facial expression, tone of voice and physical movements. This is why cognitive approaches—talking, reasoning, problem-solving and so on—are not as effective in making the changes in emotion-based beliefs and behaviors as non-cognitive modes such as guided imagery. Imagery bypasses the thinking brain and goes directly to those more primitive emotional centers in the brain that were responsible for laying down the old, defensive patterns. Imagery speaks the language of these centers. More than words, imagery can reassure these parts of the brain, reduce their resistance, and allow you to make the changes you desire. Clinical evidence for the healing benefits of imagery Researchers have conducted extensive studies of imagery as a preventive health tool and found it to be effective for scores of psychological and physical conditions. Psychotherapist Belleruth Naparstek in her most recent book, Invisible Heroes: Survivors of Trauma and How They Heal, lists and documents clinical trials that have demonstrated the healing benefits of imagery. Included in her list are studies that have shown the power of imagery to:
Naparstek, creator of the best selling Health Journeys series of guided-imagery audio programs (used in over 1,500 hospitals and clinics), writes: "Indeed, given the last twenty years of research findings from various clinical trials, it is surprising that imagery isn't prescribed as a universal, low-cost, preventive health tool, in much the way that aspirin is used to reduce the likelihood of future heart attack and stroke." If
you'd like to know more about imagery, I can address I also encourage you to check the books and audio recordings listed in Other Resources.
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