Guided Imagery: The Answer to Your Health Problems

Guided imagery advocates assert that the power of imagination is a forceful healer which has been overlooked by most medicine practitioners. Guided Imagery

It is often described as the biological connection between the body and the mind.

Imagery is capable of speed healing, relieving pain and helping body subdue different ailments such as impotence, asthma, allergies and even depression.

The power of the mind can greatly influence the body. However, it might not totally cure health problems but it addresses at least 90 percent of different health problems.

GUIDED IMAGERY: DEFINITION, BENEFITS AND ITS PURPOSE

It is also known as visualization. A strategy in which a person imagines sounds, pictures, smells and other sensations that are related in achieving a certain goal. The process of imagining a certain situation or environment can help activate the different senses which will produce psychological and physical effects.

Based on researches, if you practice guided imagery meditation, you will attain the following:

1. It will increase your immune system cells to help keep a healthy body.

2. It will help reduce the feeling of frustration and depression.

3. It will help you to be mentally calm, relaxed and refreshed.

4. It will put you in a state of mental rehearsal wherein you are capable of facing problems in your life. In result, you will be able to think of solutions.

5. It will help you develop courage and self-confidence under difficult situations.

6. It will help increase your overall well-being.

In visualization, your mind will be able to provide you images for an ideal environment. Here are some purposes of visualization:

1. From your stressful urban environment, you will be transported in a pleasant one – a sunny beach, a babbling brook, flowing waterfalls or in a meadow with singing birds.

2. It can bring you to a relaxed state of body and mind.

3. Temporarily, your life full of worries and threats will not exist.

GUIDED IMAGERY: THE TECHNIQUES

There are different guided imagery techniques that you can use which will highly depend on your application. In visualization, you are asked to visualize a goal that you want to attain then you are to go through a process that you are achieving your goal. For instance, severely ill patients will be urged to visualize their internal organs free from any diseases, or the joints of their body free from any pain.

Almost all the visualization techniques will start with relaxation. Here are some of the techniques that you can do.

1. Guided waking imagery is a technique developed by psychoanalyst Leuner. The patient will be asked to visualized series of standard scenes such as a mountain, a meadow, a swamp and a house. Later on, the patient’s imaginings will be thoroughly examined for sources of irrational beliefs, conflicts and interpersonal problems.

2. Covert behavioral rehearsal is a method wherein the patients will visualize systematically their desired right ways of coping behavior. This is usually used in sports.

3. Autogenic abreaction is a method wherein the patients are asked to assume a passive acceptance attitude toward all his mental experiences. During the session, the patient will verbalize without any restrictions all their feelings, thoughts and sensations that occur to him. Facial and emotional involvement is likely to occur with this process and it usually continues until the patient experiences effective discharge.

Follow the above information on guided imagery and soon you will reap the benefits towards a healthier, richer and more satisfying life.