Imagination is a powerful mental process that has been used for millennia for physical and emotional healing. It is a potent healer that can relieve pain, accelerate the recovery process and overcome disorders ranging from depression to allergies to cancer.
Mental imagery is the universal and primary language of all humankind. Before learning to speak, your mind perceived, comprehended and stored images. Imagination may involve all senses: visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory and gustatory. When you recall childhood memories or learn new information, you do so through sensory images. Here's a quick example: think about adding 5+4. Do you see the numbers in your mind's eye, as an image? Think about your most recent meal or the last person with whom you spoke. Do you see these images?
Mental imagery as a tool for exploration
While spoken words are a product of the intellect and can be used to rationalize,
deny, or misrepresent reality, guided imagery exercises enable you to fully
see, feel, and know the truth of your inner world, as well as uncover the roots
of any problem.
Consider how an imagery exercise helped B., a 41-year old woman. B. suffered
from severe headaches for three years, during which she found only temporary
relief from biofeedback sessions and a self-hypnosis course.
During an initial meeting B said she could not understand why her headaches
were unbearable in the "most beautiful times" when her "lovely
family would get together" for holidays.
B. was asked to go inside of her head and to meet and befriend the Ache, which
appeared as a "big sad blob." B. invited the Ache to go to the bank
of the river (her most favorite place) and there, the Ache told B. that it hated
her mother-in-law. It hated when her mother-in-law called almost every day telling
B. how to raise her child. It hated when on holidays her mother-in-law controlled
"every breath of everyone present." B. was asked to thank the Ache
for coming to share this information.
B.'s understanding of the source of her headaches was the starting point for
healing. A three-month course of therapy ensued, during which she made changes
within herself, her relationship with her mother-in-law and other aspects of
her life. Her headaches subsequently disappeared and had not reoccurred at the
time of a one-year follow-up.
Mental imagery and healing: understanding the link between images and the
body
Imagination not only provides a window on your inner experience, but a means
for transforming your physical and emotional health. Indeed, imagery is the
interface language between mind, emotions and body.
Relax for a moment and imagine this: You are late for an appointment and as
you turn the corner you see your bus, just about to leave. You are fifty yards
away. You dash ahead, and luckily make it on time.
Consciously, you did not command your body to fill your bloodstream with sugars
and fats to give your muscles more energy. You did not ask your brain to release
norepinephrine to make your heart beat faster. You did not request your body
to slow down its digestive process so that all energy could be directed towards
running. And yet all of this happened instantaneously in response to your intention
(to be there) and an image (seeing the distance between you and the bus). Your
body had innate wisdom to produce necessary physiological responses to accomplish
your goal.
The link between images and physiology is particularly exemplified by sexual
arousal, blood pressure fluctuations, and breathing pattern changes. These bodily
functions can be instantaneously altered by images carrying such powerful emotions
as lust, anger, and fear.
Directing your imaginal reality can positively alter your physiology, and emotions,
leading to the eradication of illness. Conversely, allowing your mind to run
rampant with worrisome or fearful thoughts can negatively affect your health.
This latter point is more widely understood. It is commonly known that headaches,
ulcers, and insomnia, for example, can be the result of chronic tension or stress
which impact your physiology and make you more susceptible to bodily breakdown.
Using mental imagery for psychological change
Consider another case example. C., a 48-year-old woman sought help for insomnia.
C.'s grandfather sexually molested her as a child, and since that time she regularly
experienced anxiety before going to bed. Even after falling asleep, C. would
wake up numerous times with anxiety. Although four years of psychoanalysis helped
C. to understand the dynamics of her familial relationships and convinced her
that she was no longer unsafe, her sleep problem never resolved.
C. underwent an imaginal experience of re-membering her past in a new way. She
did an imaginal exercise in which she saw herself being able to stand up to,
fight off, and expose the behavior of her perpetrator. Although her factual
memory of the event did not change, C.'s emotional memory of helplessness was
transformed into a new emotional memory of self-reliance, courage, and confidence.
Due to this exercise and to additional therapeutic work lasting three months,
C's sleep problems subsided and then disappeared.
Imaginal work can release negative blocks in your psyche and create a new reality.
Using mental imagery for physical healing
A 57 year-old male, D., suffered from irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), for which
he was unsuccessfully treated with medication for six months. D. repeatedly
stated that he could not "stomach" his daughter's husband. Through
therapy, D. came to understand how his stomach problems related to his inability
to accept his daughter's husband. He was taught alternative ways of thinking
about and relating to his son-in-law. He then practiced a mental imagery exercise
to cleanse his stomach (in the River of Life.) After three weeks, his IBS disappeared
and after a one-year follow up, his problems had not reoccurred.
The biochemical effects stimulated by this exercise coupled with the changes
D. made in his life, resulted in the eradication of his condition.
Practicing mental imagery
Practicing mental imagery can easily be incorporated into your daily routine.
Most exercises last under one minute and are practiced at regular intervals
throughout the day. They are done while sitting in an upright position, with
the eyes open or closed.
