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nausea during chemotherapy; lower allergic responses; and speed recovery from cuts, burns, fractures, and surgery. It also improves performance in sports and even certain types of mental activities. |
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When guided imagery is most effective, it encourages you to imagine with all of your senses. In addition to using images and thoughts, guided imagery involves imagining how things sound, feel, taste, and smell. Since sensory input is how the mind and imagination tend to take in information, guided imagery can go straight to the unconscious mind, bypassing all those words that can get in the way of direct communication between mind and body. |
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Another reason why guided imagery seems to be so effective at helping the body is because it involves the emotions. In fact, guided imagery seems to work best when using images that strongly affect the emotions. Similar to how images and other sensory input bypasses reason and travels directly to the unconscious mind, emotions also go directly to the unconscious mind. In addition, emotions carry a history with them that interacts with the body's systems. For example, if you imagine spending a happy, sunny day with someone you love, your body also re-experiences the same joyful, relaxed, and ecstatic physical responses. |
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Because emotions are so personal, everybody uses somewhat different ways of accessing effective images during the process. Some people prefer to follow imagery that someone else has created, while others create their own images. Under any circumstances, the important thing is to relax and let the imagination do the work. Of course, the more your practice, the easier it gets and the more effective it becomes. |
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Guided imagery works on the principal that images are events to the body. Sensory images are the language of the body, which it understands automatically and doesn't question. Belleruth Naparstek, author of Staying Well with Guided Imagery (Warner, 1994), explains that the first operating principle of imagery is, ''Our bodies don't discriminate between sensory images in the mind and what we call reality." While images don't impact the body with the same intensity as real events, they create the same basic sense of experience. This sense, though perhaps a bit weaker than real experience, is nevertheless felt throughout the body. |
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When most effective, guided imagery occurs in an altered mental state similar to directed daydreaming, mediation, or self-hypnosis. In this state, the person gradually enters a state in which he pictures and experiences imagery that helps to heal or motivate him. A cancer patient may picture fighter jets shooting down harmful cancer cells, while an athlete may imagine a powerful puma giving her grace, speed, and strength. A person undergoing physical therapy may envision ideal childhood moments of running freely and then picture himself walking independently in the future. |
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