• Relaxation and guided imagery go hand in hand, so if you haven’t used the entire Relaxation Basics Presentation, you may want to extract a few key points about relaxation to use as a warm-up to this presentation.
• If you have time for an extended session on imagery, choose one or more brief scripts to use as guided imagery demonstrations at appropriate points during this presentation.
• If your time is brief, just hit the key points in this outline and move directly to the visualization script of your choice.

What Is Guided Imagery?
Visualization is a process in which you use mental images to explore your inner psychic and creative space. You do it every day. When you wake up in the morning and think about what you have to do that day, you probably picture how these tasks will be done. When you realize that you must shop for groceries today, you inadvertently picture which ones you will need to buy. Lovers use imagery as they anticipate and recall the joys of being together. All of us daydream for entertainment.

Guided imagery takes this process one step further by guiding the images toward a specific life-enhancing goal, such as relaxing, healing, promoting personal growth, exploring alternatives, clarifying values, stimulating creativity, or managing stress.

Performers use imagery to heighten concentration. Managers use imagery as they plan strategies for tackling daily tasks. Diabetics use imagery to lower their blood sugar level. Athletes use imagery to enhance their performance. Cancer patients use imagery to bolster their immune responses.

Skill, Not Magic
n Research is beginning to document the significant power of our mental processes to positively affect our well-being, yet guided imagery is not magic. It is not a panacea for all that ails us. It is no substitute for traditional physical or mental health care.

Your mind’s eye is one of the most potent tools you have for triggering relaxation and promoting changes in attitude, perspective, or feelings. The effectiveness of guided imagery is grounded in the mind/body connection. As far as your body is concerned, sensory images have nearly the same impact as actual sensory experiences. Your body reacts physiologically to the imagined smell of baking bread in the same way it would to walking into a bakery. Mentally anticipating a fearful event can be just as frightening (or even more!) than the event itself.

Guided imagery offers an opportunity to harness the natural power of your imagination to work for physical and mental health. It is a skill which can grow more useful with regular practice.

Always Begin with Relaxation
Placing your body and mind in a state of active relaxation is the best preparation for the use of guided imagery. You will find that relaxation is to guided imagery as a cone is to ice cream: without it, you’ve got no handle on the real thing. Relaxation must precede, interact with, and be enhanced by guided imagery.

The benefits of guided imagery are mainly mental in nature; however, preparing for visualization is both a mental and physical task. The mind must be prepared to be explored, expanded, enhanced, and enriched. Once you’ve cultivated the ability to relax in a completely natural way, you will be able to activate physical, emotional, mental, and even spiritual relaxation at will.

Some people use guided imagery every day as part of a regular relaxation or meditation ritual. Others may use imagery only occasionally for specific needs such as healing after a divorce, recovering from surgery, generating new ideas for a project, or coping with a particularly stressful day.

Ultimately, if you integrate guided imagery into your life, you will probably feel a greater power to reduce stress and direct your life in a positive direction.

Meditation and Guided Imagery
People are often confused by the language used in relaxation and guided imagery training. The terms visualization and imagery are usually used interchangeably to refer to the active evocation of mental sensory images—sight, sound, taste, smell, and touch.

The term meditation is used to describe an altered state of consciousness that accesses what we call a vertical path of relaxation, advocated by many Eastern philosophies. By emptying your mind, focusing on a single visual cue, and using conscious, monotonous activities, such as repeated mantras, you can achieve a relaxation state similar to sleep, where your mind is disengaged.

Guided imagery, on the other hand, incorporates both a vertical and horizontal path of mental awareness to achieve a state of mental activity and creativity as well as relaxation. It allows for the more Western tendencies towards activity and controlled mental exploration.

With each image explored, in addition to relaxing vertically, you develop a pattern of lateral mental pathways. Exploring this pattern is entirely controlled by your conscious mind and does not resemble falling asleep. You may pause at one image, move on to another, revert back to the first one, or even explore a series of images at once. You may search this lattice of images as you please, always moving in an active pattern of imagination. A healthy dialogue is sustained by the conscious receptors of your brain and the unconscious explorations of your mind.

You Are in the Driver’s Seat
By allowing for personal involvement and by adjusting with personal changes, imagery is exactly what you make of it. Of course, if you choose to be bored with the infinite reaches of your mind, you will be. If you are at all inquisitive and desire to find what lies beneath the surface, you will not be disappointed with your inner journey.

Guided imagery is not mind control. The visualization process actually gives control back to the individual, making conscious what has been an unconscious process and influence.

Imagery techniques allow for personal changes by changing and growing with you. The more adept you become at image exploration, the stronger your unconscious mind grows, and the more pathways you have at your command.

Be Open to the Process
Since guided imagery is a process of self-exploration by creating images of physical journeys and settings that reflect inner states and feelings, it is most effective when approached with a clear and open mind.

Let yourself go with the flow of the narration. Preconceptions lead to assumptions and expectations, which could prevent you from tapping into your natural stream-of-consciousness state.

Match your attitude to your goal
Unlocking your mind’s experiences and images begins with a healthy approach to imagery. The attitude with which you enter and exit these experiences is the key ingredient of that approach.

When forming your attitude, keep in mind two general ideas: the intended outcome of this journey, and the practical means of achieving that outcome. For example, if you intend to use guided imagery as a significant turning point in your life and as a pathway to change, then your attitude must be conducive to change. If you are hoping to discover and unlock greater emotional or intellectual scope, your attitude must reflect boundlessness, an interest in pursuing all dimensions of your creativity and awareness. Always keep your intended outcome in mind, and choose your imagery exercises accordingly.

On the other hand, whatever your goal, it is essential to approach any guided imagery with an open mind.

Pay Attention to All Your Senses
While guided imagery techniques will appeal most obviously to your sense of sight and your “mind’s eye,” don’t miss the rich experience of your mind’s other senses. What smells or tastes accompany the image in your mind? What internal or external sensations do you experience? What sounds can you hear?

All five of your senses are important channels for accessing hidden, forgotten, or undiscovered aspects of yourself, as well as for exploring new avenues and opportunities. Whenever you embark on a guided image, tune in to your senses.

No Wright, No Wrong
When choosing to immerse yourself in imagery exploration, there is, by definition, no right or wrong way to do it. You are the explorer, and the territory is all your own. You go where you want, when you want, with whatever supplies you need.

You are your own person, and have your own ways of relaxing and exploring. If an image feels uncomfortable, frightening, or just boring, tune it out for a while! Open your eyes if the visualization is too intense or painful for you. Feel free to follow your own visions as they surface. As long as you are comfortable, you cannot go wrong. Settle in, follow your instincts, and explore. Let your mind follow the path you choose.

And remember that the guided imagery experience will be different for every person. Take advantage of any opportunity to compare notes with fellow visualizers—someone else’s journey may help you understand your own at a deeper level.

A Note of Caution
Because everyone’s life experiences are unique, it is very difficult to anticipate which images may trigger pain for certain people. Keep in mind that even though some guided images may be painful, they may be part of a healing process for past or present wounds. If possible, stay open to all your feelings, even painful ones, and allow yourself to experience them fully.

However, if you know in advance that a particular image might be frightening or emotionally upsetting to you, and you would prefer not to explore that arena, it is perfectly okay to sit out the exercise, or to modify the image in any way that you want.

Trust your intuition and do what is best for yourself.

Do-It-Yourself Imagery
Most visualizations are open-ended, so you can project your own images and feelings into the mental landscape. If you find yourself enhancing the images with your own pictures and ideas, the techniques are working well for you.

With practice you can create your own images whenever you need them. But even people well-versed in the use of imagery still enjoy having a guide so they can surrender to the flow of the image and go wherever it takes them.

Try recorded visualizations with musical background, or read your own scripts and images onto tape and play them back.

The same guided imagery can be used over and over again, at different times of your life. Each time you revisit the same visualization, your experience will be different