Visualization as a method to recovery

Diana-M

Diana-M

Beloved Grand Eagle
I watched this success story interview last night by The Mindful Gardener (Helmut) about visualization. The person he interviewed, Vanessa, has an astounding recovery story. She was nearly dead in the hospital with 50 symptoms—-and is now fully recovered and a TMS healing counselor.

Visualization was key to her recovery, as it was for Helmut. They discuss. They also talk about how your lizard brain doesn’t even want you to visualize doing anything as a well person. You have to slowly work up to it until your brain will accept it.

I love all this! Visualization can be a stepping stone to healing. And all we have to do is work on it and try each day. I’m in!

 
This is what “tapping” stories did for me (you need to understand their scripting) and eventually the most successful exercise my EMDR therapist gave me to do on my own daily (a form of visualization). It really does work!
 
I've been meaning to say (because I mentioned it on another thread without giving its title) that the ex-dancer, choreographer and teacher Eric Franklin's book that I'm finding really good re visualizations is this one https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1942798164?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title, just in case anyone may be interested in it.

Its title "Grow Younger Daily: The Power of Imagery for Healthy Cells and Timeless Beauty (Second Edition)" makes the book sound somewhat superficial and fluffy, but the contents really aren't imho. In the book the author writes:

“If you want to change your body, start by changing your mind. Research has shown that the most effective way to create changes in your brain is to change your thinking. Such mental interventions influence your immune system and organs in a positive way. These tools are free and always available to you, and have only beneficial side effects, so let’s learn how to use them well.

Thinking, mental imagery, and physicality interact. We become what we imagine, and our imagination reflects our physical state. It is a two-way street. As your body represents the images and words present in your head, your mind will adapt to your posture, movement coordination, and tension level.

A hurdler who is trained in mental imagery can visualize jumping the hurdles quickly and elegantly, making it to the finish line victoriously. A long-distance runner employs imagery to produce a sensation of “flow”, the feeling of “running without trying”. Thus, the running experience becomes a meditation, a prayer to the body’s cells, so to speak. Science has repeatedly shown how imagery is a successful athlete’s number-one mental skill (Feltz and Landers, 1983; Murphy, Nordin, and Cumming, 2008; Richardson, 1967b)."
 
Last edited:
BloodMoon said:
We become what we imagine, and our imagination reflects our physical state
Click to expand...
This is timely! Just this morning I was thinking that it’s up to me to picture either I’m old and going down hill, or I’m just in my midlife, recalibrating (through my TMS journey) to have a fabulous old age. You get what you picture! I’m going to check this book out! Looks good.
 
Found these good...

Imagery to release muscle tension

Close your eyes, and imagine these things:
  • Wax softening and melting
  • A tight, twisted rope slowly unwinding
  • Tension swirling out of your body and down the drain
  • Holding a remote control and turning down the volume on your muscle tension
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Colour imagery to relieve stress and tension

Colour imagery is good for relieving daily hassles and tensions. Practice changing the tension colour from red to blue with each daily hassle you confront. Imagine the colour blue as your cue to relax.
  1. Close your eyes, and scan your body for tension or discomfort.
    Picture the colour red, and associate it with this tension. Imagine all the tense parts of your body as red.

  2. Take a deep breath, and change the colour from red to blue.
    Imagine the tension slipping away as the areas change from red to blue. Feel the relaxation associated with the colour blue.

  3. Now imagine the colour blue getting deeper and darker.
    Relax further with each shade of blue.
 
I literally just posted in another thread about the Ozanich imagery of picturing gushing blood flow to an injury/pain site. Powerful stuff.
 
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