|
By Andrea Lanier, Group Facilitator next page
Imaging can be a useful and effective tool to improve one's health and well being, physically and psychologically. In learning how to live with the symptoms of anxiety, I have found imaging to be one of many valuable tools to influence my mind and my body, and thus to reduce anxiety symptoms and increase my general sense of well being. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is the most research-based, effective form of treatment for anxiety disorders; however, having multiple tools for coping has made me more productive and able to enjoy my life.
Why imaging instead of imagining? The book Rituals of Healing (see references), was my main resource for my practice and this article. However, for me personally, the difference between imaging and imagining rests in the process. When I am asked to imagine something, my imagination is usually not very detailed, but rather vague. Imaging, on the other hand, means to involve all of my senses. In the imaging process with my "mind's eye," I can actually see a leaf floating down a stream (an example used in Rituals of Healing), and I can magically envision my worries, on top of the leaves, floating away from me. With my "mind's ears," I can actually hear the birds sing, and the leaves on the trees rustling in the wind. In the same manner, I can taste, smell, or feel things. Imaging means to have an intense focus on a mental picture that is "five-dimensional." This means, in the imaging process, our mental pictures can be experienced with all of our senses, not just envisioned.
Using imaging to relax can provide relief from stress and stress-related physical responses, and therefore can have a positive impact on a person's physical and mental health. Imaging can also give a person a sense of control, derived from the confidence that one may be able to influence ones health. An imaging script, with a specific focus, may allow a person to use imaging to address sleep difficulties or to cope with emotional and/or physical pain or illnesses. Special scripts can be aimed at anxiety, panic, or worry. Aside from its effectiveness with anxiety, it is said that even persons suffering from physical disorders have used imaging as a tool to supplement their medical treatments, and they have been found to recover better than their counterparts who did not use imaging. "The effect of most of the . . . imagery . . . can be explained according to the models and research in behavioral medicine - that is, mind and body are connected and that attitudes and behaviors relate to health" (Achterberg, Dossey, & Kolkmeier, 1994, p.9).
I have found imaging to be effective in a variety of circumstances because of the countering effect it has on the physical responses to emotions. When feelings are held in, such as pain, fear, worry, or anger, this usually causes much tension. This tension can then cause headaches, nausea, dizziness, tingling in the extremities, tightness in the chest, difficulties breathing, and many more symptoms associated with anxiety and panic.
When you suffer from anxiety, there may be times, where you find yourself overwhelmed by thoughts and memories of painful experiences of the past, or you may seem to be unable to escape your own negative and frightening predictions of the future. Most people hold painful or frightening emotions inside themselves, fearful of what would happen if they would let go of them or just not knowing what else to do with them. Aside from causing much tension, this requires a lot of energy. Often, there comes a point where it is just too much to bear, and the "bucket just runs over." The fear or pain just becomes too much to contain and it bursts out, but it still hurts just as much.
next page
|
|
