Mental Imagery Using Your Mind to Help Your Body
Believe it or not, there is a safe and inexpensive
way to improve your health. It requires no drugs. It
does not involve expensive technology. Instead, it employs
the considerable power of your own mind. What is this
"miracle" treatment? It is called mental imagery, and
it is an easy technique to master.
How mental imagery works
Whether you realize it or not, you experience the
effects of mental imagery every day, for good or ill.
Perhaps on your way home today, you imagined what you
will eat for dinner. Did the thought make your mouth
water? Daydreaming about your next vacation may evoke
a soothing picture of a sun-drenched day on the beach.
In contrast, imagining the sights and sounds of a tension-packed
meeting may make your head pound and your blood pressure
skyrocket. These are just a few examples of the powerful
effect that mental images can have on the body.
The images your mind creates are mental representations
of physical sensations. Scientists cannot say exactly
how imagery works to promote health. But a type of brain
scan, called positron emission tomography (PET), reveals
that imagery provokes activity in the very parts of
the brain that would be active if you were actually
having an experience instead of simply thinking about
it.
PET-scan findings have led experts to suggest that
the images you see, hear and feel arise from the part
of your brain that is responsible for higher thinking.
The brain activity set in motion by imagery prompts
your brain's emotional center to send messages to your
hormonal and nervous systems. These systems in turn
influence a variety of functions, including breathing,
heart rate and blood pressure.
Receptive and active imagery
Experts describe two kinds of mental imagery that
can promote health: receptive and active. An example
of receptive, or passive, imagery is what you sometimes
see just before falling asleep or upon waking.
With mental imagery, you can access such images while
you are fully awake. Give it a try right now. Focus
on a part of your body that is tense or in pain. What
images come to mind? Perhaps you see a rock or a tight
knot. These images represent receptive imagery. Patients
sometimes use receptive imagery to help them understand
the emotional meaning of their symptoms.
In contrast, you consciously produce active imagery.
You can evoke active imagery by suggestion, such as
the suggestion to make a positive change in a negative
receptive image. For example, perhaps in the exercise
above you focused on the tension in your neck and envisioned
the image of a rock. Now, try transforming this tense
image into something softer and more relaxed, such as
a lump of clay. Another example of active imagery is
to recall every detail of a favorite room in your home.
People often use active imagery as a way to relax or
to relieve distressing symptoms.
Imagery's positive effects
Medical research suggests that positive mental imagery
can promote healing. The largest such study included
130 patients, aged 18 to 75, who underwent bowel surgery.
For three days before surgery and six days after, half
the patients listened to audiotapes with music and relaxing
imagery twice a day. During surgery, they listened to
music tapes. Compared to a control group, the listeners
reported sharply reduced levels of anxiety and pain,
allowing them to cut their use of painkillers by half
and, ultimately, speeding their rate of recovery.
In a smaller study, people who experienced nightmares
learned to recall their bad dreams during the day and
then change those nightmares by visualizing different
images. Compared to a control group, the subjects who
used active imagery suffered fewer nightmares and enjoyed
better sleep.
Clinical reports on individual patients suggest that
mental imagery can help a variety of medical conditions,
including:
- chronic pain
- allergies
- high blood pressure
- irregular heart beat
- auto-immune disorders
- cold and flu symptoms
- stress-related complaints
Even if imagery alone cannot cure serious diseases
like cancer, it still offers patients several important
benefits, including relief from anxiety, increased tolerance
for unpleasant treatments and coping skills.
Learning to use imagery
Why not explore mental imagery on your own? Books
on imagery offer a variety of scripts. Ask someone to
read such a script aloud, or adapt and record one yourself
for later use. Also available are professionally prepared
imagery audiotapes.
Shown in this site are two sample scripts: "A Special
Place," designed to relieve stress and anxiety, and
"The Ball of Pain," designed to reduce pain. Before
trying these scripts or any imagery, take 5 or 10 minutes
to relax in a comfortable position. Close your eyes
and focus on your breathing. Take slow, deep breaths.
Alternately contract and relax your muscles, working
from your toes to your head, or picture yourself in
an escalator being carried down, floor by floor, to
a deeply relaxed state.
Practice active imagery, such as "The Ball of Pain,"
for 20 minutes twice a day. After three weeks, you should
begin to notice whether it is helping you. It may take
even longer to achieve positive effects with receptive
imagery—two or more sessions with a therapist or instructor
or several weeks with self-help audiotapes or books.
Keep a journal to help you track your progress.
While some people respond rapidly to mental imagery,
others may take longer or fail to respond. But almost
everyone can use imagery to learn to relax, which offers
enormous health benefits. Anyone can experiment with
the technique, which is easy to learn and available
at the blink of your mind's eye.
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