Images and Symbols: The Glue of Habit, The Lubricant of Change

CHAPTER THREE

Techniques That Help You Access Images

BY ARLENE F. HARDER, MA, MFT

Chapter - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13

Let's look now at several techniques that have been increasingly used in the last ten to twenty years to expand the mind's creativity and intuition: imagery, mindfulness meditation, hypnosis, biofeedback and yoga. What is the difference between them? The short answer is "nothing important."

All are used by a growing number of people to reduce stress, create optimal health and enhance a sense of well-being.

All are able to positively affect the autonomic nervous system.

All involve a focused mind and an altered state of consciousness or "self-forgetfulness," similar to the awareness of being "in the flow" or in the "zone" that artists and athletes sometimes describe when they are at their peak.

A longer answer about their differences centers around the purpose for which they are being used. Relaxation, meditation and yoga have no specific "goal" other than achieving a sense of physical, psychological and spiritual well-being. Biofeedback is used to teach people how to relax or achieve a certain state of mind. On the other hand, hypnosis and guided imagery - as well as self-hypnosis and self-directed imagery - tend to be goal-oriented and are used for such purposes as changing a habit, controlling pain, or discovering some hidden aspect of the psyche.

NOTE: When you do imagery exercises, you are not being hypnotized. Your psyche has many defenses against taking in something it knows is wrong for you to accept or with which you are not ready to deal.

Although there is often an overlap in how these techniques work and all of them can complement the work that goes on in therapy and coaching, therapists and coaches tend to concentrate on whatever method they, themselves, have found valuable. So those approaches to accessing the right brain will probably be the ones they use most often.

For example, since I've had extensive training in guided imagery, as well as related techniques, I share in this manual the guided imagery techniques I am most comfortable creating and using. Similarly, whatever method you find valuable will probably be the one you recommend to others and will be the one you use in your work. However, experimenting with more than one technique can expand the tools of therapy and coaching techniques available to you.

A Few Definitions

Guided imagery exercises

When I use the term "guided imagery" exercise, I refer to those exercises that have instructions for you to follow as you listen. The suggestions of what to do next are set out in advance and are designed for a particular purpose. I will often use the term guided imagery exercises to refer to the exercises in this manual.

Grace and Grit by Treya Killam Wilber is a beautiful book that combines the journal entries of one women's hard-fought passage through cancer treatment and surrender to death, with the comments of her husband, the well-known writer on spirituality. She was encouraged to use imagery exercises in her fight against a particularly aggressive form of breast cancer. But she resists it at first because "exercise" seems like such hard work when she's doing all she can to get through each day. Only when she accepts imagery as something she can do for herself on her own terms and do the exercises when she wants to do them, does she seem to most benefit from them.

I can understand her reaction. You, too, may have a negative reaction to the word "exercise" and I hope in my writing that you realize you don't need to make this process a burden. In fact, if you do, you will likely get far less from it than if you didn't try to do it all.

Since "guided imagry exercise" is such a common term, I have a hard time finding a different word that people will recognize. However, I also refer to guided imagery exercises I create as "scripts," for they are much like the dialogue a playwright imagines will be delivered by actors when the play is produced. When acted upon, the words take on a life of their own, but they start out as a script, suggestions for what the actors are to say. The actors and actresses use their interpretations of the part to bring the play to life, just as you will use the words of a script to reach deeper into your right brain and access the images that lie hidden there. You are in charge of interpreting the script so that you can play the part with the greatest skill you can bring to the exercise.

Interactive Guided Imagery

If you were sitting in my office, I would begin an imagery exercise with the same guided imagery script, but it would soon turn into an "interactive" guided imagery exercise. That is because I would be able to guide you more effectively based on what you tell me you're experiencing as we go along.

Reflective Imagery

The technique of reflective imagery is very similar to the practice of mindfulness meditation. In both cases the process is one in which you allow yourself to simply "be." With mindfulness meditation the purpose is to achieve a sense of "nothingness," following images and thoughts that arise with no interest at all. With reflective imagery, you also begin with the idea of simply being, but then, without effort, noticing the images that arise, perhaps allowing yourself to manipulate them somewhat.

It is not unlike sitting beside a still pond and inviting a reflection to appear on the water. When it does, you wonder why it came at that particular time and may manipulate the image, much as people can do with lucid dreams.

Mindfulness Meditation

Mindfulness meditation is the process of allowing yourself to simply "be," achieving a sense of "nothingness." This gives your mind rest from its usual frantic activity as muscles and nerves "connected" to mind chatter become "disconnected," even if only temporarily. Out of that disconnection comes the potential of new connections that open your mind to new possibilities, new images, new growth.

There are hundreds of excellent books offering suggestions for meditation practices, from Zen Buddhism to Christian retreats. In this manual I only mention meditation in passing since I am emphasizing the imagery that comes from these exercises.

With all of these techniques, you can learn to forgive yourself and others, embrace qualities of the human spirit, uncover symbols of strength and courage, create harmony and wholeness in your life and, not least, expand your mind by making use of both sides of your brain.

© Copyright 2008, Arlene Harder, MA, MFT