Guided Imagery Exercise 9:

Visiting Your Mind-Body Control Center

BY ARLENE HARDER, MA, MFT — PHOTO BY FABIAN

Illustration for Guided Imagery Class 9

Since this doesn't have pauses built in with periods ( . . . ) to guide you, I suggest you go through the entire script by allowing the mind to follow along, much as it does when listening to a story someone is telling you. For other ideas for how you can record this, see Using Imagery Scripts.

To set the stage for listening to this exercise, become as comfortable as possible. . . And as you allow yourself to relax and your body to feel fully supported, gently close your eyes. . . . And now, bring your attention to your breath, allowing your body to breath normally and easily, focusing on the experience of breathing, . . . Each time you inhale and exhale, become more relaxed than you were a moment before . . . more comfortable . . . more peaceful . . . With each breath, every cell of your body becomes at ease . . . and soon you find yourself in a state of pleasant, relaxed consciousness . . .

You begin exploring images of healing by seeing a building in your imagination with a sign over the door that has your name on it and the words "Mind/Body Control Center." Inside this building are many different rooms run by the various systems of your body. For example, there is one for your immune system, another for your hormone system, another for your circulatory system and so on.

This is a very busy place and you can't observe all the activities the first time you visit. But there are some rooms you might find particularly interesting because they will give you an idea for how you can interact with important functions of your body. For example, you can't be very comfortable if your spine is all crooked and twisted. And so imagine that in the room where workers monitor your skeletal system there is a work station on which a computer screen has an x-ray of your spine. The workers compare the x-ray with a picture of what your spine should look like. If the spine gets out of line, they push levers that move ropes and pulleys connected to the muscles in your back. This causes you to pay attention to the tension in your back and you feel the need to stretch or move around a bit. That helps your spine get back into a more healthy position.

In the next room is a most interesting piece of equipment, a thermometer as tall as you are. This keeps your temperature within a narrow range. When it goes too high, workers turn on a sprinkler system that cools the air-and your body. When the temperature is too low, a fire is built and you warm yourself in its heat.

In the laboratory for the circulatory system, there are many tubes and pumps that keep blood flowing and get oxygen to every cell. There are special dials and knobs that must be set just right so your heart and lungs function most efficiently.

A healthy neurological system requires a careful balance of the chemicals in the brain. An image to represent that process could be workers who use eye droppers to gradually add certain chemicals for sleeping and others for staying awake. Or you could imagine the flow of vital energy to your nerves is controlled by the kind of levers used with electrical generating equipment.

There are various ways you could include people in your images. For example, you may want to imagine that all the equipment in the control center is run by technicians who are nurses and doctors. Or they could be your friends and loved ones who come to help when you are sick. And of course, a worker could be you. On the other hand, you may find that you can almost see and touch a thermometer, but you don't have a very good sense of the workers themselves. That's just fine. You could even imagine having your body's temperature go down as you watch the level in the thermometer go lower and lower. Your mind will select from these ideas those things it needs in order to create its own special images.

Here is how you can use these images to affect your body.

If you are experiencing an upset stomach, in your imagination you might want to select a video of a beautiful lake with calm, smooth water and then you can imagine that you give that video to a worker in your mind/body control center. That worker will then put the video into the TV monitor that is connected to the flow of gastric juices in your stomach. Before you know it, your stomach will feel wonderfully soothed and much less distressed.

Another image for an upset stomach could involve a machine that is connected to the muscles that surround the stomach. An instrument indicates the muscles are cramping painfully and so you have a worker turn a dial with numbers that go down to zero. As the dial is slowly turned, you imagine the muscles slowly stop contracting. The more completely you can imagine the dial and see it moving toward zero, the more effective the image will be in helping your stomach feel less distressed.

If you have a tight and tense muscle, you might imagine that it is like a rope that has been tied into a knot. In that case, you could ask the workers who are in charge of your muscles to very gently and slowly untie the knot. Then you could watch them smooth out the kink with a gentle massage. Again, you could just imagine a rope coming untied and not have any workers involved.

Here is another image that has been used successfully for people who are prevented sometimes from sleeping when their legs involuntarily kick. To correct this, they use an image of two test tubes of liquid, sitting side by side. A red ball floats at the top of each tube. In order to calm their legs, technicians in their control centers need to keep the fluid level even in both tubes so the red balls line up next to each other. And so, when their legs begin to jerk, they imagine some liquid is poured into one of the tubes until they can see the balls are once again floating side by side, quiet and still. Holding this image in their mind for just a few moments keeps their legs from jerking and they can go to sleep.

People with this problem might also use an image of waves formed by a storm at sea. At first they are seen in the imagination crashing against the shore and then gradually calm down until they gently flow onto the sand with hardly any disturbance at all.

And now it's time for you to create your own image, one that can help your body function as it should. You can use this image for a physical problem you are currently having or a problem you are concerned about. You can also create an image you plan to use on a regular basis to enhance your general health.

The idea for your image may come from almost anywhere. You may be inspired by one of the examples in this exercise and your image could involve TV monitors, pulleys and ropes, dials and knobs. Or it may have nothing at all to do with laboratories but something else entirely. Your image could be suggested by an event in your childhood or from a scene in an old movie, a TV show or a book. What is important is that the image has meaning for you.

You may find that it is easiest to first imagine how a system of your body would work if it were operating at optimal efficiency. Then you can imagine what the system would be like if it needed fixing. Once you know what needs to be fixed, you can create an image in which it is being fixed. The important thing is to be aware of the change. Finally, your imagery ends with the repair completed. When that is done, allow a feeling of healing and health to flow throughout the area that needs attention. Then expand that feeling so all of your body feels as well and whole as possible.

And now, take a deep breath, letting your muscles once again relax as fully as they can. From deep within allow an image to emerge. In experiencing this image, you may find yourself using all of your senses-seeing, hearing, touching, smelling and even tasting the various details. Or you may just get a strong general feeling that a certain image would work especially well for you. Don't worry whether you are doing the imagery "right" or "wrong." What is important is your intention to communicate with your body.

As you enter the world of your imagination, you may create an image almost immediately and that image may be perfect for you. Or it might take you some time to discover the image you want. Take as long as you would like to play with this image in your imagination.

When you are done, remember to bring your attention back to the room, to feel your body supported by the furniture and then to gently open your eyes and become alert and fully awake. In the meantime, experience your image as fully as you can and change it in any way you want, so that it becomes a very special, vivid image you can use to communicate with your body and enhance your sense of well-being.

© Copyright 1990, Arlene Harder, MA, MFT