| Guided Imagery Daniel M. Burrello More and more the cycle of human understanding turns back to the techniques and skills, now lost to the modern generations, which helped with healing and maintenance of the human mind and body. A technique used since before recorded history by healers and shamans is the inner journey. Guided imagery is also an inner journey. Useful for so many applications, this technique grows in popularity due to its effectiveness. In all of health psychology, the central premise is that our psychological states have a tremendous impact upon our physical health. Guided imagery is a direct line into the mechanisms of the immune system and the relaxation response. Athletes use guided imagery to enhance performance. Dancers rehearse entire routines without music and without leaving their beds. Cancer patients learn to visualize cancer cells as enemy soldiers being attacked by their body�s defenses. Psychologists aid children with asthma to stave off attacks in school (Peck, Bray, & Kehle 2003). School Counselors use Guided imagery to aid troubled students (Sklare, Sabella, & Petrosko, 2003) Heart Patients before, during and after treatments and surgeries listen to recorded guidance and music to help them through procedures (�Guided Imagery� 2003). Method actors take long and detailed journeys into the inner motivations of the characters they create onstage by laying on the floor and listening to the guidance of a coach while relaxing (Governick, 1997). It is not particularly clear exactly how the mechanisms of imagery work. Research during the past twenty or so years has show that imagery is a natural way a large part of the nervous system communicates. The Work of Dr. Roger Sperry and his team at the University of Chicago and later at Cal Tech have shown that the two sides of the human brain are capably of independent thought, and that each operates in a very different ways from each other. One works with words, and operates through logic and the other uses emotions, and images as its operant language. Dr. Sperry won the Nobel Prize for his work that delineated the differences between the two hemispheres. The left brain, for the majority of individuals, is responsible for speaking, writing and language comprehension. It is analytical and logical and believes it is the person to whom it belongs. It recognizes the name. The right brain thinks in images, feelings, spatial relationships and sounds. It is relatively quiet, but very intelligent. The Left Brain deconstructs and analyses. The Right Brain constructs and synthesizes. The left brain sequences input and sees things one at a time, whereas the right brain sees the whole system, including the environment and the causes of the situation. This ability is vital to the healing power of the hemisphere of the brain. It can grasp the larger context of what is happening. It can see the larger effects of an illness, its many causes and its consequences. The right brain is also closely connected to our emotions. When we see a human face frowning or laughing, we recognize the emotion with the right brain. Body language, speech, and even the emotional content of music are grasped with right brain functioning. This aids in the healing process because emotions are both powerful aids in healing but also causal factors in illness and disease. In fact studies in Great Britain and the United States have shown that 50 to 75 percent of maladies presented at primary care clinics are emotional, familial, and social in nature and origin (Rozen, Kleinman & Katon 1982). So, the systems involved in these right brain guided imagery exercises are in fact a main line into the center of our powers for not only homeostatic equilibrium and healing but for physical excellence and performance. References Governick, H. (1997). Method Acting: Relaxation techniques [article posted on Web site Theatrgroup]. Retrieved July 12, 2004, from the World Wide Web: http://www.theatrgroup.com/methodA/ Guided imagery and heart surgery. (2003). [Article posted on the Web site The Cleveland Clinic]. Retrieved July 18, 2004, from the World Wide Web: http://www.clevelandclinic.org/heartcenter/pub/guide/ prevention/stress/guided_imagery.htm Peck, H. Bray, M. & Kehle T. (2003) Relaxation and Guided Imagery: A School-Based Intervention for Children with Asthma. [Abstract]. Psychology in the Schools. Vol. 40(6), Nov 2003. pp. 657-675. Retrieved July 18, 2004, from the World Wide Web: http://search.epnet.com/direct.asp?an=2003-09772- 008&db=psyh Sklare, G. Sabella, R. & Petrosko, J. (2003). A Preliminary Study of the Effects of Group Solution-Focused Guided Imagery on Recurring Individual Problems. [Abstract] Journal for Specialists in Group Work, Vol.28 (4), Dec 2003. pp. 370-381. Retrieved July 19, 2004, from the World Wide Web: http://search.epnet.com/direct.asp?an=2003-09736-009&db=psyh Rosen, G., Kleinman, A., and Katon, W. (1982), �Somatization in family practice: a biopsychosocial approach." Journal of Family Practice, 14:3, 493-502. |