Inner visions

Dear Patti,

When I was in college I had a psychology professor who exposed us to guided imagery. I loved it. Do you have any of these exercises that you could share?
—Ava 

As someone who is licensed in clinical hypnotherapy, I’ve given a wide variety of guided imageries, depending on my patients’ individual needs. Here are two examples:

1. Go to your bedroom at a time you’ll be uninterrupted and have privacy. Get comfortable, lie down, close your eyes, breathe in and out slowly and deeply and let your body completely relax. First relax your feet and legs, next relax your torso, then your arms and hands and, lastly, relax your neck and head. Let your limp body sink and fall deeper and deeper into the bed, totally stress-free. As your body descends into the bed, picture yourself floating up into the air and hovering way above your home. Look down and observe the block on which you live. Is there a palm tree or telephone pole nearby? Imagine resting there as you gaze down and see the roof of your house being lifted away so you can see into each room. Below you is the place where you spend many hours of your life. How does it feel to live there? Study each room separately and let each room speak to you. What does your kitchen say? Do you nurture yourself in a healthy way? How about your bedroom? See yourself resting in your bed. What do you feel toward yourself? Do you see someone who is intimate and loving or a person often alone and lonely? Contemplate what changes need to be made. See your home in the future as you’d like it to be. Experience feelings such as love and happiness. Hear sounds you want to hear, such as laughter, music and harmonious conversations.  Look down in your home and envision exactly how you want it to be. When you are finished, see the roof come back, keeping your residence safe and protected. Focus your attention on the present, bring yourself back into the bedroom, back into your body. Open your eyes and wake up refreshed and ready to take on the day.

2. Lie down, stretch out, close your eyes and focus on your body. Let all tension gently leave your body. Each time you breathe, you become more and more relaxed.  Count backwards from 10 down to one. Ten … relax. Nine … more and more relaxed. Eight … deeper and deeper relaxed. Seven…breathe deeper and deeper, and so on. Each time you breathe you become more and more relaxed. Count backwards again two more times.  Now that you’re completely comfortable and relaxed, imagine your three favorite colors combined with gold and silver to make a wonderfully fluid healing energy that slowly comes up through your feet and into the rest of your body. Picture yourself in the most beautiful room you can imagine.

Your wise inner self has something to show you. Look around, see the floor, the walls, look up at the ceiling and then see all the furniture around you.  In the corner of the room you’ll see a beautiful desk. On that desk are three objects: a DVD player with a monitor, a book and a hand mirror that has been placed face down.

First, put your attention on the DVD player. Push the “play” button and a video will show some part of your life. It could be from an actual time in your life or it could be symbolic images. It doesn’t matter whether these images are in black and white or color; whatever comes up is fine. Watch the video until it is done.

Now, open the book. Within its pages there will be something important for you to read. Read it.
Last of all, pick up the mirror and look into it. Someone important will be reflected in the glass. This person could be someone from your past, your present or a symbolic archetype of your hidden inner wisdom. Listen.

After you’re finished, return to the present and open your eyes, feeling revitalized with new knowledge about yourself.  

Patti Carmalt-Vener, a faculty member with the Southern California Society for Intensive Short Term Psychotherapy, has been a psychotherapist in private practice for 23 years. Contact her at patticarmalt-vener.com or call (626) 584-8582.