Relaxation by Visualization

Visualization is a relaxation technique rather like guided day-dreaming. It can take a little while to learn to do effectively, but with practice, you’ll be able to achieve a relaxed state of mind in less and less time. Just as it’s possible to for us to make ourselves anxious by thinking stressful or unpleasant thoughts; so we can banish anxiety and stress by ‘thinking’ ourselves into a better frame of mind by using nothing more than our imaginations.

Once you become adept at visualization, you’ll be able to use it any time you need to and with little effort.

Step-by-Step Visualization Procedure

1. Choose a peaceful location where you won’t be disturbed and make yourself comfortable, you can be seated or lying down.
2. Now you need to imagine you are somewhere you find inherently relaxing, this will obviously vary from person to person, but some examples include: a tropical beach, lying in the grass beside a river, on a mountainside, in a cool forest, floating in a boat on a lake, etc. Most people will find thinking about natural settings the most relaxing.
3. It’s important that you involve all your senses in creating your imagined location: the feel of the sand or grass beneath you, the cool breeze or warm sun on your skin, the smell of the trees, the sound of the sea as the waves reach the beach, and so on. Try to build up the most detailed mental picture you can.
4. If you find your mind wandering on to unrelated topics, or feel your anxious or stressful thoughts impinging on your visualization; don’t feel discouraged or angry, just recognize the negative emotions for what they are, mentally move them to one side and continue building your relaxing mental picture.
5. After a while, you should find your anxiety recedes into the background and you will feel relaxed and refreshed.

With practice, you’ll be able to employ this technique even when you are unable to find a quiet location to do it in; for example on a bus or train. You will find that your surroundings and current state of mind become less of a barrier to achieving relaxation through visualization.

You may find it helps to incorporate some basic breathing exercises into your visualization session.

Posted in: Relaxation Techniques Tags: Breathing Exercises, Imagery, Meditation, Visualization

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