Do you find yourself struggling with temptation, trying to lead a better life based on will power, and often falling short of your goals? Guided imagery could be the answer you've been looking for. By using the power of your mind, this technique can improve your thoughts and your bodily experience. Guided imagery audio, whether on tape, CD, or streamed through the internet, provides the structure you need to most effectively use this technique to improve your life.
If you're just starting out in this method, it can be difficult to figure out how to effectively use all of your senses to imagine yourself free from stress, anger, pain, and bad habits. Scripts are helpful, but often reading a script keeps the mind too active, and makes it hard to really relax and take in the content of the script. Listening to audio is a huge improvement. In addition to the helpful words, the audio features soothing narration and wonderful voices that make it seem like the directions are coming from trusted friend.
Using audio, it is easy to open yourself up to the thoughts and directions that are included in the script. Audio is particularly effective in areas where you find yourself in need of calming influences:
Sleep. Many people have trouble sleeping, whether it be due to insomnia, nightmares, or just an inability to sleep deeply and awaken feeling rested. Using the audio, you can benefit from professional help with these sleep problems. The audio will guide you to feel relaxed and calm, with a clear mind ready to rest and sleep. You may be directed to imagine yourself in a warm cocoon, where you can hear calming classical music, feel the comforting softness of downy blankets around you, and smell the fresh cut grass of the lawn just outside your window. The exact imagery doesn't matter; what is important is that you find something that works for you.
Dealing with Grief. In a sense, grief is really a type of anxiety. You feel a tremendous sense of despair because whatever you have lost is irreplaceable, and you can't imagine how you could possibly go on without it. In order to move beyond these feelings, you need to relax and free yourself from the anxiety incurred by loss. The audio recordings will help you do this. They will first guide you into a relaxed state using meditation-like techniques, and then begin to help you develop thoughts of peace, tranquility, and fulfillment that will replace your thoughts of grief. You can't just visualize a happy self; you have to fully imagine and inhabit that self with all of your senses. Many of us forget this on our own, but the audio will help you stay on track and use all of your senses.
If you're not used to listening this kind of audio content, you many find yourself nodding off during your session! This isn't necessarily a bad thing, as the audio is known to help sleeping or even unconscious individuals (like coma patients) as well. If you do want to stay awake, try sitting or even standing and walking during the session.
Jill Magso is a member of the Silva Team and contributes to spreading enlightened ideas and sharing teachings about meditation practices. The Silva Method encompasses a variety of powerful exercises that take you deep into Alpha and Theta levels of the mind so that you can work within your subconscious as well as your conscious mind.