During these times of lockdowns and health crisis’s as the world begins to try and return to normal or our new normal as the case may be. Many of us will have been doing some reflection and inner work during this time.

Inner work is something that never ends once you start – while you may heal any surface traumas or reasons for being in crisis there always remains more tools to learn until you can finally one day come to a stage of self mastery.

One such tool that is very useful during these times is guided imagery. Many people will have noticed that we are constanly bombarded with images – we dont notice half of them as we blank out constant advertisements billboards and other messages but this doesnt mean that our mind hasnt “noticed” those images – no they get slipped straight into the back of our mind our subconscious. When we watch tv and news reports during times such as these with the Coronovirus crisis we may be immediately overwhelmed by a series of fearful crisis images – people in scary masks, doctors and fearsome ideas of death and dying being imminant.

So, we may be strong and feel these images have no real effect on us and consciously we may be OK, but subconsciously those images have entered our thought life and begin to do their work in causing a darkened mind filled with fear and worry. The media is so powerful, at least as much as the advertising agencies in influencing our minds through images and nobody is immune. So what do you do during a crisis or a war when the images used by the media and other agencies get even more intense which may realistically threaten to over whelm our mental health

1 We can choose to limit our exposure to these images – maybe choose to watch less tv for instance and instead use to the time to learn something new or practise a calming and enjoyable hobby instead.

2 We can utilise Guided imagery

3 We can create art of our own positive uplifting healing images

I have already covered some benefits of art making in earlier blogs but we have never looked at guided imagery.

According to Martin Rossman who wrote the book Guided Imagery for self healing the brain has 2 parts one thinks in words and logic and the other part thinks mainly in images. So what is guided imagery? – guided imagery utilises the two parts of the brain and unites the conscious and unconscious by describing images and sensory experiences as a guided meditation to take the person on an experience which is beautiful enjoyable and healing.

The video below is an example of guided imagery “the forest awakens”

So in this kind of mediation the person goes on a journey filled with guided images which fill the mind and help cause a physiological response with is the OPPOSITE of fear tension and anxiety. So this is a perfect antidote to the fear based images we may receive in our minds from other sources.

Sometimes we may also find that we may be indoors more often in order to meet the demands of quarantine and to keep ourselves safe – so if we can take a guided imagery walk through the forest – this fills our mind and subconsious with beautiful images and scents and sounds which have a fully transformative and healing effect

Guided imagery can also be used to alleviate all kinds of sufferings like anxiety and pain or can even be uses to prepare for stressful life events such as speaking in public or preparing for an exam.

Guided imagery can also be uses to compost or transform old negative stuck emotions which may appear to be held in the body but are actually in the mind which appears to be non local. So an example would be to imagine all the things which have causes you anxiety over the last month and feel all that heavy material from that leaving your body and being composted into the ground – to be transformed into beautiful crystaline energy

There are wonderful guided imagery meditations found online to help with all sorts of life dillemas and anxieties including the current crisis – there is some great meditations and exercises by a lady called Anahita Joon – transforming fear into wisdom http://www.anahitajoon.com/

Guided imagery is used in Quantum healing accessing the archetypes of the subconscious mind as guided imagery connects both the conscious and the unconscious with great results for healing trauma

It utilises intention, attention and imagination which are great things for positive results in meditation and its free.

You could even record your own guided imagery sessions to use on yourself tailored to a specific issue you want to work on or alleviate.

Another thing that may be worth trying is recording the imagery of your mind in a journal – just taking some time to notice which sort of images dominate your thought life – you always have access to your true self and the Divine so you may have a great deal of positive images – but may notice all the subliminals from advertising, the fearsome media images, bad memories and so on in there again. So once you have made your mental imagery more conscious you can then utilse guided imagery to transform those images – so imagine what it would be like if the images were better and happier. This requires a great deal of vision which can take us out of a narrow fearful state and into a more expansive state and then we can note this down in our journal too – or even create some positive images or a vision board of a better outcome as goals to create

Dynamic guided imagery can be utilised in things like chakra dance where you can dance to a guided imagery session – ie you may dance around an imaginary camp fire or a crystal cave or in the ocean. https://www.dailyom.com/cgi-bin/courses/courseoverview.cgi?cid=928

So in these times its great to have as many tools for positive mental health as possible and guided imagery is a great tool for healing satisfaction happiness and well being no matter the weather in life.