Guided Visualization Is Powerful and Effective

Guided visualization is about using your imagination to change how things affect you. Guided Visualization is a form of self hypnosis, linked to the power of positive thinking. We all use visualization every day, whether we are aware of it or not.

Visualization is what makes successful people successful. Unfortunately it is also what makes the losers, losers. Too many people spend their lives visualizing disaster and failure. By focusing on the negative all the time they are training their minds to generate the very failure they are trying to avoid.

Guided visualization is a powerful technique for getting what you want.

Visualization is more than images

Guided visualization is not restricted to images. Visualization uses all the senses. The term includes muscle responses and the sensations of hearing and taste. Every part of your body, and your memory, can be involved any visualization. Many people find it hard to visualise but that does not mean that they cannot use guided visualization. It is the process of mental activation which is important. As long as you can imagine the situation in your own way, it does not matter whether or not you get an image as part of the process. It is still visualization.

A good visualization involves the imagination and the emotions. A good visualization triggers powerful changes in your mind. These changes will go on working for a long time, and possibly will change the entire course of your life. Once your mind has experienced a vivid visualization, it cannot un-experience it.

You can use guided visualization every day

Athletes practice visualization extensively. For example, a high diver will pause for a few seconds just before the dive. In those few seconds the diver will visualize the perfect dive. The diver will mentally rehearse every twist and turn. The diver will try to feel the muscle movements, the sequence, the timing and everything else that goes to makes up a perfect dive.

That brief pause will put the diver into a calm state. In that state doubt does not exist, the inner mind is focused purely on what needs to be done to execute the perfect dive. And then the diver steps forward and everything happens automatically. The diver is briefly in a state of trance and just allows the muscles to take over effortlessly. Every elite athlete does something similar.

Every person has the same ability. Research has shown that visualising changes in your own body will have an effect. There is a direct connection between your mind and your body. What your mind visualises will happen in your body.

There are limits of course. You cannot put hair back on a bald head, and you cannot grow yourself 6 inches taller. But the changes that can be made are quite astonishing. Studies have shown that some people can lower their blood pressure, can reduce bleeding and manage their blood sugar levels.

Principles of Visualization

Visualization is not just an intellectual exercise. In order for a visualization to work, it needs to involve the imagination, and the body, and the mind. The visualization must be rooted in the mind-body connection. When you are building your visualization it has to be so vivid that you feel it in your muscles, or you start salivating, or your heart starts beating with excitement. It has to involve the emotions as well as the imagination.

The best way to get the mind-body connection working is for you to be in a light state of trance. Everyone can do this. All you need to do is to find yourself some quiet place without sudden noises or interruptions. Then close your eyes, and begin to breathe gently. When you do that, your body begins a cascade of automatic responses. Your breathing will slow, your blood pressure will fall, your muscles will relax and you will go into a "altered state".

In the altered state your imagination can soar. Your unconscious mind will begin to open up. You will have access to ideas and memories that you cannot access when you are fully alert. These are the things that will let you build a powerful visualization.

A guided visualization is most effective when the person doing the imagining takes control. In the visualization there are no limits on you. You can imagine yourself doing anything. Even things that are impossible. You can become a Super Hero. Putting yourself at the centre of the visualization, and allowing yourself to do anything, has a powerful effect on your old beliefs and attitudes. If you can imagine it, your mind will accept it. And your body will believe it.

Because you put yourself into control, you create a series of changes internally. Most psychological problems arise because the person feels they do not have control. Frustration and stress arises when they feel they cannot do anything about it. Visualising yourself as having the power to do whatever you mind thinks you can't do, just wipes it out.

It's that simple. And that powerful.

Get more details on visualization techniques, and visualization exercises so you can learn how to create powerful, effective visualizations for yourself.