What is Guided Imagery?

It’s a way of speaking to your unconscious mind in pictures. It’s a wonderful tool for showing your unconscious mind what you want to do with your life, and how to get there. It has many different applications.

The term “guided imagery” can refer to a number of different techniques. For our uses, Guided Imagery is a meditative relaxation technique using visualization; metaphor and storytelling, fantasy and active imagination, with the goal of encouraging clients to tap into inner resources and find solutions to problems.

There are amazing, well-structured studies on the effectiveness of hypnosis, guided imagery, prayer and meditation. One study shows that of out of the possible states of consciousness for your body to heal itself, sleep is 9 to 10 times more effective than the normal waking state, and the sleep state is only one fourth as effective as states such as the one you’re in when in hypnosis or guided imagery or meditation or prayer.

The numbers on this one are staggering.

There are other studies, well-done ones, that show that hypnosis or guided imagery IN ADDITION to the necessary changes in diet and exercise doubles the long-term weight loss of dieters. They’re beginning to prove over and over again that these techniques aid the mind in solving problems and creating a happier, more fulfilling, more productive life. This is why we use NLP, Guided Imagery, and Hypnosis to help our clients get where they want to go in their lives.

Does Hypnosis differ from Guided Imagery? If so, how?

They both use relaxing, meditative states in order to speak with the client’s unconscious mind. Guided imagery speaks more in pictures, while hypnosis uses direct suggestion. Hypnosis has elements that are more authoritarian, more structured, while guided imagery is somewhat more permissive, allowing the subject to come up with his or her own answers. Both use many of the same techniques and tools.