Visualization is a tool that people have used throughout the ages and across cultures to achieve specific goals or even just to entertain themselves (fantasy). Visualization is so natural to us that visual language development precedes verbal language development in children.
The benefits of visualization have been extensively documented in sports, leadership training, possibility thinking and even healing. Affirmations and visualizations were popularized by Dale Carnegie, Robert Schuller and Steven Covey. Dr. Charles Garfield’s extensive research on peak performers in athletics and in business showed that world-class athletes habitually visualize winning before the event.
Visualization is one of the main channels through which our mind communicates with our body. Imagery can be further enriched with sounds, tastes, smells or a combination of sensations. The more complete an imagery is, the more effective it is.
As an example, imagine right now that you’re holding a fresh, juicy lemon in your hand. Feel its cool, hard roundness in the palm of your hand, its bumpy texture against your skin and see its clear yellow color with a hint of green at the ends. Imagine cutting it open and seeing the juice squirt out of it. Smell the lemon's tart aroma. Now tilt your head back and squirt the lemon juice in your mouth.
I bet, you’re salivating right now. Your body acted as if there were a real lemon squeezed into your mouth. It is enough for the mind to visualize something in order for it to act as reality in the body. This is the awesome power of visualization.
In the health arena imagery can lower blood pressure, relieve pain, speed healing and help the body mitigate hundreds of ailments, including depression, impotence, allergies, asthma and cancer. The power of the mind to influence the body is quite remarkable and has been widely documented.
Negative imagery is equally powerful. Your thoughts have a direct effect on the way you feel and behave. Through worry and other negative images you can actually alter make yourself more susceptible to a variety of ailments. You can literally be “worried sick.”
Guided visualization usually relies on a script that the facilitator reads in soothing tones with relaxing music in the background. This process allows you to relax in order to better access your deeper consciousness. When you’re mentally and physically calm, the facilitator asks you to visualize (hear, see, smell, feel) specific images or scenarios that will help you bring about the results you desire. The skill of the facilitator lies not only in helping the client achieve deep relaxation but intuiting the kind of imagery that most personally speaks to them.
In the context of nutritional counseling I teach my clients how to visualize or use guided visualization with them when I believe they would gain additional benefit from it. For instance, I may teach a client with recurrent headaches (for which corrective nutrition is given) to imagine a rushing mountain spring washing away the tension. Another client with headaches may respond better to watching a scented oil drop spread on a peaceful lake. In both cases, the relaxation would bring about an immediate result of easing the tension while the tendency to experience tension is being addressed with nutritional and lifestyle corrections.
Biochemical cell salts •
Deep Healing
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Deep Healing stories
Flower, seed, leaf essences •
Guided visualization
Herbal remedies •
Homeopathic remedies
Meridian Response Technique
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