Visualization techniques for health, mood and positive thoughts. Imaging technique

Visualization- this, in psychology and psychotherapy, is the construction of visual images in the head, to change one's worldview and negative, subconscious attitudes and deep, often irrational beliefs, in order to get rid of various emotional and psychological problems in life.
, like positive affirmations - this is not a magical fulfillment of any desires in reality, in reality, but the implementation of rational, logically justified goals.
Today on the site of psychological help http://site, you will learn how to visualize using the visualization method and technique used in cognitive-behavioral and rational psychotherapy.

Visualization of desires, how to visualize correctly

, in fact, controlled fantasy, figurative representation, imagination, is aimed at changing the negative internal attitudes of a person to positive ones. In order for your realistic desires to come true, you need to clearly understand how to visualize your goals correctly, then, as in the negative case, the so-called “self-fulfilling prophecy” will work, i.e. If your wish is possible in principle, then it will certainly come true.

Visualization methods and techniques for the fulfillment of desires

Each given visualization method and technique, with small examples in brackets, will help you fulfill your rational desires and needs. Don't forget, practice is key here...
Images of coping, in which the individual imagines himself successfully coping with difficult situations, are used to correct passive, avoidant thinking. (For example, imagine you are asking your boss for a raise in your salary.)

Relaxing images, which include scenes of nature and sensory visualizations, are used to contrast thoughts that produce fear or anxiety. Often used as part of cognitive desensitization.

Achievement images, in which a person imagines that he has completed any task to perfection, are opposed to irrational thoughts about helplessness and failure. (“Imagine that you have a successful, happy marriage.”)

Images of detailed coping, which are focused on particulars, help people who feel overwhelmed by unsolvable problems. Using this method, a person can break down a major problem into a series of smaller ones and imagine how they overcome these minor difficulties. For example, he might divide the problem of buying a car into 20 small tasks and imagine successively completing each one, from buying a car catalog for new car buyers to successfully buying the perfect car.

Modeling images can be used if a person has difficulty in presenting the component steps of solving a problem or mastering a particular skill. In this technique, the individual imagines a person who exemplarily performs the task given to him. For example, you can analyze and then visualize Pete Sampras' forehand or William Buckley's arguing skills.

Hostile Images are used in conditioning aversion, withdrawal, and avoidance as a counterbalance to undesirable behavior. (“Imagine that your smoking habit causes emphysema in your children.”)

Idealized images are used when people cannot think of their end goal. (“Where would you like to live in ten years, with whom? What would you like to do?”)

Reward ideas reinforce realistic thinking. (“What good will happen if you complete the project?”)

Leveling images reduce the negative effects of unpleasant, intimidating visualizations. (“Imagine your boss in a duck suit, quacking.”)

Reconceptualizing Images change the interpretation of events. (“Imagine if your wife wasn’t mad at you, she was just having trouble at work.”)

Negative and positive images- visualization of negative situations against a positive background, as well as higher-order conditioning, can change the emotional valence of the situation. (“Imagine your opponent is criticizing you while you are sitting in a tropical lagoon on a warm, sunny day.”)

Corrective images correct mistakes made by a person in the past. (“Imagine how you would do it if you had to do it again.”)

Generalized corrective images allow an individual to correct all past incidents of a certain type. For example, a passive person might imagine that he acted assertively when he retreated from the problem.

Images of the future make a person look back at the present from the future tense, thus clarifying the main values. (“Imagine that you are 85, and you look back at your life. What do you now consider important and what is insignificant?”)

"Emergency" views teaches a person to cope with the worst possible consequences of an event. (“What is the worst thing that could happen if you lose your job?”)

Visualization of unlikely images assumes that a person imagines all possible "terrible" events that can happen to him in order to learn how to get away from trying to control everything around. This technique is often used in paradoxical techniques. (“What terrible thing can happen to you when you read Sunday comics? When you take a bath? When you lie in your bed?”)

Presentation of assertive responses can be contrasted with representations of passive, aggressive, and passive-aggressive responses so that the person sees the consequences of each of the responses. (“Imagine yourself passively, aggressively, or assertively asking for your money back.”)

Representation of the final consequences requires people to visualize a disturbing event a week, a month, a year after it happened to determine the long-term consequences. (“If you commit suicide, imagine how much your girlfriend will feel eight years from now?”)

Empathic representations teach the individual to perceive the world from the point of view of another person. (“How does the person you offended feel about you?”)

cathartic imagery allow people to imagine that they are expressing previously unexpressed emotions, such as anger, love, jealousy, or sadness. (“Imagine you are yelling at your friend.”)

Zero reaction representation suggests that a person visualizes how he perceives only neutral consequences in phobic situations. These images are often used in the procedures for canceling conditional links. (“Imagine standing in front of everyone and walking out. Imagine no one noticed and no one cared.”)

fantastic images solve problems in imagination that cannot be solved in reality (“Imagine that your deceased grandmother appeared before you now. What advice will she give you? How will she react to what you have done?”)

preventive images are used to prepare a person to deal with problems they may face in the future, such as death, rejection by a significant other, physical illness, poverty, etc.

Negative reinforcing images evoke an idea of a terrible situation, which relieves a situation even more terrible. (“Imagine holding a snake in your hands to get rid of the criticism of your peers.”)

Security Images give the individual a sense of security in a frightening situation. ("When you're on a plane, imagine your mom holding you in a warm pink blanket.")

Overwhelming images, used in the hidden flood procedures, play the same visualization over and over again until you get tired of imagining it. (“For the next two weeks, imagine 50 times a day that your wife is making love to every man you meet.”)

Alternative images are used when the client must decide between two lines of behavior. (“Imagine what your life in New York and Kivest in Florida would be like, and contrast the two.”)

Visualization is one of the most common tools in practical psychology. Despite this, or maybe precisely because of this, many are very skeptical about whether it can positively affect a person's life.

The concept of visualization is quite simple. You use the power of your imagination to create visions of what you want in life and how you will achieve it. It's like a movie in your head. In our article you will find seven visualization techniques - and if you have never practiced it, you will get a visual idea of what it is and how to use it.

In what cases does it not work? Only when you use it like a magic pill: sit on the couch in front of the TV and imagine how to achieve success, stand in front of the mirror and convince yourself that you are beautiful and attractive. Visualization always goes hand in hand with great difficulty. It is more of an addition than an instrument itself.

How can visualization be used?

The true value of visualization, of course, goes beyond simply boosting motivation and inspiration. It can be used in many ways to improve many areas of your life. For example, for:

Goal Achievement
Focus Improvements
Learning Ability Improvements
Increase self-esteem
Increasing self-confidence
Decision Making Improvements
Changes in values
Eliminations
Breaking free of limiting biases
Mastering a new skill
Changes in Habitual Thinking Patterns

Later in this article, you'll find visualization techniques you can use right now to improve some of these areas. Remember also that a person visualizes almost all his time, only he does it unconsciously. Which in many cases is not very useful. That is why you need to turn off the autopilot mode and take matters into your own hands.

Seven Visualization Techniques

Let's take a look at seven visualization techniques you can use to improve some aspects of your life, including:

Mastering a New Skill
Improving Perception
Increase self-esteem
Relaxation of mind and body
Healing the mind and body
Outline of action plan
Achievements of goals

We now describe the process of all the steps you need to take for each area, as well as briefly discuss how the use of each imaging technique can be beneficial.

Mastering a New Skill

The first thing that visualization can be useful for is to master a new field of knowledge. It can be quite effective in this case, because the human brain is stimulated in much the same way when we perform an action physically and when we imagine it in our head.

Psychologist Alan Richardson conducted a famous experiment with basketball players, during which it turned out that:

If you do not practice throwing into a basketball hoop for a week, then your skill drops.
If you visualize (represent the process in your head) training, then the quality of the throws improves by 23%.
If you train, the quality of the throws improves by 24%.

Of course, you can use this visualization technique to master any skill, but it is important to use all your senses when visualizing.

Here are five easy steps to help you do just that.

Step one. Choose the specific skill you would like to master.

Step two. Determine your actual level of proficiency in this skill.

Step three. Visualize the process of practicing this skill in vivid detail, using all your senses.

Step four. Repeat this process for 20 minutes a day. The course should last 11 days or more.

Step five. Practice this skill in real life and measure your progress. If you are not satisfied with the results, continue with the visualization while doing physical workouts.

Improving Perception

Visualization can also be quite effective when you want to improve your perception and observation skills. This skill is of great value as it helps to improve your understanding of the people and situations you find yourself in. Moreover, it is.

Here is a step by step visualization process of this kind.

Step one. Sit in a quiet place and spend a few minutes just observing the world around you.

Step two. Now close your eyes and recreate the world around you in as much detail as possible in your imagination. Make sure you pay close attention to the subtle details, colors and textures of everything you observed in the first step.

Step three. Repeat the process until you can recall every detail of your environment.

Of course, once is not enough. Such visualization should become a daily practice: after a while you will become a more observant and receptive person. Too easy and simple? Yes, like all great things. Do not think that such skills require a mass of installed applications on the phone. Enough of this exercise.

Another variation of this visualization technique is to take 15-20 minutes at the end of the day to remember your entire day from waking up to now.

Increase self-esteem

Whether you lack confidence or suffer from low self-esteem, you can use visualization as a tool to help you feel better about both.

Just three steps.

Step one. Close your eyes and imagine that you are standing in a large empty room.

Step two. One by one, visualize people walking into this room. They come up to you and either congratulate and compliment you or acknowledge your work and efforts.

Step three. When the room is full of people, visualize yourself telling everyone about your accomplishments. Be sure to thank them for their support and valuable feedback.

You can, of course, change this visualization method by bringing famous people or mentors into the room. You can also imagine people giving speeches about how much they appreciate you. And, of course, it's all about the little things. Surprisingly, it is the details that make you unique that help just as much.

Increasing self-confidence and self-esteem is a very slow process, but with enough perseverance, you can reduce the amount of time. Work out for 10 to 20 minutes every day and gradually begin to feel that you have the power to change yourself and your life.

Remember, everything is always changing. And either you will change yourself consciously, or unconsciously let it take its course. Only efforts can lead to success.

Relaxation of mind and body

Visualization can be very effective when you are under stress. Whenever you feel pressure, you can use it to calm your body and mind.

Step one. Sit or lie down in a quiet place free of distractions. You can put some soothing music in the background that will help you enter a deep relaxing state.

Step two. Breathe deeply and start counting from 50 to 1. As you do this, slowly relax every muscle in your body from head to toe.

Step three. Once you are completely relaxed, send your imagination to your personal retreat. There you will find everything that makes you feel calm, serene and happy.

Once you are in this personal retreat, you can direct your visualization in several directions. For starters, you can simply enjoy the peace and harmony of the moment. Or use this space to reaffirm your goals, values, and priorities. Perhaps there is a person waiting there who is an authority for you? Talk to him about your problems and discuss solutions.

There are no limits to your imagination. You can use your hideout in a variety of ways.

Healing the mind and body

Over the years, science has repeatedly proven that there is a connection between body and mind. This connection is described in many scientific studies where placebos are used instead of drugs, when instead of a real drug a person receives an outwardly very similar drug that has neither positive nor negative effects. Sometimes a placebo works just as well.

How is this possible? Basically, we convince ourselves that something is going to help us (belief system), and then the brain releases the appropriate chemicals and neurotransmitters that activate the healing process.

Of course, there is also the opposite effect, which is called nocebo. The situation is very similar to placebo, only the patient receives some harm to the body. Again, our belief system and brain play a major role here in creating this effect.

Try these three ways to see the value of self-hypnosis.

Earth energy visualization

Close your eyes and feel yourself firmly on the ground (or Earth). Imagine energy flowing through you and healing your body.

Visualization of a golden ball

The second way is to sit in a quiet place and visualize a golden ball of energy or light surrounding your body. This energy begins as a small spot in the heart chakra, and then with each inhalation and exhalation, it gradually grows and expands until it envelops the body.

Fireball visualization

The third method is used to effectively manage pain. Calm your breath and sit down. Close your eyes and start focusing on the area of your body where you feel discomfort or pain. Visualize this area as a large, bright, red fireball. Then gradually, with each exhalation, the fireball gets smaller and smaller until it becomes a small spot on your body. As the fireball shrinks, your pain subsides.

You can, of course, use each of these techniques in combination, or creatively explore other visualization techniques for pain or healing. There are many possibilities here for you to explore.

Outline of action plan

If you ever feel stressed or tense, visualizing your action plan can help you calm down, focus, and take proactive action.

This method is best used at the end of the day to plan work for the next day. However, it can also be used during the day when you have about 10 minutes.

This visualization has three steps.

Step one. Calm your mind and just relax. Sitting is probably a good idea as it will help you mentally take a break from what you are doing.

Step two. Close your eyes and start visualizing exactly what you would like to accomplish for the rest of the day (or tomorrow). Imagine it in great detail and ask yourself the following questions:

What exactly do I want?
How do I want to feel?
What specific actions do I want to take?
How will I interact with other people?
What obstacles will I have to overcome?
How can I overcome these obstacles?
What do I ultimately want to achieve?

It is important that you fully visualize your answers to these questions. Don't settle for the first answer that comes to mind. Actually, here you will see how inclined to live on autopilot.

The more answers you come up with, the better you can see what mistakes you've made before. Pay attention to every detail.

Step three. The reality of life is that we, unfortunately, cannot predict everything that happens to us. Unexpected events often break our plans. However, it's not about being precise and inflexible. Rather, it is an adaptation to the circumstances that arise in life.

With this in mind, it is important to state at the conclusion of the visualization that everything will change in one direction or another. By affirming this, you keep your mind open to possibilities. As a result, you'll be ready to make adjustments when unexpected obstacles come your way.

No, this process certainly does not provide a solid plan, but what this visualization definitely helps with is to imagine possible scenarios that could take place. By imagining them, you will be able to make better decisions as you complete your projects and tasks.

Achievements of goals

The final rendering method we will discuss involves the . The use of visualization for this area of life can be of great value, but the technique also has one distinct disadvantage.

Goal setting is probably the most popular form of visualization. Many of us imagine how we achieve something. But, unfortunately, this method often does not work due to one serious flaw. When most people visualize their goals, they represent only the end goal. They see in their fantasies this big, bright, and beautiful destination at the end of their journey. And yes, they represent this process in detail, using all the senses.

This is wonderful, because after such a session there is a huge motivation. However, it is fleeting and at the first problem is depleted.

They then feel like they need to visualize their goal again in order to find motivation once more. However, every time they do this, nothing happens and the energy is depleted.

What are these people doing wrong? A destination is not a destination, it is a journey. And on the way to it, you will encounter a lot of mistakes and failures, emotional downturns and breakdowns. This is what you need to include in your visualization in the first place.

Of course, you need to represent the end goal, but don't spend more than 10% of the entire visualization time on this. The remaining 90% should be dedicated to problems and solving them in your imagination. What will you do if you suddenly forget the words while speaking in public? Thinking about this question, you will immediately begin to look for the answer and find out that many people asked it to themselves and found a way out of the situation.

Here are five steps to properly visualize your goals.

Step one. Sit in a quiet place, close your eyes. Start visualizing your end goal. Imagine yourself in the future as a person who has achieved it. Experience all the feelings associated with it.

Step two. Now step back in time from this future. What did you do to achieve this goal? Imagine all the obstacles you have faced and the failures that have held you back - now you will clearly see that you are successfully overcoming them. Keep visualizing all the way up to the present moment.

Step three. Now move forward in time and visualize how you took advantage of the opportunities and how lucky coincidences helped you overcome each obstacle. The details are very important.

Step four. Once you complete your visualization, it will take time to fuel the future "you" with positive energy for the journey ahead.

Step Five

When you exit the visualization, immediately emotionally disengage from the result. The only thing that can hold you back is an emotional attachment to a particular outcome. Instead, stay open and flexible for the future. And get ready for a lot of work.

Yes, all these techniques seem very simple. We are used to the fact that in order to change, something difficult is needed. Do they have something like that? Yes: the most difficult thing in these techniques is persistence.

Even if these techniques look primitive, they are very effective. But only if performed every day. And if they are followed by .

Greetings, dear readers! If you are here, then you want to learn more about the practical aspect of visualization that we talked about earlier. About what visualization is, all the pros and cons, as well as the danger of this method, are described in a previously published article on the blog. Continuing this path, you will discover how the technique of visualizing desires works step by step.

So, let's take a closer look at the visualization technique:

Preparatory stage: emotional sphere, analysis

Visualization is closely related to the emotional sphere. Therefore, one should begin with the preparation of sensations and feelings. It is necessary to analyze the past, namely the positive component.

How to do it:

Remember examples of events when it was enough to wish for something and this something happened immediately. Perhaps it happened on New Year's Eve or another holiday.
Recall the extraordinary emotional high that you felt along with inner peace.
It is important to remember the feeling of a small gift of fate, to believe and accept the fact that miracles happen to those who are open to receiving another gift of fate.

In preparation for object visualization, it is necessary to view life positively. Let us recall the folk wisdom “For what they fought for, they ran into that.” By sending a request to the Universe marked “fear”, it is obvious that you will receive your “revived” fear in response.

First step: the concept of focus

In a previous overview article, How to Make Desire Visualization the Right Way to Achieve Your Goals, we looked at the dangers of visualization. One of them is that the Universe “punishes” us with the fulfillment of our wishes. The link to the article I gave above.

After the emotional upsurge has reached its climax, a new desire should be formulated. It is important that the concept of desire sound in a positive way.

It is forbidden to say: "I do not want." Using the “not” part will show the opposite result. Wish "health" instead of "do not get sick."

How to formulate wishes?

The correct use of the render method is as follows:

The wording should be related to you and depend on you. The correct wording would be: “I want the captain to fall in love with me,” and not “I want the captain to come.”
You should formulate a desire commensurate with your leading values. If you want to get rich on your own, you should not consider a marriage of convenience with a successful businessman.
You need to formulate a desire narrowly, with all the details and details, or very broadly.

Consider an example:

In the case of the wording: “I want the sea captain to come,” the result may be his temporary appearance in the field of view. He came and swam on. Therefore, we add to the previous wording: "... and fell in love with me at first sight."

Amazing! Now we remove the risk of non-reciprocal love: "... and these feelings are mutual with us." We level out other risks and clarify all the nuances, such as: the captain turned out to be married, the wrong appearance, the wrong age, and so on.

The same applies to money. Many people ask the question: “How to make financial well-being with your own hands?”. In such cases, affirmations work best - these are short phrases containing a formula that is fixed in the person's subconscious.

Affirmations are mantras for achieving conscious goals, the simplest and most powerful method of influencing the subconscious.

Attracting money with affirmations gives quick and tangible results because money is a form of energy. Let me remind you that you can read more about affirmations in a previously published article, here is the link: "".

Should I make a wish board?

There are times when it's more useful to build a visualization board with a broad query. This makes sense for those who are currently having difficulty identifying themselves and choosing their strongest desire.

It is enough to wish: "May my life turn out in the best way." But do not forget that conflicting desires cancel each other out, pushing out the weakest ones, leaving subconscious strong ones.

And if you do not analyze your subconscious desires, then you can draw a map of desires, and in the end get a completely different picture.

Second step: starring in your film

The stage involves immersion in an already clearly formed image. It's like turning on a movie, seeing it with your inner eye, where everything has already come true according to your scenario. You have the main role, all events - from the first (your) person.

Step three: setup

At this stage, you will have to develop the optimal positive attunement formula. It can be a phrase, a statement, a picture, etc.

Choose any setting that suits your taste. It is necessary to accept this formula and pronounce (view) it every day, feeling with all the fibers of the soul its importance and relevance.

In kungfu, this method is used to build up energy before striking and to completely relax. By linking other goals, you can create a settings board for all occasions.

Fourth step: timing and signs

Deadlines also need to be discussed immediately. Otherwise, the wish will come true too late or too early.

When making wishes, remember that they come true. Are you ready to get what you want?

There is a parable on this subject:

“Abraham is sitting under a tree, poor, like a church rat, but righteous. He has been asking God to give him money for many years. Every day he asks and sits all under the same tree. Abraham decided to become even more righteous: to pray for a month without ceasing.

On the thirtieth day, God answered him that everything is ready for you, but you are still sitting under a tree, even if you get up and buy a lottery ticket.

So it is when working with desires: do not miss the opportunity when it knocks on your window.

Monitoring

Make a wish - keep track of significant events, emotional background and results. Keep a notebook to track the process and visualization results.

A person surrounds himself with positive images that contribute to the achievement of goals. The degree of attachment of emotional intensity to affirmations determines the result of visualization.

Conclusion

Thank you for taking the time and attention to read this article. Tell your family, friends and acquaintances about the correct visualization technique. You will be able to exchange opinions, impressions and, what is most interesting in group work, do everything together.

Subscribe to my blog for useful information about self-knowledge, motivation and discipline.

I wish you new discoveries and success! Bye Bye.

The body is a single system controlled by the brain. If you choose the right keys and approaches, you can learn how to influence brain activity, which opens up almost limitless possibilities. So, with the help you can cheer yourself up, create pleasant moments, solve various problems and even improve your health.

What is visual thinking?

Figurative thinking is always accompanied by visualization. Often this word means only the construction of a visual image on the internal screen, a certain picture - similar to the one that sees in a dream. Such a statement is not entirely correct.

Visualization is the ability to imagine everything that you want, up to sensations. This skill is a manifestation of figurative thinking. It is given to everyone by nature, but due to non-use it atrophies.

It is important to distinguish between visualization and imagination, they are two different things. Visualization manifests itself in accordance with what acts and desires a person puts into it. It is suitable for projecting goals and realities into the future that you would like to visit.

It's not based on anything. It paints surreal phenomena for us, in other words, it just plays. Facts are not required. Sometimes it even reveals structures that you will not encounter in everyday life.

The advantage of visualization is that it helps to train imaginative thinking, destroying the barrier between consciousness and the higher self. As a result, intuition improves. Even with the help of visualizations, you can speed up the realization of dreams. A mental picture is created. Through repeated visualization, it is fixed in the brain, which begins to perceive it as an actual event. The energy values of real and fictional actions become equivalent.

Video: How to improve health with visualization and the Power of Thought

Visualization types

There are 3 types of visualizations:

External.
Internal.
Visualization of feelings.

External visualizations are more commonly used because they are easier to learn. A person draws mental pictures that he sees as if through the eyes of an observer from the outside. Example: you sit in a chair and imagine lilacs, and after a few workouts you will see yourself approaching the flowers, smelling them. However, throughout the process, you remain aware that you are sitting in a chair.

Slightly more complicated internal visualizations. Pictures are scrolling in the brain in which the visualizer itself participates. He sees everything that happens with his own eyes, feels himself to be the one he represents. There is no feeling of being in a chair.

All 3 types of visualizations can be used in combination with each other. The best effect is the combination of internal visualization with visualization of sensations.

How to learn to visualize?

There is an opinion that visualized objects should be as vivid as dreams. This is a misconception that prevents us from using visualization as a tool for influencing reality.

Rarely does one manage to observe clear and distinct pictures by closing their eyes and imagining something. Most do not see anything or see very dimly. More often people only think about the visualized object, suggest to themselves that they see it or imitate this feeling. This causes unnecessary concern. Visualizations are accompanied not only by visual representations, but also by olfactory, tactile, auditory and gustatory ones. What imaginary images will be depends on what is better developed - the sense organs or memory.

First of all, you need to be clear about what you want to achieve. Setting an end goal is not enough. It is important to imagine that it has already been achieved - then the subconscious will begin to look for ways to achieve this. Then the image of the desired should be captured on paper. This will increase your chances of reaching your goal.

To change the course of reality, it is important to discard negative beliefs. You need to believe in the success of visualization. Otherwise, no effort will bring results.

3 main steps

All visualizations include 3 steps:

Goal setting. It must be formulated in the present tense in the first person and written down on paper - as if it had already been achieved.
Mental representation of the end result. The essence of this stage is that mentally a person experiences the successful achievement of the desired in bright colors. The main task is to get rid of the previous negative ideas about reality and about oneself, replacing all this with a positive image.
Emotions. This is the last stage of visualization. The success of the whole process depends on how it goes. The human subconscious reacts to words because it needs emotions and feelings. The brighter they are, the better. When success appears in your imagination, feel the pleasure of victory and self-satisfaction.

Simple Visualization Exercises

Learning to visualize is not as difficult as it might seem.. Look straight ahead for a few seconds and close your eyes. Try to remember and imagine what you just saw. At first, it is a little difficult to reproduce, but with practice this ability improves. Keep practicing by opening and closing your eyes, remembering and mentally replaying more of what you saw. The exercise is simple, but do it regularly and you will soon notice that the abilities develop. This is the first step to mastering the art of directed visualizations.

Exercise "Lemon"

Imagine that you are sitting in the kitchen, and there are lemons on the table in front of you, from which you choose the most ripe and brightest. You take it in your hand, perhaps even feel its weight. Then you run your fingers over the skin of the fruit, you feel that it is smooth, like wax. Try to imagine bumps and bumps on the skin of a lemon. Then you bring it to your face, you feel the citrus aroma. Then cut it in half, watch how the juice flows out of it. The fresh smell of lemon fills the whole room. You cut off a slice from it and put it in your mouth, start chewing. The juice spreads over the tongue, you feel its sour taste ...

Usually, when doing this exercise, people actually begin to salivate profusely. This is a sign that your mind is accessing memory. So he tries to recognize the information that you have heard or read. Memory stores everything that a person has experienced in life. Therefore, the mind finds memories of lemons that you have eaten before, their smell, taste, color.

When you eat lemons, powerful physical reactions occur. When you visualize, you force the mind to remember them, and the body responds with a conditioned reflex. This exercise is a clear demonstration of how much words and thoughts can affect the body.

Associations and dissociations

Dissociation is the main imaging technique used in therapy. It helps to move away from problems, but for this you need to learn how to visualize.

Association consists in experiencing something as if you were in this situation, saw everything personally, experienced everything yourself. Dissociation is a diametrically opposed technique. It lies in the fact that you seem to be watching what is happening from the side, without participating in it.

When you did the lemon exercise, you associated yourself with experiencing the situation. You imagined doing everything yourself, feeling the citrus taste in your mouth. Dissociation allows you to experience events in a different way. In this case, the visualizer does not interfere in what is happening, but only observes.

Association is a deeply involved, personal and emotional way of experiencing an event. Dissociation is a detached, calculated and unemotional way of perceiving. You need to understand the difference between these techniques. Then you will be able to make the right choice and determine when it is better to practice association and when to practice dissociation.

The two techniques have different purposes. When you want to experience certain feelings, emotions, recharge your batteries, motivate yourself or be inspired, use the associative method. In this case, visualize situations that cause the desired emotions. A person associates himself with them, experiences them, as in reality. If you need to step back from certain emotions, regain control over the situation, learn to remain calm in the face of danger, dissociation will help.

Techniques to improve health and mood

With the help of visualizations, you can influence the state of your health by setting the body for self-healing. Here are a few techniques that you might find helpful:

Imagine that you are completely healthy, that you feel cheerfulness and lightness throughout your body. Visualize yourself rejoicing, laughing, radiating energy and leading an active lifestyle.
Can't visualize clear images yet? Then the visualization board technique is for you. In the center, put a photo in which you are happy and healthy. Place around the images that you associate with great well-being. Regularly look at the created board, while using positive attitudes and feelings.
Sit back, relax, and imagine that white blood cells attack the disease, and later carry out the destroyed cells and all the blackness through the intestines with the kidneys. See how the burgundy spot around the diseased organ melts under the influence of light. Feel that your body is recovering, and vigor and health are returning to you.

Visualization can also be used for domestic needs. Before eating food, charge it with energy - imagine how foods heal you, give you strength.

It is best to visualize immediately after waking up in the morning, but you can do it at any time. Just remember to relax your body and calm your mind.

if you have had enough sleep, you can visualize lying down; if you feel sleepy, sit down and straighten your back;
take a comfortable and stable body position that will not distract from the process;
do everything effortlessly and take your time - let the visualization last as long as it gives you pleasure;
if doubts arise, don't fight them, just keep shaping the image and energizing it.

Clearly formulate your desires, concentrate on what you really need, but most importantly - believe in success. Then the visualization will work, and you will get what you have long wanted.

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