September
2001
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Find Your Inner
Treasures Through Interactive Guided Imagery™
PATRICIA HAARMAN
I TREASURE GOING within. I soften and a little smile turns up the corners of my mouth.
I drop down underneath whatever I had been previously thinking, feeling, or doing
and go within to my center. Thereís a warmth and release in my belly and my
shoulders drop. I can feel my heart open and gentle energy flow through my body.
It is a delicious, multi-sensory prayer.
Before I could learn to rest in my inner stillness, I needed to learn how to go within
and focus my attention. One of the best ways I have found to do this is through Interactive
Guided Imagery SM (IGI). IGI uses a simple relaxation technique to help focus attention
on your own personal inner world. By inviting images to form that are related to
issues in your life, you are able to access information and resources that can be
powerfully therapeutic.
IGI is a respectful mind-body therapy. The key to this is its interactive nature.
The images come from the wealth stored within you and the guide follows the content
that your inner experience provides. Focusing your attention within shifts your awareness
from the rational, left-brain, conscious mind to the creative right-brain, non-conscious
mind. From here you may uncover new insights that will help you optimize your quality
of life on every level.
Boundless Possibilities with IGI
IGI is holistic, humanistic, and non-dogmatic, incorporating skills from many disciplines
including hypnosis, psychosynthesis, and self-actualization psychology. Whether augmenting
your body-mindís self-healing systems or clearing challenges to a rewarding
life, the applications for IGI are as limitless as your imagination!
Martin L. Rossman, MD, and David E.
Bresler, PhD, created Interactive Guided ImagerySM and are co-directors of the Academy
for Guided Imagery, which they founded in 1989 to teach other health professionals.
Their pioneering work has shown that there are few physical, emotional, or behavioral
symptoms or illnesses that are not affected to some degree by the mind.
In his book, Spontaneous Healing and 8-weeks to Optimum Health, Andrew Weil, MD,
endorses IGI, noting, ìMy experience with guided imagery convinces me that
no disease process is beyond its reach. I find Interactive Guided ImagerySM so useful
that I require training in it for fellows in the Integrative Medicine Program I created
at the University of Arizona Medical Center. It can be used alone or with other treatments,
is safe, time- and cost-effective, and often funî (Self-Healing Newsletter,
March 2001). IGI mobilizes your latent innate healing abilities and other inner resources
to support rehabilitation, recovery, health enrichment, performance enhancement,
emotional balancing, wholeness, and growth.
The Five-minute Vacation
Take a nice deep breath in through your nose and exhale through your mouth. As
you do this, you signal to your body-mind that it is time to go within. Take as many
more single breaths as you need until you are feeling more comfortable and relaxed.
Now allow an image to come to mind of a beautiful, peaceful place. What do you notice?
Hear what you can hear in this special place. Smell the smells here. Notice what
you can
see. What's the weather like? Really feel how it feels to be here.
Imagine the sun above you warm and bright. Notice that its light is beautiful and
radiant. Let this light shine upon you like a liquid waterfall of light. Allow it
to wash over you and through you, gently clearing away any tension, until you feel
calm and clear.
Now notice that the light of the sun is shining the most beautiful, radiant light
that you have ever experienced. It shines over you and through you, filling the spaces
that just released.
Filling you with peace, health, strength, hope, wisdom, joy, compassion. Allow every
part of your being to receive this wonderful, generous gift from the sun.
When you are full of light and this feels complete, thank the sun in whatever way
seems appropriate. Know that you can return to this place whenever you need or want,
and receive once more the gifts of the sun.
When you are ready, become aware of the outer world, the sounds of the room. Feel
your body back in this time and space, bringing with you the gifts of the sunlight
from your special place. Gently open your eyes and refocus. Take a moment and stretch.
What do you notice about your body-mind now? Is your belly soft? Does your heart
feel more open? Is a little smile turning up the corners of your mouth? You may want
to draw, paint, or journal about your experience. Itís helpful to have a tangible
reference of your inner journeys. I invite you to go within as often as you are able
and tap the rich inner resources within you.
Patricia L. Haarman, BA, CMT, is nationally certified in Interactive Guided ImagerySM
and is a member of the International Association of Interactive Imagery (IAII). Haarman
works in Forest Lake and Woodbury with imagery, acupressure, energy and body-mind
awareness techniques to support clientsí growth and self-healing. She can
be reached at 651-235-6909 orImagerysolutions@aol.com.
Interactive Guided Imagery's Treasure Trove
Physical benefits & uses include:
relaxation and balancing stress
pain reduction and relief
stimulating healing responses
empowering and motivating self-care
tolerating difficult medical procedures
surgical preparation
Spiritual benefits & applications allow for:
accessing unconditional love and forgiveness
receiving higher guidance and wisdom
connecting to a spiritual source, angels and nonphysical helpers
preparing for an end of physical life transition/death
enhancing virtues, strengths, and inner peace
prebirth and pastlife regression
exploring life purpose and meaning
Psycho-emotional manifestations include:
finding vision and meaning
clarifying and resolving conflict
accessing positive resources, i.e. wisdom, love, patience
enhancing goal setting and planning
increasing creativity and problem-solving abilities
developing insight and awareness
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2001 Twin Cities WELLNESS newspaper.
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