Guided Imagery for Health & Healing by Susan Duesbery
On September 11, 2001 as the world trade centers were crumbling to the ground, so was my physical, emotional and spiritual health. Leading up to this point, I had been experiencing many sleepless nights and anxiety was creeping into my days with increasing frequency. Every cell in my body was exhausted and screaming for me to slow down and rest. Again and again, I did not heed my body’s cries. I was pushing, forcing and over-committing myself in every area of my life. At the time, I couldn’t understand why I was feeling jittery and tearful. Looking back, I am amazed that I didn’t fall apart sooner. I had recently moved from Canada to the US, living far from any family support, I was working part-time and caring for my young children, renovating a 100 year old home on weekends and while my baby was napping, often volunteering at my daughter’s school, supporting my husband in his new job, being active in my community, dealing with a chronic pain condition and suffering the frequent inconvenience of a heart arrhythmia that left me feeling breathless and sick.
Trying to be the “perfect” mother, wife, employee, volunteer, homeowner and all-around superwoman finally came to an end when on September 13, what I have come to call “my cosmic two by four”, hit me on the head and I could not get out of bed. I was exhausted deep to my core. I realized I was in serious trouble. Hearing the fear in my voice, my dear parents came to stay to help my husband care for our children and help support me in any way they could. I spent much of two weeks in bed, unable to do much else. Never before had I done so much of “nothing”. I slept a lot, making up for some of the many hours of lost sleep that I had accumulated over the preceding months. My mom brought me books to read. I realized that for the last several years, I hadn’t even allowed myself the time to read a book! But now, with the hours stretched out before me, I soaked up the words written by wise women who had walked this road before. Through their eyes, I began to see that there might be another way to live my life. A life where I wasn’t running breathless from task to task, often skipping meals to do so. A life where I would be more present to the signals my body was giving me. A life where I would care for myself as much as I would care for others. A life where I would feel more peaceful and balanced.
It was during this two week period of bed rest that I dug out a guided imagery cassette that I had used almost a decade earlier to relax and prepare for birthing my first child. When I first placed it in the cassette player I was scared and anxious that I would never feel whole and healthy again. But, as the relaxing music began and the “guide” spoke his first words, I began to release the tight grip I had held my muscles under for so long. I could feel that I was breathing, actually taking in full, even breaths of air, instead of the irregular, shallow breathing that I had become accustomed to. My mind focused on the “image” I was invited to imagine instead of jumping from unsettled thought to unsettled thought. When it was all over, lasting only 20 minutes or so, I felt more whole and at peace than I had felt in ages. These anxious feelings did not have to always be with me. A wave of gratitude washed over me, thankful that I wasn’t going crazy after all. It was clear that whatever was making me feel so edgy and fragmented greatly dissipated upon listening to this guided imagery tape. Right then, I saw that I had to find ways to begin to live my life so that I felt more like I did at this moment. I knew guided imagery offered the relief I needed, so I played the tape over and over, multiple times a day, for several months.
Since that time, nearly ten years ago, I have been on a glorious journey to health and wholeness. My experiences with guided imagery had shown me that I was capable of feeling calm and at peace. Studies affirm that cultivating a practice of listening to positive guided imagery results in increased physiological and psychological responses such as boosting of immune function, decreased heart rate, lowering of blood pressure, calming of brain waves, increased clarity of mind, and feelings of well-being. Over the years, I have sought out many new recordings, even developing and using my own. Thanks to guided imagery, other healing modalities (especially yoga), support from loved ones, and guidance from many wise mentors, I have shed many old self-destructive ways of being in favor of ones that foster joy and equanimity. I call myself a “recovering perfectionist”. I no longer push myself in such an extreme way as before. Like any person recovering, from time to time, I slip up and over-commit myself, but each time I am able to bring myself back into balance with greater ease and speed. Using guided imagery helps me get out of the over-thinking, over-doing mode in a fast, effective way. It helps me “get out of my head” and into my body by giving my mind a more positive image to focus on and my body time to rest, repair and renew itself.
As the years passed, and I shed many of my old patterns of behavior, I began to see that I still replayed a few remaining negative past events over and over again in my mind. Because I was now far more in touch with my physical and emotional being, I could feel that this caused a constant low release of stress chemicals in my body and invited stagnation in my heart. Having come so far on my journey to wholeness, I knew I had to take this enormous step to release the unacknowledged emotions I felt about these events, even if it felt like I was stepping off a cliff, in the dark. Guided imagery offered a way to finally release and heal from the unexpressed anger, unresolved grief and trauma that were stored deep within my body and brain. Researchers suggest that for many people, positive guided imagery can be more effective than talk therapy in helping people let go of unwanted memories and repetitive thoughts and replace them with new, more desired ones. So, I listened to recordings developed by professionals in the field, as well as those that I had developed just for me. Each time I listened, I released what was no longer serving me. It was ugly. It was messy. It was powerful. For awhile the pain was so intense, sometimes I wanted to shove all of the suffering back where I wouldn’t see it again. To cover it up with over-busyness. To ignore it and pretend that it wasn’t there. But, it was too late, I had already lifted off the stopper.
Over time, the ripping feeling in my heart began to soften and I felt lighter and cleansed. Eventually, I was even able to bring feelings of compassion, forgiveness and love to these situations that had previously caused me so much pain. I continue to be grateful for the gift of guided imagery for enabling me to heal and transform my life in such a deep and profound way. By tapping into my body’s innate wisdom and healing potential my body, mind and spirit no longer feel like the enormous pile of rubble at Ground Zero. Instead, I feel expansive, joyous and free.
To experience a free sample of a guided imagery go to www.healthjourneys.com.
*** Please, remember that particular images used in an imagery, or individual facilitators may not “feel” right to you, so seek out others that feel comfortable to you.