Tuesday 12 August 2014

Visualisation



Visualisation

Visualisation is a powerful tool that you can use in everyday life. It can be used to practice behaviours and scenarios in the future, for letting go of emotions that are attached to past events, and can also be helpful to use in meditation and relaxation.

Visualisation works because your brain can’t tell the difference between real experience and imagined experience – it’s all in your head when it comes down to it.

Studies have shown that visualising helps athletes improve their performance. For example a swimmer might imagine that his or her body is covered in oil and so might swim faster. Practising in your mind is almost as good as doing it in real life.

You might have an important event coming up such as an interview, or you might want to have an important discussion with a loved one, or you might like to put a new behaviour into place in your life. All these things will be easier using visualisation to practice before the actual real life moment.

When you are visualising it is important to involve all your senses, so that you have in your mind the things you will see, the colours that would be there, what you and others would be doing, what you would be hearing, what you would be feeling, as well as any touching or tasting if appropriate.

If you find it difficult to actually see the images with your eyes closed, then tell yourself what you would be seeing if you could see it. Words work too.

Visualising can also be helpful to process past events. You can reduce the emotion that is attached to an event by giving your brain the message to let it go. You can use any imagery that works for you. For instance, you might like to put your embarrassment, guilt or other negative emotion into the basket of a hot air balloon and then watch it as it floats up into the sky and out of sight. Perhaps you would like to dump your negative emotions into a rubbish bin that is outside your front door, ready to be collected. This particular visualisation is good to use after you come home from work or at the end of the day. Leave the day’s thoughts and emotions outside in the bin so that you don’t let it affect your home life

Visualisation can also help you to meditate and relax. Imagine that you are sitting on the bank of a creek or river. There is a tree a little bit upstream that every now and then drops a leaf and that leaf comes into your view and you watch it as it is carried downstream by the water. Treat your thoughts like those leaves. When a thought comes into your mind, just say ‘There’s that thought again’ and let it go out of your mind just like the leaf disappears out of sight. Keep in your mind the image of you sitting quietly on the riverbank watching the water, the leaves, feeling the warmth of the sun, perhaps hearing some birds. And time will pass.

                                   www.directionscoaching.net.au