The whole mind-body connection ... part one
Does this mean that a person with an illness
causes it with "bad thoughts?"
Absolutely not! To blame or be blamed in any way for cancer being caused by ‘wrong thoughts’… is as misguided as being blamed for the color of ones eyes or the native language one speaks.
We are all living a life of self-expression in everything we do. We often operate in this publicly accepted world doing our daily thing without so much as a thought as to what our inner Self might be wanting … just trying to get by each day, handling each new crisis, and figuring out how to pay each new bill that comes along.
Our bodies, left to their ideal state of good food, rest, and overall interest in life, provide us with a constant attending master surgeon inside of us — at its best for keeping us healthy. Everyone posesses this innate intelligence from birth!
But ... just as a master surgeon could become distracted by a lot of people running around in the operating room and asking a lot of questions ... so too can the innate master intelligence of the body become distracted and not as efficient when the outside world wears it down with various types of mental and/or physical stress.
And ... sometimes one's inner Self just wants to be heard! We often seem to have a greater purpose that somehow just begs to be listened to! … Sometimes our bodies seem to simply kick us in the shins until we listen! When we face an illness that shows us our mortality, we sure do begin to take a closer look at our priorities!
When you face signs of depression, perhaps your body is encouraging you cocoon and grieve about the loss of something in which you are totally unaware. When you experience anxiety attack or panic attack symptoms, perhaps your body is afraid that your mind can no longer ignore something that your bodymind has been wanting you to see. When your body offers you anything from cluster headaches to knee, hip or foot pain, see it all as a message that can be heard and best handled through the communication of guided imagery.
Is it at all scary to “talk” to your inner self
through guided imagery?
Guided imagery should feel no different than pausing from life's stresses through daydreaming.
The guided imagery can be about such everyday things as sitting on a sunny beach, feeling the warm and wet sand squishing through your toes, and watching the crashing waves roll in ...
… or imagining that you're watching a few flickering flames, listening to the crackling snap of logs burning safely in the fireplace, with just a hint of earthy smoke, on a beautiful and cozy, cold, snowy winter's night ...
So you see ... guided imagery is nothing more than total relaxation with a complete sensory image. Sandy Jost, Ph.D., the author of many guided imagery programs, likes to call this experience a "mental massage," and allows you to unleash the power of your mind through a more natural means that we consider to be alternative medicine.
If a person listening to guided imagery ever feels ANY tension or discomfort, then there may be memories that the subconscious is trying hard to keep buried. In such cases, a trained professional should be employed to help the person incorporate any potentially discomforting memories into their daily lives. And this information is essential to release, for such memories are likely causing a great deal of havoc within the body, and the bodymind is likely approaching a place of needing help to continue to manage them in the best way possible for the person involved.
But does guided imagery really work? ...
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