The mental imagery exercises below can be used to solve a variety of issues in your life.
Reversing the Conflicts of the Day
Night Time Reversing
While you are lying in bed, with eyes closed, breathe out one time slowly and imaginally go over your day in REVERSE order, focusing on any conflictual situations. Start with the most recent disturbing event, then go back in time until you get to the first difficult event of the day. You can correct the events imaginally any way you wish.
Close your eyes, and breathe out three times slowly. As you breathe out a long, slow breath, let go of everything you no longer need. Breathe in the beautiful blue of the sky and the gold of the sun. See yourself outside on a beautiful sunshiny day. Look up at the golden light of the sun in the sky. Reach up and take some of these golden light rays into your hands. Put some of this golden light into your solar plexus just above your navel, the center of energy and vitality. Now reach up again. Take more golden light rays and put them into your heart, the center of your emotions.
Close your eyes and breathe out a long, slow exhalation through the mouth, followed by a brief or normal inhalation through the nose. Do this three times.
More than just an ancestral holiday of "glamping" in a make-shift hut or booth, the hebraic holiday of Succoth reconnects us to our original nomadic monotheistic roots. During this festival, we welcome the wisdom of our ancestors into our lives. Colette taught that the "dead" come to heal the living. On Succoth we can imaginally connect to them to counsel us. (Click Here to read the full blog)
Here is Colette's imagery exercise done each night of the seven day celebration:
Breathe out and in three times, long slow exhalations through the mouth and brief or normal through the nose.
On the next long outbreath, imagine yourself at a beautiful beach, feet and head facing the water. Cloudless blue sky, slight breeze blowing by.
Suddenly you see out toward the horizon dark clouds forming. There are claps of thunder, some streaks of lightning well off in the distance. As these clouds draw nearer, the sounds of thunder increase. They come closer and closer, drifting directly above you with sounds
Close your eyes and breathe
out a long, slow exhalation followed by a brief or normal — not
exaggerated — inhalation.
Imagine yourself at the traumatic scene
at or about the moment of impact.
Breathe out once slowly and imagine a light coming to you either
from within or without.
Then reverse the memory
of that moment in any way that you might.
See a bridge of love streaming a light from
your heart to the heart of some being or creature whom you love. Get that feeling and physical sensation.
Keep it for yourself.
Sit up in a chair, close your eyes and breathe out slowly three times.
Remember, just the act of long, slow exhalations and brief inhalations will reduce anxiety. You are doing The Room of Silence Exercise to quell or stop anxiety, and it takes up to 15 seconds. Use it whenever you feel anxious.
Imagine yourself in a room together with the feeling of anxiety.
Turn your back on the anxiety and find the door to the right out of that room to go into another room.
If there is noise/cacophony go through that door to your right, eventually coming to a room of silence where the noise has stopped.
When you come to that room of silence, look around and see what you discover there.
You may have to go through door after door after door in each room until eventually you come to the room of silence and when you do, the anxiety is gone.
See what you discover in that room. And when you are finished, you can breathe out and open your eyes.
Close your eyes. Breathe out slowly one time. See and sense the
person you are caring for nurtured by your light and yourself being surrounded
by the circling light coming out of your solar plexus (1”-2” below the tip of
the sternum)
Breathe out slowly one time. See, sense, and know that the person
you care for’s own light is stimulated by your light, as you find yourself farther
and farther from him or her.
Can’t
sleep? Get out of bed, go to a chair in another room (or in the bedroom if
another room is not available). Turn on a light and close your eyes and breathe
out, long and slow, through your mouth, and breathe in normally through your
nose. Do this several times. Then on the next long out breath:
Alcohol and Drug Addiction Exercise: Seeing Straight
To regain sobriety
Close your eyes.
Breathe out one time. Imagine
yourself intoxicated or drunk walking on a dark street, wobbling to and fro,
seeing with double vision, out of balance.
Breathe out one time and come into a brightly lit street full of
sunshine surrounding, permeating, penetrating you. You suddenly become upright, walking straight
and determined, sober and with clear vision.
See clearly where you are going and what is waiting for you on this new
road. Remember what you have
discovered. Breathe out and open your
eyes.
Close your
eyes. Breathe out evenly and regularly. Let your out breathes be longer and
slower than the in breaths. Breathe out through the mouth and in through the
nose. After several of these cycles, on the next long out breathe:
To take away confusion, mental slowness, memory loss, and lack of concentration that accompanies chemotherapy
Close your eyes. Breathe out three times slowly. Imagine yourself in the jungle of confusion in your brain created by chemotherapy. You have with you a golden vacuum that cleans away the entangled vines and overgrown underbrush, clearing a path in front of you. Know as you do so you are disentangling yourself from the confusion. Breathe out one time. In front of you now is your golden bridge to a new future. You cross it and find on the other side your path. Take it and discover what is there for you to give you healing. Breathe out and open your eyes.
Imagine yourself as a fisherman, standing in a crystal clear stream of water wearing rubber boots and your fisherman’s gear, carrying a net and
basket. See a school of dollar bills of
all denominations swimming like fish down this revenue stream. As the bills come swimming by, you catch them
in your net and put them into your basket.
When the basket is filled, leave the stream knowing that you have caught
what you need.
Close your eyes. Breathe out three times slowly. See yourself in the jungle of your inner confusion or other turmoil. The vines are entangling. You have with you a golden machete and are dressed in protective jungle garb. Breathe out one time and cut your way through these tentacles, clearing a path in front of you. Know as you do so you are disentangling yourself from this disturbance. Breathe out one time. In front of you now is your golden bridge to a new future. You cross it and find on the other side your path. Take it and discover what is there for you.
Building the Bridge of Health through the Milk of Human Kindness
Frequency: Do this exercise three times a day for 21 days – early AM, 5 PM, before bed, for 12–20 seconds each the first week, 10–15 seconds the second week, up to 10 seconds the third week. Use whatever intention you choose for purposes of healing breast cancer.
Pain is an important mechanism for our bodily functioning. It alerts us to the presence of some trouble. In this sense, it is not only an "adversary," an enemy that we believe must be stopped at all costs, but also a messenger, a teacher of sorts, signaling some danger. In English the root of the word pain means "punishment"; in Sanskrit, it means "purification."
As I explained earlier, when you ask yourself for an image to express an emotion or sensation, the image usually comes quickly. Nowhere is this fact more evident than when working with pain.
Frequency: Do this exercise in the morning upon awakening and in the late afternoon (5:00–6:00 PM). Tell yourself: "I’m doing Out of the Shadows Exercise to know love and it’s taking me a few seconds."
Close your eyes. Breathe out three times slowly (out–in, out–in, out–in). See yourself hidden in the shadows. Breathe out one time slowly. See yourself now emerging from the shadows into the light. Note your experience and what you sense and feel. Breathe out and open your eyes.
Frequency: Each morning upon awakening, for three weeks. Do the exercise sitting upright in a chair with your arms on the arms of the chair and the feet flat on the floor. Tell yourself you're doing this exercise with the aim – not goal – of detaching from your misconceptions and misperceptions, and that it is taking a few seconds.
Close your eyes. Breathe out a long slow exhalation through the mouth followed by a brief inhalation through the nose three times; then breathe any way you wish. See yourself hurling a fine golden net into the cosmos catching for yourself the sustenance you need. Breathe out one time and bring the net back down to you. Open it, remove and keep what you have brought to you. Breathe out and open your eyes. Repeat this exercise each morning upon awakening for 21 days without skipping. Remember, do not be concerned or focused on the result.
Close your eyes. Breathe out long, slow exhalations and ordinary inhalations (then breathe any way you want) and see, sense, and feel now the difficult or painful situation or emotion. Breathe out one time and see how you look in this situation or emotional state one week from today; then one month from today; then one year from today. At each instant know that the current situation is in the past. Note what you sense and feel. Breathe out and open your eyes.
Close your eyes. Breathe out three times slowly. Find yourself amongst the stars. See there the one that is brightest for you. Go to it. From there, look down on the situation for which you have to make a decision; see clearly what you have to do. Keeping this knowledge for yourself, quickly descend back to your chair, breathe out and open your eyes. Do this exercise anytime you have a decision to make.
Close your eyes. Breathe out three times slowly. Imagine yourself cutting the umbilical cord and psychic cords binding you, preventing you from growing up. See to whom these cords are attached. Use whatever golden implement you need and make the cut without pity. Breathe out one time slowly. See yourself now growing up from an infant to toddler, to small child, to pre–adolescent, to adolescent, to adult. Do it quickly. Sense and feel what you experience during this transformation. Breathe out and open your eyes.
Close your eyes. Breathe out three times slowly. See the two halves of yourself apart. Breathe out one time slowly and by any means you choose put the two halves together and experience what happens and note your feelings. Breathe out and open your eyes. Do this exercise any time you feel disquieted in any way. Tell yourself you are doing the Unity exercise to feel whole (or any intention you choose) and it’s taking a few seconds.
Close your eyes. Breathe out three times slowly. Have with you a golden machete (or any other similar sort of cutting tool) to clear away the entangled vines in a jungle blocking your way. You cut them away to clear a path to a bridge that takes you to a new future. You may experience the vines themselves as your obstacle or you may immediately see, in image form, whatever the obstacle may be. If you see an image of the obstacle you will know immediately what to do about it. As the vines are cleared and the path revealed you reach the bridge.
Frequency: Do this exercise every morning upon awakening and before bed. Remember to give your intention silently before starting, thus: "I’m doing the Golden Rope exercise to keep myself in life with ________ [name(s)], and it’s taking me a few seconds." When finished breathe out and open your eyes.
Frequency: Do for 21 days, twice per day: when you awaken and before you start your nighttime activity.
Close your eyes. Breathe out three times slowly and imagine yourself ringing a large bell from your open window. Ring it several times knowing you are calling the man/woman to you. After, look to you right and see the man/woman coming through the door of your apartment and greeting you spontaneously in any way that may take place. You may or may not see his/her face. It doesn't matter. You may ask for his/her name. After, breathe out and open your eyes.
To Get a Job or something you need; or to contain something you want
Close your eyes. Breathe out three times slowly. See yourself as a fisherman casting a golden net over the city in which you live to bring in the job you need, want, or have to get. Draw the net in knowing that some jobs have slipped through the mesh but that others have been caught. Spontaneously take out of the net the one that seems most appealing to you. See the form of what you remove and the title or name of the job. Do it without reservation, doubt, hesitancy, or inhibition.
To Get a Job, to network, to increase publicity, to get referrals for clients/patients
Close your eyes. Breathe out three times slowly. See yourself into a large tv screen sitting at your desk or table. Your appointment book is open. There are many phones there ringing. You are picking up each one who is calling you to come for an interview. You are hurriedly writing down all the appointment times in your book. Breathe out one time. Outside your door is a line of people going around the block who are waiting to offer you a job.
Close your eyes and breathe out three times slowly. See and sense a weight on and in your chest. Feel and sense the constriction it gives you. Breathe out one time slowly and remove this weight. See and sense your lungs expanding and filling with white light as you find your breathing becoming easy and flowing. Then, open your eyes. In addition to its scheduled use, this exercise is to be done at any time chest constriction is sensed.
Close your eyes and breathe out three times slowly. See, sense, and feel your stomach flipping over and coming above your diaphragm into your chest. Breathe out one time slowly and see the stomach split in two vertically, each piece becoming a new lung and see them jumping into place. Breathe out slowly and open your eyes, sensing the easy breathing these new lungs give to you.
Close your eyes and breathe out three times slowly. See and sense yourself taking a bath using the essence of birch tree. Sense and feel its active elements penetrating through your skin and cleaning out the lungs of all its dirt. Now, see the heart, and the rest of the body becoming cleansed. Now see the lungs becoming a beautiful clear color. Open your eyes.
Close your eyes. Breathe out three times. See your in a mirror, nude from the neck down. In the mirror, with your right forefinger (left forefinger if you are left–handed), touch on and into your chest from the front all the way around to the back, making a complete circle. Now touch the area of greatest discomfort and see to whom you can’t breathe, that is, see whose face appears in the area. Who is restricting your breathing, and what color appears there? Breathe that color out via long, slow exhalations while removing from the area whomever you’ve seen, at first as gently as you can.
Close your eyes. Breathe out three times and see yourself in a pine forest. Stand next to a pine tree and breathe in the aromatic fragrance of the pine. As you breathe out, sense this exhalation traveling down through your body and going out through the soles of your feet; see the breath exiting as gray smoke and being buried deep in the earth. Then, open your eyes, breathing easily.
Excerpted from Healing Visualizations: Creating Health Through Imagery, Gerald Epstein, M.D.
Close your eyes, breathe out three times slowly, and go to the bottom of a lake, breathing in easily and exhaling slowly as you enter the lake and go under water. Sit on the lake bottom quietly enveloped by golden light. Afterward, leave the lake and sit under a maple tree near the lake. Take a maple leaf, touch it, and experience its texture. Then, enter the leaf and become one with the breathing process of the leaf. Next, leave the leaf, knowing that your breathing is regulated. Open your eyes.
