Guided Imagery

[LadyShea]

This one time, at TAG Camp...

Every year at a University sponsored camp for gifted and talented I took psychology, and the professor(s) experimented on us, because the camp was also for research. Anyway, I remember loving guided imagery, and finding it very relaxing (like hypnosis kinda).

Kiddo is a p. anxious kid on good days, but is wound up really super tight right now due to the transition from Summer to school, I think. I want to try some relaxation techniques with him and was thinking of different things that I suck at -like meditation- then was all "duh! guided imagery". So I am going to start that this weekend.

Anyone else use this technique with yourself or kids? Anyone have a good source of scripts/ideas? Anyone even know what the fuck I am talking about?

[The Lone Ranger]

It doesn't sound too terribly different from meditation, from what I can gather. When I was being taught to meditate, I was told to picture something like a still mountain lake, to help me "center myself" and relax.

Seemed to work pretty well.

[LadyShea]

Guided imagery seems more active than traditional meditation, in that you are creating and moving through the image, and having the "guide" made all the difference for me, because I seem unable to get to a relaxed place by myself

[Dingfod]

Way back in another century, I took tai chi classes. The instructor took us through just such a thing in the last 10 minutes of our class. The "guidance" was only in the beginning, when he would tell us to imagine leaving our bodies and fly to our favorite place. Then, he would play an instrument of some sort or just make a rhythmic sound while we carried on with our imaginations taking over. It was all fun and harmless until that one session when I went somewhere within my trance-like state not in my conscious control. The instructor had to kick my foot to bring me out of it. It was wild, wacky stuff.

[JoeP]

Picture yourself in a secluded mountain pass, by a clear stream. No one else knows about this place. You are alone and calm and safe.

Involve all your senses. You can vividly smell, almost taste the pines.

You can hear the water rushing over the rocks. You can feel its coldness on your fingers.

You can clearly see the face of the person you're holding under the water.

[Qingdai]

"Imagine you are in the best pub ever. The barkeep has your favorite brew on hand, and is not overly chatty. No one disturbs you and the juke box plays your favorite songs at an appropriate level of sound."

That's my imaginary guided meditation for brewbros to relax.


In more serious business, yes. I used to use guided imagery to fall asleep every night as a child. Along with tensing and relaxing major muscle groups, it worked like a charm.

As for something currently available, I have used this book, "The Floppy Sleep Game" with some success with Qingdai jr. The Floppy Sleep Game Book: A Four-Week Program for Kids Who Refuse to Snooze by Patti Teel | Barnes & Noble

Sleep may not be the issue, but I bet there are similar books out there.

[LadyShea]

I found some sites and put 5 scripts on my Kindle to try. We'll see if it helps.

[LadyShea]

I don't know if it is helping with the underlying anxieties, but he asks for one every night and I have made up some of my own. He even led Hubby and I through one himself recently. I had to try hard not to LOL because he had the words down (breathe in deeply, relax your legs), but not the volume or tone!

[JoeP]

[BrotherMan]

[Qingdai]

Hi there! It looks like you're trying to learn a relaxation technique!
Would you like me to shout at you?