Relaxing With Visualization
Take a break, lie down and go wherever you wish with a few visualization exercises. It is the weekend and no doubt you have reading to do and essays to write but take some time out for yourself. Relax a little so you are fresh for the coming week. Just half an hour is enough time for some visualization practice.
You may have heard of visualization as a technique for creating what you want in your life by visualizing it strongly. This is not what I mean here. I mean enjoying the ability to imagine in a positive way that helps you to relax. There is also a method developed by C. G. Jung called active imagination which is a way of experiencing a dream state while awake. This means that while the images you are seeing come from within you, nevertheless you are not consciously directing them but rather following them and perhaps asking questions and listening. It is a powerful psychoanalytical method to access the personal and the collective archetypes that populate our imaginations. This may happen to some extent spontaneously while you are lying with your eyes closed and imagining a restful scene but it is best done under the guidance of a Jungian therapist. The visualization I am proposing here is closer to active imagination than it is to the kind of visualization mentioned above but it is purely for relaxation, it is more directed by you and it is not intended as a psychotherapeutic method. I give a link below for more information on Jungian concepts of the psyche should you be interested.
Shaking off tension
Before you begin it is helpful to create a transition from the concerns of the day. This can be easily achieved by doing some energetic exercising for about five minutes minimum. Run around the garden, go for a brisk walk, do some breathing exercises, whatever suits you. I like to stand somewhere with plenty of space and shake my limbs loosely and do a few stretches. Exercising like this helps to disperse excess tension and energy which would otherwise make it difficult for you to relax.
Find a private space
A private space is much better for relaxing so you are without any distraction. Relax in your own room or somewhere quiet and comfortable outside if you are fortunate enough to be close to the countryside. Your space needs to be pleasant, to feel like a good place to be with a harmonious ambience. Take off your shoes, lie down, close your eyes and just observe your breathing for a while until you feel ready to begin.
Entering the imagination
The ability to imagine is a human faculty that is often derided and compared unfavourably with the intellect. The intellect is understood as the seat of reason and the imagination as little more than a place full of wild fantasy, superstition, and irrational hopes and fears. It is true that the imagination is often employed in running along paths that go nowhere but just as the mind can be busy anywhere along a sliding scale from ignorance to genius, so can the imagination move from superstition to inspiration. Imagination is the muse of all the arts. Colour, form, movement, story, and sound all depend on the amazing faculty that creates an image, a sense, a feeling of the possible within us before being actualized. But so does science. How can discovery or invention ever happen without visualizing the possibilities as a prelude to work? When imagination and intellect work together a relationship of balance and harmony can be established. Entering the imagination on this level offers the potential for inspired work no matter what you have chosen as your area of specialization. The following exercises are for the purpose of relaxation and regeneration but they might also enrich your study.
Example visualization
Begin by imagining the tension running out of your body. See it as a cloud of colour and beginning at the head watch it run down your body, through your arms and legs, and then running out of your feet and dissipating. Now imagine the kind of landscape in which you feel happy and natural. Anywhere you like. Look around, take a stroll. Find something there that you enjoy doing and participate. During your visit observe the textures and colours of the place. Smell the scents and feel the breeze. Listen for the rustle of leaves, or singing. It will be different for each person; these are examples to illustrate the possibilities. The natural world is a good place to refresh and feel at one with your surroundings.
Returning
After ten to fifteen minutes see yourself lying down again. Imagine the room you are in and observe the sensations in your body. Be aware of your breathing and open your eyes. Take a moment to look around before you sit up. Spend the next ten minutes quietly on your own maintaining a reflective mood before you continue with the activities of the day.
Click here for the link I mentioned above if you are interested in Jungian perspectives on the psyche.
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