Using Guided Imagery

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Guided Imagery Handout

Medical diagnoses, surgery, and treatments can often be scary and overwhelming. Guided imagery is a practice that can allow you to tap into your inner strength. You can take an active role in your healing instead of being passive when unpleasant things are happening to you. You can also use guided imagery to better understand a situation or prepare for it in advance.

In guided imagery, you use your “mind’s eye” to picture the disease or other challenge you are facing. It encourages you to relax and solve a problem in your mind. When your eyes are closed and you are picturing something in your mind, the brain “sees” the images as real. In this way, you can encourage your body to make actual physical changes just by imagining them.