Guided Imagery Therapy in Brighton
 
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Laurel Alexander: Complementary Therapist for M&S and MSD

 
 

Guided Imagery in Brighton

Guided Imagery in Brighton, Laurel Alexander.

 

Guided Imagery Brighton

If you live in the Brighton area, I can instruct you in Guided Imagery techniques that may greatly improve the quality of your life. Whilst my clients are most commonly local, I regularly receive clients from throughout the UK.

What is Guided Imagery?

Whether you realize it or not, you experience the effects of mental imagery every day.

The images your mind creates are mental representations of physical sensations. Scientists cannot say exactly how imagery works to promote health. But a type of brain scan, called positron emission tomography (PET), reveals that imagery provokes activity in the very parts of the brain that would be active if you were actually having an experience instead of simply thinking about it. PET scan findings have led experts to suggest that the images you see, hear and feel arise from the part of your brain that is responsible for higher thinking. The brain activity set in motion by imagery prompts your brain's emotional centre to send messages to your hormonal and nervous systems. These systems in turn influence a variety of functions, including breathing, heart rate and blood pressure.

Perhaps on your way home today, you imagined what you will eat for dinner. Did the thought make your mouth water? Daydreaming about your next holiday may evoke a soothing picture of a sun-drenched day on the beach. In contrast, imagining the sights and sounds of a tension-packed meeting may make your head pound and your blood pressure skyrocket. These are just a few examples of the powerful effect that mental images can have on the body.

 

Medical research suggests that positive mental imagery can promote healing. The largest such study included 130 patients, aged 18 to 75, who underwent bowel surgery. For three days before surgery and six days after, half the patients listened to audiotapes with music and relaxing imagery twice a day. During surgery, they listened to music tapes. Compared to a control group, the listeners reported sharply reduced levels of anxiety and pain, allowing them to cut their use of painkillers by half and, ultimately, speeding their rate of recovery.

Imagery is the most fundamental language we have. Everything you do the mind processes through images. When we recall events from our past or childhood, we think of pictures, images, sounds, pain, etc. It is hardly ever be words.

Images aren't necessarily limited to visual but can be sounds, tastes, smells or a combination of sensations. A certain smell, for example, may invoke either pleasant or bad memories in you. Similarly, going to a place where you had a bad accident may instantly invoke visions of the accident and initiate flight or fight response.

Think, for example, of holding a fresh, juicy lemon in your hand. Perhaps you can feel its texture or see the vividness of its yellow skin. As you slice it open, you see the juice squirt out of it. The lemon's tart aroma is overwhelming. Finally, you stick it in your mouth, suck on it and taste the sour flavour as the juices roll over your tongue. More than likely, your body reacted in some way to that image. For example, you may have begun to salivate.

Imagery is the language that the mind uses to communicate with the body. You can't really talk to a wart and say 'Go away,' because that's not the language that the brain uses to communicate with the body. You need to imagine that wart and see it shrinking. Imagery is the biological connection between the mind and body. As we will see, this is extremely useful in mind body healing.

Imagery in ancient civilizations
Imagery has been considered a healing tool in virtually all of the world's cultures and is an integral part of many religions. Navajo Indians, for example, practice an elaborate form of imagery that encourages a person to "see" himself as healthy. Ancient Egyptians and Greeks, including Aristotle and Hippocrates believed that images release spirits in the brain that arouse the heart and other parts of the body. They also thought that a strong image of a disease is enough to cause its symptoms.

Imagery had been found to be very effective for the treatment of stress. Imagery is at the centre of relaxation techniques designed to release brain chemicals that act as your body's natural brain tranquilizers, lowering blood pressure, heart rate, and anxiety levels. By and large, researchers find that these techniques work. Because imagery relaxes the body, doctors specializing in imagery often recommend it for stress-related conditions such as headaches, chronic pain in the neck and back, high blood pressure, spastic colon, and cramping from premenstrual syndrome.

THE RESEARCH BIT

  • Researchers at Ohio State University, US Ohio found that people with cancer who used imagery while receiving chemotherapy felt more relaxed, better prepared for their treatment and more positive about care than those who didn't use the technique.
  • Several studies suggest that imagery can also boost your immunity. Danish researchers found increased natural killer cell activity among ten college students who imagined that their immune systems were becoming very effective. Natural killer cells are an important part of the immune system because they can recognize and destroy virus-infected cells, tumour cells and other invaders.
  • Imagery can also help alter menstrual cycles and relieve symptoms of premenstrual syndrome. In a preliminary study, researchers in Boston, US found that 12 of 15 women, ages 21 to 40, who used imagery for three months lengthened their monthly menstrual cycles by an average of nearly four days and slashed their perceived levels of premenstrual distress in half. They also reported fewer mood swings.
  • A controlled study of fifty-five women examined the effects of imagery and relaxation on breast milk production in mothers of infants in a neonatal intensive care unit. They received a twenty-minute audiotape of progressive relaxation followed by guided imagery of pleasant surroundings, milk flowing in the breasts, and the baby's warm skin against theirs. They produced more than twice as much milk as compared to those receiving only routine care.
  • In another study, a group of metastatic cancer patients using daily imagery for a year achieved significant improvements in NK cell activity and several other measures of immune functioning.
  • Other studies have shown that imagery can lower blood pressure, slow heart rate and help treat insomnia, obesity and phobias.

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Members Articles related to Relaxation:

What can Guided Imagery help with?

The use of guided imagery is increasingly being used by health care professionals as an additional tool to aid in the prevention and treatment of many illnesses. The use of guided imagery has been clinically shown to help:

  • Decrease stress and anxiety by up to 65%
  • Decrease blood pressure
  • Decrease blood sugar (for diabetics)
  • Assist in cancer treatments (chemo, radiotherapy)
  • Decrease headaches by up to 62%
  • Strengthen the immune system
  • Decrease side effects of medical treatments
  • Enhance sleep by up to 75%
  • Decrease pain by up to 65%
  • Assist in infertility
  • Assist during pregnancy through labour and delivery
  • Assist in all types of rehabilitation (stroke, heart)
  • Decrease pulmonary symptoms such as asthma, allergies, emphysema
  • Assist in coping with pre and post medical and surgical treatments
  • Assist in coping with losses (death, relationships, divorce, job)
  • Assist with weight loss
  • Assist with smoking cessation
  • Enhance self confidence and a sense of wellness

Guided imagery is not an alternative to medical or surgical treatment. It is an inexpensive yet powerful tool to assist patients and their family to cope in stressful and challenging times. It is not meant to be a replacement for the medical team, family or other carers and helpers. It is an enhancement and extension of the health care team.

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Client comments on Guided Imagery

  • I feel 100% more positive. M.L.
  • Have found seeing Laurel has had a huge positive impact on my healing. The guided imagery made me feel extremely relaxed. H.M.
  • I suffer from bouts of IBS and was very tense at a particular time. Using imagery I was able to develop a technique to help manage it away. Pauline
  • Guided imagery and counseling helped me to understand and accept my drug treatment. D.R.

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Guided Imagery Brighton Laurel Alexander
Laurel's Treatment Room

What happens during a guided imagery session?

live in Brighton, Sussex where my clinic is based. A typical session last for one hour. At the first session, I take a medical questionnaire and we discuss what you would like help with. I teach you relaxation skills before we engage with the guided imagery. We might use affirmations or meditation techniques. You will be asked to practice the guided imagery in-between sessions. Many clients blend talking therapies, Reiki or other treatments in with their sessions.
My fees are £35 per hour (supplements, herbs and tests are extra). If you wish, you can pay in advance using a debit / credit card (here). Evening and Saturday appointments are usually available as well as daytime appointments. If you cancel an appointment without giving twenty-four hours notice, the full fee will be payable.

 

Brighton Guided Imagery appointments and fees

I live in Brighton, Sussex where my clinic is based. My fees are £35 per hour. Evening and Saturday appointments are usually available as well as daytime appointments. If you cancel an appointment without giving twenty-four hours notice, the full fee will be payable.

 

Booking an Guided Imagery session in Brighton

If you want to know more about guided imagery or would like to learn guided imagery for yourself, please telephone me on 01273 564030 or email me at info@laurelalexander.co.uk

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Imagery treatment 1 session £ 35

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Original meditation Photo courtesy of Free Range Stock, www.freerangestock.com

 

 

 

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