posted
I'm new here and don't have any experience on these boards yet, but I wanted to share this with you and ask a favor for anyone who can.
I have recently become a very enthusiastic listener and supporter of guided imagery for healing all kinds of things... for me depression and anxiety, and easy pain greatly. There are no guided imagery's available for lyme patients, and I think we need one... I really think a lot of people would be helped, plus the existence of one would publicly validate our illness... help us be SEEN...
I wrote a message to one of my favorite Guided Imagery persons and told her my story of lyme in "Imagining LYme" on my blog. I have sent her the link and asked her to please consider this.
Here is my favor - will you please visit my blog and read it if you are able, and please leave a comment. I don't think she's been there yet and i don't know if she will... but I will keep sending it to her until I get a response. I think if there were comments from more than just ME it would help us to be seen. I have this fantasy that some day we will be SEEN by the world, and I feel this would help.
-------------------- Look for the moments you are glad you got to have each day... I call these Butterfly Kisses, and the more you see... the more you see. Posts: 30 | From Northeast PA | Registered: Feb 2009
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posted
I just read your link. Thank you for taking the time to share your story. I could relate to EVERYTHING you wrote.
I don't understand this guided imagery stuff but I wish you the best of luck in your endevors, as I can tell by your post you are truly hurting like so many of us here.
Karen (:
Posts: 423 | From Virginia | Registered: Nov 2009
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posted
Well, if they ever make a CD for us then maybe you will find it helpful! How great would that be. If you want to listen to samples you can on www.healthjourneys.com The one "defeat pain" is good (sounds way out there, but once I gave it a chance it helped me a lot).
-------------------- Look for the moments you are glad you got to have each day... I call these Butterfly Kisses, and the more you see... the more you see. Posts: 30 | From Northeast PA | Registered: Feb 2009
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Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
posted
- The guy who developed hypnosis as a tool, Erickson, was very vague with his wording and images. Vague really does work but, even within that, specific details for our senses can work very well. Allegories are a wonderful tool.
You want to FEEL healthy . . . using "feeling" words - colors - all the senses . . . and ONLY positive words . . . . your mind will help you figure out HOW to achieve health, etc.
"And you are able to recover a lost gem as your hand reaches into the sand by the river" is a nicely loaded message and covers the base for anyone, looking for anything lost from health.
Changing our wording, even in daily conversation and self-talk is really important but it's equally important not to discount our experiences and honor what we are going through.
And . . . I must say that while imaging can be very important, actually physically treating infection is also essential. Happy thoughts are fabulous but not enough without a complete plan.
As for the experience of guided imagery - I think it's best if it is NOT about lyme. You want a vacation from this. A nice walk in the forest or on the beach - every day in your mind - is a wonderful way to let you mind relax and take a well-deserved vacation from the task at hand 24/7.
The more you say to yourself carrying a hot cup of coffee across the room: "I am not going to spill this coffee" that is EXACTLY what will happen. The brain is VERY literal and obeys the picture you paint. The brain does not hear "NOT" -
But if you say: "I walk with style and grace" - then the brain goes, "Oh, I can do that" - and, although no specific mention was made to a cup of hot coffee, you got across the room, task completed by focusing on how to posture and feel as you walked.
Also, in exploring the power of meditation - it's the freeing the mind of details (not going for them) that holds much of the power.
-
[ 02-06-2010, 05:18 PM: Message edited by: Keebler ]
Posts: 48021 | From Tree House | Registered: Jul 2007
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posted
Well, I hear you on that but I feel I must point out that the CDs I have used by Belleruth Naparstek don't do that... for example the one on depression doesn't talk about depression. The one one confidence brings wonderful images of self as successful! Her's are unique. Having it be about lyme would help her focus on the issues we deal with , not the lyme. She has huge success and the research is coming out to support it. You might want to check out the health journey's website if you're curious. I"m sure that the Ericksonian Hypnosis is also very effective. Isn't it wonderful that we live in such a diverse world that there is room (and need) for diverse approaches!
-------------------- Look for the moments you are glad you got to have each day... I call these Butterfly Kisses, and the more you see... the more you see. Posts: 30 | From Northeast PA | Registered: Feb 2009
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lpkayak
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 5230
posted
i'm gonna try to do it but my lyme brain doesn't always let me do what i want so i am writing here and it is ok with me if you copy and paste what i write
i started with lyme in the early 80's. noone knew what it was. firs RA dx then fibro. for 10 yrs. unil they figured it out. duringthat time and also continuing to day i have lived in much pain. someone gave me bernie siegles tapes for guided imagery and they helped me so much. oncei went to a workshop with him and one exercise was to draw pain on a pic of ourselfes---different colors for different types of pain...i was bright red and orange almost everywheere
back then the only thing that didn't hurt was my hips...now they hur t too since oct
but for many years i controlled my pain or at least got a break from it from these kinds of tapes.
i also did something called autogenic trainng on tape that reall helped a lot. i did hat cuz it hurt too much to do the one where you tense and release your muscles
i think it is a gret idea to focus these on lyme...some of the positive thouhts woluld be helpful too...like "its not all in your head" and others
good luck---too much pain to edit---i can't even tope much now cuz of pain
-------------------- Lyme? Its complicated. Educate yourself. Posts: 13712 | From new england | Registered: Feb 2004
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posted
I saw a woman with lung cancer on TV. She was quite amazing because of her healing success! Yes, she was on new meds. But I was impressed by the lung xray on her bathroom wall.
She said that whenever she looked at it she yelled at the tumors and told them to vanish! She imagined her lungs to be clear. Gradually she was able to replace each xray with the newer, more improved version.
My husband said that was nothing new to him. He always uses visualization to get rid of illness. I must admit, he is rarely sick and when he is he gets over it quickly.
A hynotherapist in Berkeley hypnotized me seven different times. He was trying to help me get to sleep. He painted the picture of a scene outside and then told me to imagine myself there. Then he began talking to each part of my body, telling it to relax.
He told me to imagine I was walking to a distant point. He slowly counted to 10. By 10, I was to be there. And I was...hypnotized. My husband sat through all the sessions and was amazed at the results.
I still use the visualizations at night when I try to sleep. And they do help. The other thing this doctor told me to do was to ask my husband to read quietly to me...short stories. That was wonderful and very helpful! He has a wonderful low soothing voice.
Maybe I should write a visualization for us and ask him to record it! See those little rascal bugs floating away into the sunset!....
-------------------- DOCTOR: "I don't think you are sick." PATIENT: "We are all entitled to our opinions. I don't think you are a doctor." Posts: 697 | From Northern California | Registered: Jul 2009
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posted
lpkayak, Thank you for your reply and permission to copy to the blog. I know how it must have hurt your hands to do so and I am so sorry and saddened to hear about your pain. I did copy it to the blog and used your id from here if that's okay. If you want me to change it just say so and I can in the blink of an eye. I hope today is a better day for you.
farraday.... Thank you as well... I was wondering if you would mind if I inserted your comment into a comment on the blog... not to imply you read it but to say that I rec'd another note supporting guided imagery for healing lyme. Please let me know what you think.
-------------------- Look for the moments you are glad you got to have each day... I call these Butterfly Kisses, and the more you see... the more you see. Posts: 30 | From Northeast PA | Registered: Feb 2009
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posted
Keebler... just read a post by the author of my fav imagery... Belleruth Naparstek. She employs Eriksonian hypnosis and methods in her work... LOL! I didn't know that, but wondered after I read your comment... and there it was in her newsletter today... how uncanny is the timing on that one?
-------------------- Look for the moments you are glad you got to have each day... I call these Butterfly Kisses, and the more you see... the more you see. Posts: 30 | From Northeast PA | Registered: Feb 2009
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See those little rascal bugs floating away into the sunset!....
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