In "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," Professor Lupin teaches Harry and his wizard friends to use positive memories to trigger a spell that can disarm certain deadly evil creatures. In one scene, Harry imagines his infant self happily spending time with his parents; that is, before the evil Lord Voldemort murdered them. He says, “I'm not even sure if it's real. But it's the best I can do.” It's well-known that memory is faulty, so Harry’s memory doesn’t have to be real for it to work.
Our subconscious minds depend on such memories which, in turn, guide our interpretation of the world around us and inspire our actions. Therefore, imagining a new reality helps reprogram the subconscious, reinterpret our perception of reality, and inspire new and more effective actions. Visualization uses the power of imagination to ignite personal transformation, achieve therapeutic goals, enhance mental well-being, and in Harry Potter’s world, become a more powerful wizard.
Visualization is a practice of creating mental images or scenes. It goes beyond seeing pictures and engages the entire body. If I imagine myself on a mountain top, for example, I may feel the wind in my hair and my feet on the ground. In hypnotherapy, visualization is used to create new, positive neural pathways in the brain. With the entire body engaged, hypnotherapy creates a new memory to influence a client’s perception.
While hypnotherapy has been a recognized treatment modality for nearly 200 years, visualization goes back to the beginning of recorded history. Both Aristotle and Hippocrates believed in the power of visualization to improve health. Today, visualization is a recognized tool to improve behavior and health. Athletes visualize crossing the finish line ahead of everyone else. Emergency room doctors are often trained to use visualization to help patients in crisis.
Visualization activates brain regions similar to those used in actual experiences. I often quote the UCLA study in which a group of basketball players was divided up into those who practiced free throws every day, those who visualized free throws only, and a control group that did nothing. Those who visualized gained almost as much ability as those who practiced, while those who did nothing regressed in their abilities. Most important was that growth of neural pathways responsible for free throws could be measured in MRIs of players who visualized. Arnold Schwarzenegger is known for putting his mind in his muscle, saying “Actually, I'm really thinking about a mountain of muscle—a giant, unreal biceps, more than 30 inches around. It's a kind of self-hypnosis, a way of making the muscle function beyond its own rational ‘thinking.'” What's interesting to notice about Arnold's approach is that he doesn't expect to get a bicep that measures 30 inches around. He expects to get his muscles to function in a new way, thanks to the visualization. This kind of visualizing applies to people who have serious illness. If the client visualizes unlimited perfect health and the emotions that go with it, a tumor may shrink or a surgery may go unexpectedly well, even though it's logical to assume that no one has a limited perfect health indefinitely.
Hypnotherapy is a simple practice in which relaxation opens an opportunity for focused attention to rewire and reprogram the subconscious mind. After discussing the client’s goal in detail, the hypnotherapist guides a client into a trance state, and then follows one of many protocols designed to stimulate powerful visualization. Sometimes, the visualization is guided - as in suggesting that the client imagine being out in nature. How the client imagines nature will be completely unique to the client. So, in this sense, the client is really in charge of the procedure and all healing happens within the client's own body. Many sessions end with the client visualizing a future where they have successfully achieved the goals. Sometimes these future-oriented sessions are like rehearsals – as in an athlete visualizing various stages of a marathon race. Sometimes, seeing the future gives the client permission to make that future a reality. In all cases, the positive emotions which accompany success expand neuropathways around that particular type of success.
Visualization is at the core of hypnosis as a therapeutic modality. When we are frustrated or failing, our minds present us with images - images of illness or defeat. If we focus on the negative, the mind begins to see the negative as a kind of instruction. A thought like "There's no way I can possibly win” sets the stage for failure, but a thought like "My legs will easily carry me to the finish line ahead of everyone else,” sets the stage for success. Therefore, hypnotherapy has a particularly wide array of application. We can use it for enhancing goals and achievement, for reducing stress and anxiety, for improving health or performance, for acquiring good habits, and for reducing or eliminating phobias and unreasonable fears.
Of course, visualization is a technique that people can apply even without seeing a hypnotherapist. However, a hypnotherapist can help a client visualize more effectively and sidestep pitfalls. Many clients don't know what they want, for example. They have so much pain that all they wish is for the pain to end. But visualizing pain ending may result in more pain because the subconscious is literal. Picturing no pain means picturing pain, just as picturing no elephants means picturing elephants. So, it’s important to be clear about what the client really wants as well as the steps to get there. A hypnotherapist will hold the client accountable for twice daily practice and make sure that the client executes the techniques in the most effective manner. It's important that visualization be specific as possible, incorporating sights, sounds, smells and emotions. It's also important that the words used are extremely positive.
Sometimes in creating a visualization, the hypnotherapist may sidestep an image altogether and create healing images without mentioning the core issue. For example, in guiding a client to follow a cancer treatment protocol, visualization may substitute the word “cancer” with an image that captures the essence of the cells, or it may substitute the word “chemotherapy” with an image of how the drug can restore health to the body. In any case, it's important for clients to work with someone who can help them effectively make visualization part of their daily routine.
Visualization is easier for some clients than for others. Perhaps the biggest challenge a hypnotherapist faces is a client who is skeptical of the process. It can feel as if that kind of client did no research before coming and perhaps only wants to see the process fail. Some clients harbor false beliefs about hypnosis, believing that anyone who can be hypnotized is weak, for example. Some clients refuse to do any visualization at home. They want the process to be magic when the truth is that repetition is one of the ways that subconscious programming occurs; therefore, it's to the client’s advantage to practice visualization every day, just as those UCLA basketball players did so many years ago. Of course, consistency matters in any kind of practice. People with busy careers or young children often need coaching for how to fit such an easy and enjoyable practice into their daily lives. The most successful clients are able to visualize their intended goal and are highly motivated to achieve it.
Visualization is a powerful tool that leverages the mind’s potential for personal growth and healing. We visualize all the time, whether we are imagining what we're having for dinner or dreaming in the middle of the night. So it only makes sense to harness that power in order to lead a more productive and happy life. If you are suffering, your subconscious mind is interpreting whatever challenge you happen to be facing as suffering. Visualization can alter that interpretation and turn a challenge into an accomplishment, or even a profound gift.
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