Proven Steps to a Calmer, Happier, Healthier You by Chenelle Lee Hitchcock

Author:Chenelle Lee Hitchcock
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: BookBaby
Published: 2020-06-30T16:12:49+00:00

Chapter 5 - Visualizations to be Calm, Happy and Healthy

Visualization is a powerful tool you can use to improve your health and performance in all aspects of life. It is widely used by a vast array of people, including athletes and musicians wishing to improve their performance. Elite athletes often have similar training regimes, and many have found visualization gives them the competitive edge. Remember Michael Phelps, who won eighteen Olympic gold medals for swimming? He created a three-dimensional, life-like visualization of him winning the perfect race, including every detail he expected to experience in real life — sounds, colors, feelings, and tactile sensations.

He played this visualization every night in his conscious mind before he went to sleep (an ideal time, as you are relaxed and producing more theta and alpha waves), giving him greater access to his subconscious brain in which to embed that visualization. Importantly he played different scenarios, not just of himself winning, but of things not going so well. By race day, he had rehearsed so many times that all he had to do was be in a relaxed state and allow his body to follow his neural pathways, which already contained the instructions for winning.

During visualization, brain scans show many similar parts of the brain are activated when a person visualizes something or does the same thing. Research conducted by Pascual-Leone, in Norman Doidge’s book, The Brain that Changes Itself, (2010, Scribe Publications Pty Ltd.), demonstrates this point. 44

Pascual-Leone taught piano to two groups of people who had never studied piano before, showing them which fingers to move and letting them hear the notes. One group was called the “mental practice group.” They sat next to a keyboard for two hours a day for five days, imagining the sequences while hearing the melody being played. The other group, called the “physical practice group,” played the notes for two hours per day for five days. 45

What Pascual-Leone found is that both groups learned to play the sequence, and the brain scans of both groups were similar - including the physical changes in the motor systems.

This is fantastic news for anyone involved in a performance, be it sporting, musical theatrical, academic, or business, because it clearly indicates that visualization needs to be an integral part of their success kit.

Visualization also assists in obtaining better outcomes with cancer and other serious disease. Dr. Bernie Seigel, a world-renowned doctor, recognized the relationship between love and healing twenty-five years ago. He wrote wonderful books such as Faith Hope and Healing and Love, Medicine and Miracles. He states that his job is “not only to find the right treatment, but to help the patient find an inner reason for living, resolve conflicts, and free healing energy.” He used visualization to help his patients develop hope and a strong will to overcome cancer.

When you visit Dr. Seigel’s website, you find the following statement:

“ I believe we are here to contribute love to the plant- each of us in our own way.”

While seeking approval from Dr.

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