Using Visualization as a Coping Skill
In last week’s blog I talked about coping skills and how these help us manage life’s stressors. I also talked about breathwork and why this is one of my favorite coping skills to use. It is so easy to do, they are completely free, and one of the most effective ways to regulate your system when you get overloaded.
This week I want to talk about one of my other favorite techniques. Remember coping skills are something that take practice. Our brain needs to feel comfortable with something in order for it to work. So, take some time to use the different breathing techniques and this tool throughout your day, when you are feeling good, and when you’re stressed out. Give them time to work. See which work best for you, so you can start to build a Coping Skills Toolbox to have anytime you need them.
What is Visualization?
This technique is also a favorite because you can do it anywhere, and anytime. When we close our eyes, and imagine an object or place with great detail, our brain does not know that we aren’t actually at that place or with that object. Our body will actually start to respond to the imagery you bring into your awareness, as if you are actually at that place. It can be any place in the world…a favorite vacation spot, a place you have fond memories of in your neighborhood, or a totally made up place. Remember, your brain and body will not know you are not there, if you truly surrender to the imagery and the details of it. Whenever you are stressed you can close your eyes and visualize a Safe Place or any calming place to help decrease your anxiety or emotional overwhelm. For this coping skill, I like to teach clients something I call the Palm Tree Meditation. It goes like this…
Close your eyes if you feel comfortable. Imagine a palm tree on a beach, any kind of beach you’d like, anywhere in the world. Can you imagine the palm tree blowing in the wind? Can you imagine the palm fronds blowing and their movement? Can you imagine the sound they would make? Can you imagine your bare feet on the sand? Can you imagine what that would feel like? Can you imagine digging your feet into the warm sand, getting to the cold, damp layer underneath the dry sand on top? Can you imagine the clouds in the sky over the water? Can you imagine the color of the water? The sound it makes as it comes on to the beach? Can you imagine the smell of this beach? Do you notice the saltiness in the air? Or perhaps a pleasant perfume-like scent from a nearby jasmine or gardenia bush? Can you imagine hearing the caw of a seagull? Can you imagine hearing the waves as they crash on the shore? Can you taste salt in the breeze of the ocean air? Or do you notice another taste in your mouth as you imagine this place? Fresh Pineapple or coconut?
How do you feel after even reading that? You might have noticed your breathing slowed, or your shoulders dropped, no longer carrying so much pressure and tension within. The Palm Tree Meditation is a particularly good tool to use when a wave of anxiety comes on. It is also a perfect metaphor for how to manage and work through anxiety. Have you ever seen a palm tree in high winds? They are built to withstand great storms. They are very flexible trees, and their roots grow straight down, and very deep into the earth. These factors are what allow a Palm tree to withstand high winds, without breaking or falling over. We can use these same characteristics ourselves for managing anxiety. We can be like the Palm Tree, standing tall, knowing anxiety can knock us around a bit, but if we stay grounded and rooted in ourselves, no amount of anxiety can or will destroy us. We are also built to withstand, even intense, anxiety. It cannot destroy you or sweep you away, unless you let it. This is why Grounding yourself daily if you have anxiety is important.
It does not have to be a beach. It could be a mountaintop, a hike through the woods, a favorite lake you grew up going to, or something else meaningful to you. You could visualize yourself sitting in a cozy chair with a blanket, in a rustic mountain cabin in front of a warm fire burning in the fireplace. How would you feel to be there? If you follow along and visualize to this detail, you should start to notice a shift in your mood or energy each time you do this practice. The more you do this the easier and faster it will be to ‘sink in’ to the visualization, and for your body to respond by relaxing.
What ways can visualization help you?
You can use this tool to visualize the best outcome for a job or college interview, or visualize yourself getting a promotion. You can visualize getting to your destination safely if you have anxiety about traveling. Visualizing the best outcome to a surgery will help you prepare for that being the case. Our thoughts are powerful. Use them well and to work for you. Remember to really focus on creating the details, and how the scene would unfold for your ideal outcome. Focus on how you ideally want to feel during the situation or when its reached resolution…confident, at-ease, peaceful, or empowered?
I have used this tool at an airport while traveling for the holidays, and feeling stressed. I have used it while waiting in line at the grocery store, and feeling myself getting inpatient. I have a few different visuals I use. It can be a powerful tool for managing emotions and returning to a calm, cool, and collected state of mind. Have fun and play around with this! Enjoy and good luck!
Learn more about how I can help you cope with the stressors of life and find freedom from suffering, click here.
Sarah Seraphina is a Spiritual Activator and Liberation Guide. She is the owner of Nurtured Essence, a healing space, aimed at helping women overcome their past patterns and fears, so they may thrive and live with more power, purpose, ease, and joy. She specializes in working with healers, recovering empaths and “Damsels in Distress”, highly-sensitive women, lightworkers, and women with a sacred mission.
