Imagery is not only visual. It can come through other senses. It can be a feeling, a knowing, a taste, a sound. Most important of all, by practicing guided imagery you can make big changes.

In a study conducted by Alternative therapies in Health and Medicine, in 2006, it was found that levels of the stress hormone cortisol, dropped significantly after participants practiced guided imagery. Researchers in a hospital in Cambridge, England also found that patients who used creative visualisation tapes during surgery, recovered faster and on average left hospital earlier than other patients.

There have since been many other studies that show that imagery can boost immune function, lower blood pressure, speed up healing from cuts, fractures etc and reduce allergies. And on the psychological level, creative visualisation can lower depression, reduce perception of pain, lower fatigue and generally create a sense of wellbeing.

What is actually happening here is that our unconscious accepts the pictures, sounds, feelings we experience as a reality. It does not differentiate between imagination and reality. Where we repeat a visualisation, we slowly etch it into the unconscious part of our mind. Then once it is there, our unconscious goes to work to make it happen for us in reality.

This is not such a big surprise. Well it is part of life's many mysteries, if we really think about it. like the way a plant grows from a seed , it follows a given pattern.. You plant a seed, you miraculously get to see a plant grow. You visualise an event, a more helpful response to a difficult situation, and you begin to see it manifest in your life.

One of my clients, Peter (not his real name) had always been fit and well. Suddenly, out of the blue, he began to get painful joints, he consulted his doctor, but he wasn't too keen on taking medication if he could help it. After getting his doctor's permission, he started to visualise. When he came to see me we worked on changing the messages he was sending his unconscious about the pain from his arthritis. Slowly, he began to feel more in control of the pain. He felt he had a tool that he could use to change his perception of his pain. No doubt more research is going to be conducted into the health and psychological benefits of visualisation.

The Ancients were right to hold the imagination and guided imagery in such a high regard, something modern scientists are discovering everyday.