your five senses ...... first of all .... bring in all the sights .... that are around you .... are you in the open .... is there green grass ..... are there flowers .... is there a forest ..... are you on a mountain top ..... is there snow ..... or are you inside a house ... or a special place ..... see what’s around you... and now recall and hear the sounds ..... can you hear any wind .... or ocean ... or water .... is anybody saying anything to you ..... and now you just get a sense of that place ..... like touching ..... and feeling ... and smelling ... all the things that are around ..... and from your relaxed place .... you look around ..... and you either get the sense of, or you see or you feel yourself being drawn to a magic pathway ..... it’s a pathway that's just opening up ..... and leading off .... where is it leading to ..... is it going up in the air ..... is it going to mountain tops ..... is it going across the sea .... is it going to another universe ..... is it going through parks and gardens .... or forests ..... and as you feel yourself being drawn along this magic pathway .... you go ... because you know .... whatever is at the end of this pathway ... is just so real for you ..... so wonderful ... so magical .... because it is your Peaceful Place ..... you are the architect .... you are the builder .. and you are the owner of this Peaceful Place ..... and every time you get to this Peaceful Place ..... you are relaxed ... and stress goes ..... you start building your Peaceful Place by deciding on the floor .... what is it made of ..... is the floor in fact grass ..... or is it timber ... or is it cloud ..... is it air ..... is it glass ..... whatever it is you build it ... so do that now ..... and now you build the walls ... in the same way ..... you choose the material ... do you have any walls ..... or is it out in the open ..... whatever it is you choose the material and you build it .... and now you build the roof in the same way ..... do you have a roof or .... are the stars your roof ..... is a canopy of trees your roof ... or glass ..... or tile or timber ..... whatever it is you build it .... and now inside your Peaceful Place .... you look outside .... you may need to put in windows ... so you do that ......... and as you look outside you put in all the scenery ... that you either see or you want to see... from your Peaceful Place ... so whatever it is, you do that, right around you .... and now, inside ... your Peaceful Place ... you put in all the things that you really want with you ... what are they? Do you have your favourite furniture, your favourite pictures? Do you bring in your favourite hobby? Whatever it is ... you bring in, and decorate your Peaceful Place. And now, in your Peaceful Place, you place a chair ... do you sit on a special chair ... something that's soft that you sink right into ... or do you sit on the ground, or the floor. This magical chair, it has so many wonderful powers for you. Every time you sit in it, you know that relaxation has begun, and that stress goes ... and you’re able to do anything you want in this magical chair ... So now you stand up, and you walk through the entrance of your Peaceful Place ... You give yourself some sort of combination, or some sort of switch, some sort of sign perhaps, or some sort of word you use, to gain entry into your Peaceful Place. So as you exit, you look back, knowing exactly how you gain entry. Do you press a button? Or is it your body that just lets you through. And so now you move down the magical pathway, knowing that at any time you will be able to get back to your Peaceful Place, and that any time that you get back there, relaxation has begun, and stress goes. So as you move down your magical pathway, you move into the first place you started from, which was your relaxed place, so that once again you become familiar with it ....... What is there around you ......what do you see and hear and feel? ........ And now from your relaxed place you return to the present .... on the count of 5, you’re going to open your eyes.
And when you do, you will be relaxed and alert and well, and invigorated, and ... you will know that you will be able to get back to your Peaceful Place at any time, and when you do, you have relaxation and stress goes. ... so on the count of ONE, you can feel the blood flowing to your fingers and your toes ... on the count of TWO, you move your fingers and toes a little bit, and THREE, you stretch your body a little bit ... and FOUR, you just move your head ... and FIVE, your eyes open, wide awake, alert, well, healthy and invigorated, knowing that you can get back to your Peaceful Place at any time.
STEP 2 – GETTING THERE IN 3 MINUTES
Step 1 took about 20 minutes to do. Now you are going to go back to your Peaceful Place again, this time in just a few minutes.
1.Allow yourself 5 minutes of uninterrupted time in a quiet place to complete the next stage.
2.Get into a comfortable position.
3.EITHER ...
A)Play Sandy’s tape, Peaceful Place No 2 – Guided Imagery, Side 1, Track 2 (the words are below)
OR ...
2) Play some baroque music and your friend can slowly read out the guided imagery words to you.
MY PEACEFUL PLACE IN 3 MINUTES
Let’s just take a deep breath ... now let it all out ... take another deep breath, and gently close your eyes ... And once again, in your mind, find that magical Peaceful Place ... that calming scene that you built yourself .... inside your mind. Find that quiet restfulness, that peacefulness, that oneness, and imagine so much calmness, as you now are totally relaxed. See .... or pretend to see .... hear or pretend to hear .... feel or pretend to feel ..... your quiet Peaceful Place. Just pretend that you’re really in your Peaceful Place. See the scenes that are around you, and hear the lovely restful sounds. Hear the calming music, it aids and comforts you. An abundance of warmth and flow of good feelings are in your Peaceful Place. And so easily you can return to your Peaceful Place where you’re in the Alpha brain wave state..... You do it so easily straight to your Peaceful Place .... Now, on the count of five you will once again open your eyes and you will be relaxed, well, healthy and invigorated. ONE, TWO, you just start moving your fingers, THREE you stretch a little bit, FOUR you move your head, and FIVE, eyes open, wide awake, relaxed, well, healthy and invigorated.
CHECKPOINTS
Here are a few hints about your Peaceful Place:
Your Peaceful Place can be one of total imagination, total reality or a combination of both. Your ‘Relaxed Place’ and your Peaceful Place may also be one and the same. Whatever you choose is just fine.
Now, what is really important is that you have only one Peaceful Place – not two or three. It can be changed and added to if you wish, but it is important to have only one. When you accidentally cut yourself and you want to relieve the hurt and stop the bleeding, you don’t want to think “Hey, which Peaceful Place shall I go to?” You want to go straight there with no hesitation, so as to be able to start releasing the hurt and stop the bleeding immediately.
Do you have people or pets in your Peaceful Place? That’s OK, just as long as you are still in control this means that they leave when you ask them to. You can invite them back in later if you want to. If they do not leave, then build yourself a new Peaceful Place.
–You can also invite people in to be your adviser for a short while. You can invite them in and say “I want some help and I’ve got some questions for you” – and it’s amazing how many answers you get. You can do this all in your imagination. The key thing is that you control it. You are the boss.
INDUCTION
Basically this process is used to help you go from the Alpha state to the theta state, that is, to deeper relaxation. You know you are in the theta state when you can’t feel your arms or legs. That’s right when you’re in deep relaxation you don’t even know what position your arms or legs are in because you can’t feel them it’s just great. I’ll put the words of the Induction here and then when the words of a specific guided imagery are quoted in the rest of the book I’ll just use the words “Induction from Page 33” and you can follow that by the written words of the guided imagery. If
