During imagination, the human body will release the same bliss hormones, burn the same neural paths and get the heart pumping as actually performing the activity. Athletes do this all the time in picturing a golf swing, free throw shot, turning a corner in a race car. The mental activity entrains the brain to know what to do when the actual time comes to perform the real event. In the hospital, if doctors didn't go through the physical and mental scenario of advanced life support -"code blues", we would probably lose a lot patients to failed resuscitation. There is a negative side to this repetitive activity of imagination/imagery. When people get into the repetition, "I will never be the same", I will never pay off these bills", "nothing ever happens the easy way for me", it is impossible to lose weight" or "I'll never find true love", it too entrains the brain to live in a way where that belief comes alive. When life is visualized through the pages of that negative story, the alternate good options to healing become camouflaged by an ending that we unconsciously bring into our lives. By choosing to "entertain" positive ideas, we can begin to move the brain to a direction of visualizing healing paths to blissful existence. Repeating positive thoughts and activities, will entrain the mind/body to live at an energy where cells work better, the mind is not effected by stress, tissues function efficiently and outcomes seem to fall into place as we dream them. In science this level of living is called the "Unified Field" where basic matter if broken down to thought. All DNA is built from this field and when the thinking brain begins to contemplate this place....it gains a sense of "being home", there is an effortless ease of existing. I liken it to the idea that no matter how tough your day at school was (playground, teachers, lunchroom, gym class, opposite attractions, bus ride bullies...) when you open the door of your room, there is a feeling of sanctuary when just for a split second, all the previous tough experiences of the day....don't mean anything or hold any value. There is a "pause" that occurs while lying on your floor or looking up at a blank ceiling where the brain/body/spirit just float. The odyssey is to capture that pause and expand it to our entire waking day. Modern day experts have been able to coach people into daily practice bringing them to that place. Andy Weil teaches breathing exercises
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Wg-UAYGa2A
that introduce a neutral "time pause" into one's life bringing you to a place where just for 5-10 minutes twice a day, you live in the moment; not worrying about problems, bills or tomorrow. Herb Benson and Deepak Chopra have encouraged to take the "quiet time" of up to 10-20 minutes twice a day and introduce a mantra or positive thought with it.
http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=7392433
In a previous post, I mentioned as I was working an Immediate Care Center in Aurora IL, there was a frantic dad who burst in demanding care for his son bitten by something while playing baseball. Dad has a life threatening reaction to bees and he wanted his 11-year-old son given the same series of medicines for exposure to a possible bee. The dad was frantic, the kid was sweaty in his baseball uniform with flushed skin and fast breathing. Aside from that, my evaluation revealed no life threatening problems so I calmed down the dad, showed him all the monitoring equipment I had to detect impending doom. I asked the patient if I could help him calm down and I proceeded to take him through guided imagery. During my "story telling" he work on slow breath in and slow breath out. Since he was a baseball player, I had him imagine he was pitching and in slow motion going through his signals to catcher, cocking up the throwing arm, releasing the ball, fingers flicking the stitching on the ball as it was leaving his hand.....the slowest throw he could imagine happening. During all this imagination work, by the time the batter in my story swung for the ball, 5 minutes elapsed and miraculously, the boy was not red, he was relaxed (along with his dad), with no shortness of breath and no throat tightness. We just saved him an epinephrine shot, a steroid shot and a tremor inducing breathing treatment. (May have also given him a visualization to pitch better!)
Imagination is a very powerful tool to get us back to childhood. It is also a key that takes us to a place of peace. We can choose to be responsible for our everyday actions and control out future or....be a victim of events allowing the actions of others dominate our thought patterns. In the end, the brain with all its complexity can only be positive or negative. It is impossible to think negative thoughts and positive feelings at the same time. When the mind is allowed to step into that Grand Canyon of relaxation on a regular basis, answers will appear, opportunities will form and prosperity and abundance will follow.
