Guided Imagery for a Child

Guided imagery involves using a progression of mental images to focus the mind, link the mind with the body and enhance relaxation. Guided imagery has the ability to help children, just as it helps adults to overcome stressors in their lives.

The process need not be lengthy or complicated, especially since children have shorter attention spans. A simple, 15 minute exploration is sufficient to lower blood pressure, slow the heart rate and improve coping skills.

Stress Relief

• Children can have many sources of stress in their lives---school, peers, parental expectations---and few outlets to relieve them. Guided imagery offers children a tool they can use to recognize and diffuse stress when they feel it begin to build. This can help them to perform better in sports and academics and to work through difficult periods in relationships.

  Practice can help children avoid reaching a critical point where they attempt to cope through negative behaviors like self-harm, drugs, alcohol or risky behavior. For worries, children can imagine their fear and dissolve it or turn it into something harmless and gentle.

Recognizing Signs

• The first step to relief, and to begin guided imagery (whether conducted by the child or another person), is to have the child step back from stressors and from sensory input.

  The signs of tension in the body should be brought to the child's attention. Once a child learns to recognize these physical cues, he or she can begin to work through steps toward calming. Clenched fists or a tightened jaw, butterflies in the stomach and shallow breathing are signs that tension is building.

Deep Breathing

• Have the child sit or lie comfortably and loosen tight clothing or remove shoes if necessary. Have him or her take a deep breath, hold it for three seconds, then let it out slowly. Ask the child to repeat the breath cycle until you see signs that his or her body is relaxing (hands go limp, breath begins to come from the belly instead of high in the chest).

Guided Imagery

• Once the child has entered a light relaxation state, it is time to begin the guided imagery. Ask the child to choose a place he or she enjoys. This can be a safe place, somewhere that gives a feeling of home, a place that produced happy memories or a place created wholly from imagination. From here, the child can be taken in many different directions to achieve the desired goal.

  One example of using imagery---ask the child to imagine a warm ball of light, to send it to any spot in his or her body where the muscles feel tight. Tell the child to let the light fill his or her body with soft, happy feelings.

  A tradition in yoga practice is to direct the breath to any spot that feels tension. You may help a child to move through each body part by using the breath to relax the muscles (breathe in good feelings, breathe out bad ones), by placing a hand lightly on the area or directing the child with your words.

Desensitization

• You may walk a child through a stressful situation step by step, stopping at each place of resistance to calm and relax again. For example, if test taking is a problem, you may help the child to practice mentally entering the room, feeling confident, sitting at his or her desk, reading through the questions one at a time while breathing deeply and maintaining inner stillness. The more detail you can add to the scene, the better.

  Ask the child to tell you if any signs of tension appear and be alert for them yourself. If they appear, walk the child through breathing and relaxing once again. Repeat the exposure to the imagery and each time the anxiety should lessen. When the lesson is over, ask the child to come back to awareness on the count of three, then count slowly and ask the child to open his or her eyes.