Easy Visualization Exercises for Stress Reduction

Visualization, or guided imagery, is a time-honored technique for reducing stress. Being both easy to do and quite effective account for the technique's popularity. Be sure to select a comfortable location with minimal distractions. Spend 10 to 20 minutes per session in the beginning. You will get a feel for how long to allow once you have established a routine.



Settle into a relaxing position. Take even, deep breaths. Close your eyes and begin the exercise of your choice.

The Safe Space Exercise

• Many people imagine a secluded beach as their safe space.

  This most basic visualization exercise involves finding your "safe space:" a location you envision when you are at rest. Choose a place that makes you feel sheltered and calm. It can be somewhere you've actually been or would like to visit---or somewhere completely imaginary. Concentrate on experiencing this place with all your senses.

  Imagine what you see in that setting. Perhaps it is a beach in the Bahamas, with a gently rolling surf. Maybe it's a mountaintop, with a view of a beautiful, otherworldly sky. Perhaps you hear birds, wind or a waterfall and smell the sea or flowers. There might be a breeze caressing your skin, a soft animal rubbing against your legs or grass under your feet.

  Practice going to your "safe space" often, and it will become easier and easier to place yourself there. Whenever you're stressed and tense, think of this safe space and the calm it brings, and enter it.

Grounding Excercise

• Imagine yourself rooted to the earth, like an oak tree.

  "Grounding" refers to the idea of anchoring yourself to the ground. This is an excellent grounding exercise to use when you feel anxious or "adrift." Perform this exercise while sitting up straight or standing.

  Imagine you are an oak tree. Your spine is the trunk, your arms and head the branches. Roots stretch down from your tailbone if you're sitting or from your feet if you're standing. Feel your roots sink into the cool, clean earth, anchoring you. Mighty winds cannot harm you, because you are solid and steady, yet able to bend when necessary.

  Practice this exercise on a daily basis. When you feel stressed in other settings, think of the oak tree. Remember that you, too, are solid and steady, ready to handle anything.

Cast off the Chains

• Problems can feel like chains holding you down.

  Daily burdens often feel like chains holding us down. This simple exercise helps lighten the load.

  Imagine that you're wrapped in heavy chains and standing next to a deep body of water or a bottomless abyss. Feel the chains pulling you down. You can barely move. Now let them loose! Visualize the chains unbinding, clattering to the ground around your feet. Pick them up, and throw them into the lake or abyss, never to be seen again. Feel how light you are, and take that feeling with you as you step back into your day.