Neuro-Linguistic Programming

The Science of Achievement

Visualisation and Imagination

Imagination/Visualisation is probably one of the greatest assets that we as humans possess (and also important for the use of therapies outlined in following chapters). Where would we be today if the wheel had not been invented, or if Ben Franklin had not had that dream of inventing the light bulb? Look around you; everything that you can see, hear and feel that is man made began its life in the imagination of another. Without imagination we simply would not be in the world we are in today. It is unfortunate then that so many of us now-a-days neglect to utilise our imagination in the ways that we used to. It can be difficult however; the drudgeries of work and a lack of ‘me-time’ make it difficult for most of us to have the time to simply sit and dream/imagine what could be.
I believe that all of us would benefit from having a greater imagination; we would have more dreams and reasons for achieving them. We would do better in our jobs, as that idea that popped into you head has saved your company hundreds of pounds, and made you more efficient. With the ability to dream comes the ability to create change.

I don’t know how many of you who are reading these books have children, but I will guarantee that you all know at least one child, even if it is a distant memory of your own childhood. If you speak to a child you will be bombarded by seemingly useless information of ideas they have had and different uses for everyday things. , or dreams of how they are one day going to become a princess. Many of us scoff at these thoughts, but you may be interested to know that children are often the source of many great ideas and inspirations. A possible problem with many of us in the time we live in is that we rarely have the opportunity to imagine how our lives would be if just one thing worked differently.

The following section is an aid to help you increase your imagination skills. At first it will be difficult as the creative side of your brain is not used to being used, but as the old saying goes; practice makes perfect.
We are going to begin by practicing relaxation techniques. It is near impossible to have clear dreams or ideas whilst your brain is still fogged over by your troubles at work. To complete this section you will need to find a quiet area that you can relax in, shutting out all distractions. Also useful in this section would be the use of relaxing music and/or the following script recorded on tape or ask somebody you trust to read it to you in a relaxing manner, alternatively purchase one of the deep relaxation CD's from the main page (hypnosis-superstore.com), which contains many alternatives to the one below.

I want you to first close your eyes and relax. Take deep breath in through you nose, nice and deep. Then after a count of four exhale any stresses you may be carrying from the day. Deep and strong; in through the nose, then relaxing as you breathe out through your mouth. Deep and strong, in for four, then relax your stress away as you slowly breathe out. You will continue to breath this way, focusing on the clean air that is entering you body.
When you feel totally at peace, when you realise that you are standing on a beach. The sand feels warm beneath your feet. As you look up you will see a forest in front of you. It is a bright sunny day and as you look around you can see birds flying in the sky. You can almost hear the ocean in the distance behind you, the surf lapping up on the beach; as you do you feel an almost overwhelming sense of tranquillity. Deep strong breath in, then relaxing deeper as you breathe out.

The forest stands tall, with strong oak trees enticing you in. as you walk towards the forest you hear the sound of the ocean waves fading from behind you as the sound of young chirping birds from the trees comes into your earshot. Deep drawing breath in, relaxing even more as you exhale. The strong trees surrounding you fill your body with a strong sense of protection. As you walk along through the dense trees you can feel the warmth of the sum on your face drawing you closer to an opening in the trees. Individual rays of light break through each branch creating a mystical feeling. The soft, green grass feels spongy beneath your feet. Try curling your toes; you can feel how soft it is. This feeling inspires you to rest for a few minutes. As you sit on the soft earth of the forest floor you feel a connection with the earth and the energy that is being carried through it. You feel the energy of the trees around you, the earth beneath you and the creatures of the forest sapping from your soul. As you take a deep breath in you will feel 10 times more relaxed than you currently do. As you do you feel your body slump down into the earth below you. Deep relaxation. Your body feels at one with the forest. There is energy floating into your body and all around you, covering your body with deep relaxing energy. You are still able to hear the distant sounds of the ocean, and the gentle chirping of the birds in the trees above. The sun shines down on your body creating a sense of warmth and comfort, deep comfort. I am going to leave you to relax alone for a few minutes with the protection of the tall oak trees, and your thoughts. Deep relaxing breath in, and relax 10 times more then you currently are as you breath out. When you hear my voice again a sense of power will forebode you.
>remain peaceful for 5-10 minutes (Whilst relaxing like this, time is no issue).
I now want you to stand up and prepare yourself to leave you surroundings. You begin to walk from the forest, though the sounds you can hear remain strong, and the warmth keeps you feeling comfortable. Heading back towards the beach where your journey started. Through the deep trees you can hear the sounds of the crashing waves getting louder. When you get to the beach you see a set of steps in front of you. These must be the steps that lead you here to this mystical, relaxing place. You know that to come back to this mystical place in the future all you need to do is take a deep relaxing breath. Start to climb the steps in front of you. The warmth is still close to your body.

As you start to ascend the steps you begin to feel more awake. At some point soon, at a time you feel is right your eyes may re-open. At which stage you open your eyes back to your consciousness will be up to you, although it will be somewhere around the fourth or fifth step. We are going to start to climb back up the stairs, counting to five. At the count of five you will have gained total consciousness.
One… you start to feel more awake and creative.
Two…you feel yourself climbing higher into your conscious, back to your relaxed body.
Three… climbing higher
Four… stepping back into your body now, you become fully aware of how you are sat. You still feel warm, relaxed and in total comfort.
Five… you feel reawakened. Your eyes are opened to your surroundings. You feel totally at peace with your body and surroundings, knowing that you are mote creative now than ever before.

Whilst you were relaxing did you feel any different? You may have felt that your stress disappeared and as result you were able to think more clearly. As you do this more and more you will find that you will think even more clearly, increasing the amount of ideas and dreams you have.

The above section that you just completed may be the first experience you have had of a ‘hypnotic’ induction (not too indifferent to yoga or meditation). You should feel relaxed and content within your surroundings. As you practice the above script more and more you will eventually be able to enter a state of ‘relaxation’ or ‘hypnosis’ at any time. Of course the main difference with the script above and hypnosis that is usually done by trained specialists is that the above does not include any commands or imbedded instructions to make you do anything other than relax.

Once you feel that you can enter this state at any time you will be well on your way to broadening your horizons through increased levels of imagination and ideas. Also, you may in the future wish to discard this technique of entering a relaxed state, as you will find it much simpler to enter a relaxing state without it.

Sub-modalities

Whilst you were experiencing ‘your time’, you may have pictured yourself in an outer-body experience. You may have even seen yourself with a different body to the one that you are currently in. ‘Sub-Modalities’ in NLP refer to how you see yourself and the world around you. When you had you eyes closed did you see your world in full colour, or black and white? Was everything in proportion? Sub-Modalities basically refer to how you see, hear and feel what you do. For example, think of a happy time from the past (you may wish to close your eyes to do this). What do you see? Do you see you self in first or third person? Is everything in full colour? What can you hear- and how load is each individual sound? Can you feel anything?

When you imagine/remember anything your brain draws up a picture of that image/memory through your internal senses. Now do the same with a negative experience, taking note once more of what you are experiencing- this may take 5-10 minutes plus. How was the happy experience in comparison to the negative one? Were the sub-modalities different in any way? They should have been. You should find that you can change how you feel about both experiences by changing the sub-modalities of them. Over the next few chapters we are going to explain various techniques utilising the above skills to help you optimise the way you are programming your brain. You may also use these skills to influence those around you.

As you may already expect the task for improving your skills this week include attempting the relaxation techniques outlined above. Additional scripts are also down loadable from www.hypnosis-superstore.com. It is recommended that you try the technique at least five times in some form, even if that includes simply lying in a quiet and relaxing place thinking to yourself. An increase in your imagination skills will help you long term by opening new ways to utilise what you have learned.

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