The Practical Application of Imagination – Innoculation against Stress and Anxiety

Over the last four years I have been working to create the online “Imaginators Programme” which launches on 23^rd April 2018.

With 1 in 4 adults experiencing mental illness at some point in their lives, I hope to give people the skills to prevent some of the causes rather than wait to treat the illness.

Having been taught self-hypnosis by my Dad (also a hypnotherapist) as a teenager, i recognise the value of having a mind management toolkit constantly available.  My  passion for many years has been helping people to embrace the power of their imagination – first as a meditation teacher, then creating parties for young children using active meditative techniques and now as a Clinical Hypnotherapist and Coach based in my clinic in Amersham.

The Programme offers techniques to access the imagination and apply it in a different, more beneficial way to create positive, rational responses to challenges.  These techniques enable you to learn how to better manage stress, avoid anxious thoughts and build resilience to be better at coping with life’s ups and downs. Learn how the imagination has an effect on both our minds and our bodies; ways to deal with stress before it becomes too big to deal with; Learn how “Acting as if” can alter the way you think and act; move onto the practical application of imagination by creating powerful self-guided visualisations and incorporating basic meditation techniques into everyday activities; learn how to distinguish between what you think you should do and what is really important to you AND learn ways to achieve your goals.

Imagination is used in an array of cognitive processes, including planning, hypothetical reasoning, comprehending language, picturing things in the future or the past plus creativity in the arts and engineering.  It is an essential skill which is so often squeezed out and yet it is vital at all levels of society! 

So what do the experts say about the Practical Application of Imagination?

Michael Young PhD at Schepens Eye Research Institute stated “Imagination is truly the key to any discovery, and science to cure blindness is no exception. It is the constant re-examination of the facts along with creative leaps of thought that give birth to innovation in every field.”

Rachel White, Professor of Psychology at Hamilton College, NY shared “Pretending to be strong and admirable can help a child take on those characteristics of confidence and competence.”

And the famous Einstein quote, “Imagination is more important than knowledge, for while knowledge defines all we currently know and understand, imagination points to all we might yet discover and create.”

Warren Bennis, a world respected authority on leadership said “Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.”

There are numerous studies of people increasing their skills simply by imaginary practice. Harvard Medical School for example, studied imaginary practice when learning to play the piano and concluded, based on brain scans showing changes in the area of the brain associated with finger movement. ”The power of imagination is not a metaphor.  It is real and has a physical basis in your brain.”

Where the Imaginators Programme stands out from other courses of its type is that you will learn how to use a simple form of self-hypnosis and how to use it for specific areas such as overcoming anxiety, building confidence and managing pain.  The entire programme is designed to be simple and accessible to enable anyone to have access to their own “inner toolkit” in any situation for their entire life.

A mother of a client who I last saw over 4 years ago recently emailed saying, “I mentioned to my daughter that I'd seen you and she said she'd been using your techniques on the bus only that morning, and that the hypnotherapy had been a life changing tool for her!” 

To increase access to the Programme, I have decided that each month, a local school will be offered a code to access the Imaginators Programme free for a limited time, so if you think a group at your school would benefit let me know.  I can also offer the whole Programme on-site over 7 sessions.

There’s a free copy of the Imaginators Programme plus some super bonuses on offer to the winner of my pre-launch competition.  Join The Imaginators Facebook Page and entry is there!