The Power of Visualisation

A lot of people think of visualisation as a bit of a “woo” concept, i.e. something that spiritual people do, and something that doesn’t work.

But visualisation is backed by neuroscience!

One reason I recommend visualisation is that your brain reacts to what you’re visualising as if it was actually happening to you. Yep – there’s a part of your brain that cannot differentiate between something that you’re visualising and something that is actually happening.

Your subconscious mind is unable to tell the difference.

The implications of that are pretty far reaching, but one example where that was used and proven is in a study where participants were asked to either go to the gym and lift weights or imagine going to the gym and lifting weights.

And those who visualised going to the gym and lifting weights actually saw a 13% increase in muscle mass as a result of visualising going to the gym.

Visualisation also helps you to use more of your brain.

You’re actually unlocking the power of your creative, intuitive brain.

Not only that, but if you are visualising on a regular basis, something that you really want, a goal that you really want to achieve, or a way that you want to be, whatever it might be, you’re going to be reminding yourself of that on a regular basis.

Therefore, you’re going to make choices, you’re going to take opportunities, and you’re going to seek out opportunities which help you to get closer to that goal that you are visualising.

Here are 3 practical ways that you can use visualisation in your life:

1. Visualisation can be massively powerful if you’re dealing with a difficult situation.

I used to use this a lot in my previous role as a trainer and HR manager.

If you visualise the outcome of a meeting to be a negative one, guess what? It’s much more likely to happen.

But if you visualise it going well, if you visualise the person responding well, not only is that more likely to happen, you’re going to bring the energy of a positive person to that meeting and again that’s going to influence the outcome.

2. Meditation.

So this is something that I do on my retreats – visualising feeling good is one of the ways in which I use it. A meditation that I love to do is a golden light (or SHINE) meditation. You visualise your body filling up with this liquid sunlight – and it really does give you a warm glow, a sense of peace and it’s really really powerful.

3. Vision boards

Again, something that people think of as a bit of a hippie way of doing things but really works.
Having a vision board next to you reminds you on a daily basis of what your goals are, of what your aims are and what your dreams are and by reminding yourself you’re constantly taking those actions or you’re more likely to take those actions that take you closer and closer towards it.

And the feeling of ticking things off your vision board is something that I think everyone should experience! This is something I use with my clients too.

I created a guided visualisation as part of my recent self love week, if you’d like to see the full video, you can find it here.