Relax Yourself With Powerful Visualization
“Imagine your audience in their underwear!” You’ve probably been given this advice for a stressful presentation. It's supposed to take the edge off of the situation so that you can perform your best.
For me, the imagery of my colleagues or boss in underwear makes me uncomfortable or giggle to the point where I forget what I’m going to say.
However, that doesn’t mean visualization doesn’t work. In fact visualization as a technique is incredibly powerful. We all visualize things with our subconscious mind -- using our imagination to bring up mental pictures of our apartment, the tree outside, our cat, etc. When you start to add intention to your visions you slowly build unbelievable power over your mind which then influences your behaviors. One study found that a group of athletes that imagined their workouts in addition to performing physical exercise gained significantly more muscle weight than those who didn’t make those visualizations.
In moments where you experience a burst of anxiety, stress, or anger and restraining the emotion seems impossible, use visualization to your advantage. During that negative spiral your will mind need to latch onto something to relax itself. Designing a serene mental picture while in the midst of your fiery emotion can be even more stress inducing. My suggestion is that you come up with a few fool proof visualizations ahead of time, so you can pull them out of your tool belt at any point.
One of my standard visualizations is of the beach. Growing up in SoCal, I took a trip to the beach almost every weekend (no kidding). Recalling those days time zaps me into the moments walking along the pier, listening to the rhythm of the waves, breathing in the warm and salty breeze, watching the water bubble around my toes. As I imagine these moments my body unravels -- shoulders fold back, hands unclench, and the tight muscles in my forehead loosen. The memory is so vibrant because I’ve experienced it countless times.
Now it is your turn to discover your calm visualization. Follow these steps to do so:
1. Find a quiet room without distractions
Allow for less opportunity for your mind to wander off.
2. Think back to a place or moment where you felt most comfortable
This could be you riding your bike with the wind zipping around you, sipping hot chocolate while snuggled in blankets, or jamming out with friends to jazzy beats.
3. Bring as much detail to the image as possible
What do you hear? What do you smell? What do you feel? The more you imagine, the more real it will seem. Do you hear the muted chatter from the passersby? Smell the rich velvety aroma from the cocoa beans? Feel giddy when you play spontaneous tunes?
4. Notice how your body reacts to these thoughts
By inserting yourself into a memory your body mimics you in that relaxed state. Note that this is the physiology you’re trying to achieve in your pure zen mode.
Congrats, you’ve found your personalized visualization!
For extra aid you can put your memory into a physical symbol that frequently travels with you. This could be a key chain, an image on your phone, a necklace, or even a tattoo. The next time you feel a nasty emotion rising, look at that symbol and go back to that image and state.
Hopefully you’ll be lookin’ as suave as this sea lion when you do ;)
