With guided imagery, I learned that my body takes care of itself if I just listen to it and do what it says. I feel so much more in sync and on the path to health.”  Pattie

Guided imagery for MS is a little-known power tool. It can stimulate our cells to change, grow, strengthen, mend and so much more.  This tool, also known as visualizations, self-hypnosis, and trance, has been shown to stimulate the physical body to create change.  By engaging this tool, we are taking a more active and focused approach to our health and healing.

Using guided imagery for Multiple Sclerosis allows us to communicate to the subconscious mind the changes we desire. In this way, we steer our bodies back toward health.  This technique has been researched in psychoneuroimmunology, especially in the work of Candace Pert. Her research has shown how the neurology of the body experiences the same feelings and fires the same brain synapses during a visualization process that it would if experiencing a physical event.

How quickly can we change our cells?

Our cells are continually changing and adapting to our current environment and needs.  More so than we think. Although most of us, even scientists, operate from the assumption that our bodies renew every seven years, this is not backed by research! Aready in 1953, research from the Smithsonian Institution showed us that it’s much much faster.

How fast do our cells renew?

• 98% of all the atoms in the human body are replaced every year
• 10% of all our cells renew every three weeks
• 25% every 5 to 6 weeks
• Soft muscle tissue every 8 to 12 weeks
• Skin renews every 30 days
• Liver every six weeks
• Stomach lining every 4 days
• 100% turnover happens every five years. That means that every five years, we have a new body.

Taking these time frames into consideration, we can calculate how long we must repeat our visualizations to promote the changes we desire.

Guidelines for Using Guided Imagery for MS

• Your job is to do the process and hold the intention. Thus, do not worry about the results. The more you focus on the results, the more you will create resistance to the process.  Your only responsibility is to set the intention and keep that focus for an extended period.  You are not ‘doing’ the work; your body is.  Your focus is on enjoying the time to imagine the changes you desire.
• Short visualizations can be done three times a day.  The longer ones can be done once or twice a day.
• Be consistent and repeat repeat repeat.
• This needs to be interesting for you. Use words and imagery that engage your senses. Make sure they connect with you personally.
• Don’t get too technical in your guided imagery.  The subconscious mind works in imagery and metaphors, not facts and science. Because of this, keep it creative and entertaining.  Think sparkles, gold-colored threads, little workers the size of pinheads sweeping away and repairing scarred myelin.
• Focus on one specific goal (rather than each day a different goal). Repetition creates permanence.  Thus, hold the intention of the session each time you begin. What do you want to achieve with the exercise? Examples:
  • Fogginess -> clearing the clouds
  • Numbed leg -> turning the circulation back on like unraveling a hose that had a kink in it, and the water begins to gush again….
  • Burning nerve pain -> pouring water on it or cooling it down with ice or absorbing the overactive electrons with a magnet of some sort.
  • Myelin sheaths all frazzled and scared -> cleaning them with a golden bristle brush and then sewing them back together with golden thread
• You can use a recording for the session, do self-hypnosis on your own, or have a hypnotherapist guide you.  Each have shown to produce change.

Free Guided Imagery for Multiple Sclerosis

Eva M Clark collaborated with Katherine Zimmerman, a hypnotherapy trainer in San Diego. Together they created 3 free videos and mp3s of guided imagery for your MS.  This is only a sample of what is possible with hypnosis.

Hypnosis scripts for MS and recorded meditations are useful. However working one-on-one with a hypnotherapist can be even more effective. For one, the meditations can be designed specifically for your symptoms.  Additionally, hypnosis can help to address what is causing your MS and heal the underlying issues (stress, MS personality, relationships, etc).