Learn to visualize: imagine that you are a rose

Have you ever felt overwhelmed by anxious thoughts and unable to focus on a task? As humans, we have the ability to control our anxious thoughts through visualization techniques. We explain it to you

Learning to visualize is one of the most effective tools we can develop and one of the steps prior to the correct management of our thoughts. It is one of the basic techniques of transpersonal psychology. A voluntary thought training that is used as a strategy to replace involuntary or intrusive thoughts.

We all face difficulties during our lives and it is in those moments when involuntary or untrained thinking makes its appearance and takes over everything. Not being able to control our thoughts at will, Our emotions are affected and we flood our existence with fear, anguish and stress.

Thoughts that cause suffering, or those that do not allow us to concentrate on what we are doing, are involuntary and intrusive thoughts. If we are trained in managing them, we will be able to replace those thoughts with others that protect our emotional balance. This is a type of training that requires practice at first, but after a while we incorporate it into our routine naturally.

Learning to visualize can help us control our thoughts.

transpersonal therapy

This type of therapy uses several techniques and one of them is creative visualization. Transpersonal therapy is a holistic intervention that focuses on the positive influences of role models rather than negative experiences.

It was developed from the works of Abraham Maslow and other psychologists of the humanistic school. This type of therapeutic intervention is based on the idea that the human being is something more than mind and body.. It contemplates the most intangible dimension of the human being and the transcendent factors that shape us.

What is a voluntary thought?

A voluntary thought is one that we are capable of creating and directing consciously. and on his own initiative. It is voluntary because it is oneself who is producing it as a specific process.

It is a directed thought because it is focused on a defined purpose.. And finally it is sustained because training allows us to sustain it over time and with sufficient intensity to have the perception of thought (metathought). There are several visualization exercises to start training. Let’s go with one of them.

Learning to visualize, the rose exercise

Close your eyes and imagine a rosebud that is still closed. Visualize and pay special attention to the stem and leaves. Its texture, its color and its sinuous shapes. Pay your attention now to the upper part, where the cocoon is located. It is still green, because it is closed, although a pink tip can already be seen at its upper tip.

When you have the entire image created, hold it in your mind for a few seconds. Now notice that the petals start to move. They are separating and you can already see them almost completely, their texture is different from the stem and leaves and their color is pink and very bright. The petals continue to open until a beautiful rose is completely visible.

We retain the image of the open rose for a few seconds clearly. At this moment we breathe the aroma of the rose and We allow ourselves to be invaded by its characteristic smell until it completely permeates us.

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In the last step we return to visualize the entire plant and We imagine all the vital force that runs through it from the root to the flower itself.. Now we identify with the rose, that is, we introject the rose into ourselves and symbolically we become it. We feel all the life force that runs through our own body and how the petals open.

Visualization exercises in transpersonal therapy

This rose visualization exercise, created by psychiatrist Roberto Assagioli, is extremely suggestive and evocative. As a general rule, the flower symbol is used as a symbol of the development of a deep reality. It is the symbol of the human spirit and its evolution.

There are different visualization exercises that can be used for different objectives, such as relaxation with the visualization of the beach path. Another widely used in therapy is the visualization of tension – distension.

Daily training in these visualization exercises will allow us to generate images with more clarity. We can even increase the color, light or details according to our wishes. It’s just a matter of practice.