Imagery to increase empathy for another

           From STAYING WELL WITH GUIDED IMAGERY by Belleruth Naparstek

(The following guided imagery exercise can be a very effective way of your building empathy for someone in your life. You can have someone you trust read the following to you as you practice it. You can order Belleruth's audiotapes and use them to guide you. Or, you can read this yourself into a taperecorder and then follow your own voice along with the instructions.)

See if you can position yourself as comfortably as you can…either sitting upright or lying down…shifting your weight so you're allowing your body to be fully supported…head, neck, and spine straight…

And closing your eyes, or keeping them half shut so as not to fall asleep…taking a couple of deep, full, cleansing breaths…inhaling as fully as you comfortably can…sending the warm energy of your breath to any part of your body that's tense or sore or tight…and releasing the discomfort with the exhale…so that you can feel your breath going to all the tight, tense places…loosening and softening them…and then gathering up all the tension and breathing it out…so that more and more, you can feel safe and comfortable, relaxed and easy…watching the cleansing action of the breath…with friendly but detached awareness.

And any distracting thoughts or feelings you might have…those, too, are sent out with the breath…so that inside, you can be still and quiet…like a lake with no ripples…

And now…imagining a place…where you feel safe and peaceful and easy…a place either make-believe or real…a place from your past…or somewhere you've always wanted to go…it doesn't matter….just so it's a place that feels good and safe and peaceful to you…And allowing the place to become real to you, in all of its dimensions…looking around you…taking the place in with your eyes…enjoying the colors…the scenery…fully appreciating every detail with your eyes…looking over to your right…and over to your left.

And listening to the sounds of the place…the motion of wind or water…the music of birds or crickets…or a whole blend of sounds…

And feeling whatever you are sitting against or lying upon…or perhaps feeling the quality of the ground beneath your feet…whether it's sand or pine needles or grass…or you might be in a cozy armchair…or sitting on a nice, warm rock in the sun…

And feeling the air on your skin…either crisp and dry…or balmy or wet…perhaps you are inside, feeling the warmth of a cozy fire on your face and hands…just enjoying the feel of the place on your skin.

And smelling its rich fragrance…whether it's the soft, full scent of flowers…or sharp, salt sea air…sweet meadow grass…or maybe the pungent smell of peat moss in the woods…

And as you become more and more attuned to the safety and beauty of this place…feeling thankful and happy to be there…you might begin to feel a kind of tingling…a pleasant, energizing something in the air all around you…something that contains expectancy and excitement…a sense that something wonderful is just about to happen…

And as you look out in front of you…just a few feet before you…you begin to discern that there is a kind of transparent screen there…getting more and more opaque and solid as you look at it…

And as you watch the screen with a kind of peaceful curiosity…you gradually become aware of a human form beginning to appear on it…becoming more and more defined until the three-dimensional image of a person is quite clear…Someone you want to understand better…or resolve something with…appearing on the screen…in whatever characteristic posture he (or she) has…wearing whatever it is he wears…doing whatever it is he does…crisp and clear in every dimension…

And now…in the safe, magical space of the screen…for the sake of your own learning…somehow, for just a short while…sliding past the boundaries and slipping into the body of this other person…entering this other awareness…and breathing his (or her) breath…for just a brief while…

And if there is any resistance to doing this, just gently noting it, and allowing yourself to soften all around it…for the sake of understanding more…to learn what you need to know…feeling what it is like to be in his or her body…breathing his or her breath…looking down and seeing the hands and the feet…the clothing…

And feeling what is happening in the heart…(pause)…the belly… (pause)……the muscles of the back and the neck…(pause)…open and curious as to how it is in there…

And seeing out from his or her eyes…what the world looks like…sounds like…feels like…as you breathe his or her breath…feel his or her feelings…

(longer pause)

And perhaps even seeing you over there…with this pair of eyes…what you look like…sound like…how you seem…from this body…from this awareness…feeling what it feels like to be looking over at you, while breathing this breath…soft and easy…just allowing yourself the space to experience this…with friendly but detached awareness…

(longer pause)

And now…very gently wishing this body good-bye…with whatever thoughts and wishes you feel appropriate…saying good-bye to this other…and gently moving back into your own body…reinhabiting your own body, fully and easily…breathing deeply into your own belly…exhaling fully from your own nose and mouth…

And feeling grateful for your ability to move so easily here and there…you step out of the magical, translucent screen…back into your peaceful environment…again taking in the beautiful sights and sounds and smells…and watching the shimmering screen fade…

Understanding that you have in fact added to your own understanding in a very real way…increasing your own well-being as you open your mind and heart in this way…and knowing that you can do so again whenever you wish…

And so…very gently…and with soft eyes…coming back into the room whenever you are ready…knowing that you are better for this…and so you are…