Ahh our imagination! Our ability to conjure up a vision of an amazing place to travel, a delicious food, a romantic tryst. It serves as an escape, a creative outlet and now I am sharing with you how it can be a tool for helping your pain. But first, let's look at what imagery is.
There are several types of imagery - kinesthetic, visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, and tactile. In my recent video, Zen of Chocolate: A Mindful Imagery Practice, I take you on a gustatory journey visualizing holding and then eating chocolate. My mouth is watering just thinking of this! This meditation was a fun example of the power of imagery where you may have experienced that same mouth watering effect. But I digress. Let's move onto motor imagery.
Motor imagery is the mental execution of a movement without any over movement or without any outright muscle activation. The research shows that the same areas of the brain are activated as if you were doing the actual movement. Why is this important? Well, pain modifies or reorganizes the brain structure including those areas responsible for movement (Fiori et al, 2006). If you can bring your conscious self to lighting up new areas of the brain and possibly override or change the fear of moving parts of the brain, then you will move with more confidence and a host of benefits (see below).
Here is the fascinating journey that the brain takes in order to create imagery.
Begin with knowing what you want to imagine
Information flows from the brain's memory and semantic regions to the visual cortex where the image is sketched.
Voila you have imagery*
*please note that the process is not quite as simple as that but presented is a very basic flow. This has been described as 'Perception in Reverse'.
Kinesthetic motor imagery is the most used vehcle for assisting in motor learning (lighting up those parts of the brian responsible for moving). Kinesthetic is when someone has the feeling they are actually perfroming the movement with all of the sensory outputs. Another strategy is Visual Motor Imagery. This is where the person sees themself performing the movement as from a distance. I call this the 1,000 foot view of themselves doing the movement. There are some studies out there that say that kinesthetic is more effective than visual motor imagery. I think it is also a personal preference on what feels easier for the person to do.
At this point, you may be ready to try this out for yourself. But first, I want to share with you some of the benefits as it pertains to helping with pain.
gain a deeper understanding of how your pain works with awareness and imagined movement of your painful areas
help understanding that pain will not damage you
increase confidence of moving.
you are in control and actively involved with imagery
increase level of functioning
aids in overcoming fear of moving and avoidance behavoirs
doesn't cost anything and is very accessible
no side effects
non-invasive
and can be used in conjunction with other treatments
Imagery can be challenging for some especially when they move from one movement or part of a movement to another fast. Slowing down the imagined movement would help with this. The other reason that it might be difficult for some is that some people are unable to imagine or can't access visual memories or use it to generate the experience of imagery. Note that there are a wide spectrum of abilities with imagery.
Want to try out this tool for pain care? Pain Care Collective is adding several classes this month to our On-demand Library Series. This is the Imagery series and will consist of 3 shorter videos and audio meditations. Experience these for yourself when you sign up for a one month Free Trial here..
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