Happy New Year - Wishing you and yours a happy, healthy and prosperous 2008.

Guided Relaxation and Imagery can help your patients feel better, heal faster and rehab more effectively.

I am sure that you have noticed that pain often impacts your patients rehab or recovery in negative ways.

Therapists and their patients are often unaware that Guided Relaxation and Imagery can help people develop a sense of control and learn how to take the suffering out of painful conditions. It really can! Changing the way patients think about and focus on pain changes the way patients experience pain. An example: Asking patients to calibrate or describe their pain changes the way they experience their pain because instead of focusing on feeling pain they are focused on describing the pain.

"Floating away" or "sinking into" imagery can help your patients relax and release un-necessary tensions and relieve pain. Images like: Fluffy Clouds and Favorite Places are often very effective.

In future blogs we will explore the many different ways that you can assist your patients to feel better, heal faster, and generally be more effective using Guided Relaxation and Imagery.