Picture yourself printing out this post to read later. Imagine the place you will sit while reading it. What do you see on the walls? What background sounds are in the room? Feel the weight and texture of the paper in your hands. Think about what you are hoping to get out of reading the post: Maybe you’re looking to apply one of the techniques right away, or maybe you’re just curious to learn something new. Now imagine that you come away accomplishing that goal: How do you feel? What impact did it have on you?
Congrats! You just did a brief visualization.
What Is Visualization?
Similar to how there are many different types of meditation practices, there is also a variety of different visualization practices. Regardless of the specific technique, all visualization practices involve imagining a detailed sensory-rich scene. For most of these practices, the more detailed and immersive the experience, the better, and repetition of the visualization is generally considered to be a key component.
What Are the Benefits of Visualization?
Scientific research has demonstrated numerous benefits of visualization techniques, including these:
Depending on the goal, different types of visualizations are used for different purposes. Here is an overview of the four main types:
1. Anxiety and Stress Reduction Visualizations
Anxiety and stress reduction visualizations help people cope with distressing emotions, reduce anxiety, and regulate the body’s response to stress. Some focus on relaxation, while others involve facing and working through difficult memories or fears in a controlled way.
Examples:
- Prolonged exposure therapy (PE) for PTSD: A key component of PE is repeatedly visualizing a past traumatic event by narrating it in detail with a therapist until the emotional intensity decreases. This exposure-based technique helps the brain process and integrate the memory in a way that reduces distress.
- Imaginal exposure for social anxiety: Similarly, someone doing exposure therapy for social anxiety disorder would repeatedly visualize, with the help of a therapist, talking to strangers before doing so in real life. This exposure-based technique helps bring down the distress of being in these types of social situations through habituation.
- Guided imagery: Guided imagery is a meditative technique where a person is guided through a calming scene. For example, they may imagine walking through a peaceful forest or sitting at the beach and listening to the waves. This type of visualization has been shown to engage the body’s relaxation response.
2. Positive Mood Visualizations
Positive mood visualizations help increase positive emotions and decrease negative biases. They are also used in treatments for anxiety and depression.
Examples:
- Positive imagery training: Starting with an ambiguous situation, these visualizations imagine a scene that ends on a positive note. This approach helps counteract negativity bias common in depression and anxiety, and, as such, this technique is included in positive affect treatment (PAT) for depression and anxiety.
- Broad-minded affective coping (BMAC): The BMAC model involves visualizing a past positive experience to savor the emotions associated with it.
3. Performance-Enhancing Visualizations
Performance-enhancing visualizations are used by athletes, musicians, and anyone who is focused on preparing to achieve a particular outcome.
Examples:
- Sports imagery: A runner might visualize the perfect race, feeling the rhythm of their strides, the energy in their muscles, and the moment they cross the finish line. Many top athletes report using imagery as part of their training.
- Mental rehearsal: A musician might mentally practice a complex piano piece, imagining every note, keystroke, and hand movement, which has been shown to improve performance over standard practice alone. Similar techniques can be used to prepare for a work presentation or other performance-based situations.
4. Envisioning the Future Visualizations
Ideal visualizations help people identify their values and align their actions with long-term goals.
Example:
- Values clarification (acceptance and commitment therapy, ACT): In this type of visualization, someone might imagine attending their 80th birthday with friends and family and the qualities that people focus on about them in celebrating their life. These can then be used to inform decision-making today (and whether decisions are likely to bring them closer or farther from these valued directions).
What About Manifesting?
Manifesting is most similar to “envisioning the future” visualizations. The primary difference between manifesting and these types of visualizations is that traditional manifesting techniques involve a form of magical thinking in that the thinking itself leads to the universe providing what the person needs. This core element is the reason that manifesting is not evidence-based, whereas future visualizations are considered an important component of evidence-based practices. If you are drawn to the concept of manifesting, you may want to try either a future or performance-based visualization instead.
Exploring Visualization for Yourself
Visualization is a useful set of techniques for mental health, personal growth, and optimal performance. Whether you’re looking to process and regulate your emotions, clarify your values, or improve performance, there are visualization techniques that may be helpful for you. Working with a therapist who specializes in these techniques can help you identify which may be right for you.