Exceeding Your Limits: Visualization

Turn down the radio, TV, etc. and close your eyes while picturing yourself in a relaxing environment like the beach. Try to include as many senses as possible. That is visualization. If you think about different things that stress you out, scare you or make you mad that is also visualization. One of the best uses I found for visualization is meditation.

Meditation can reduce stress, cause your immune system to work better, slow down the aging process, increase creativity, concentration, focus and memory. It can also improve your quality of sleep. To meditate you use a series of visualizations to become more and more relaxed. Stress impairs your immune system and can cause a lot of health problems. So by relaxing or stressing yourself out your thoughts can influence your immune system.

Stress can cause your body to store more fat, especially in the stomach area. It can also cause food cravings, especial for junk food. So your thoughts also affect your weight. Visualization is a good way to control your stress but people often focus on things that increase their amount of stress.

Your thoughts also influence your habits. Habits can be hard to break especially if you keep reinforcing an unwanted habit by thinking about it. Think about your TV. Do you see yourself exercising or are you sitting on the couch eating junk food. If you want to get in shape you might want to change the image. See yourself exercising when you picture yourself watching TV.

When you start a new diet do you think about all the foods you are missing? If you want to eat healthy foods you should picture yourself eating healthy foods.

If you want to improve your body it helps to create a mental image of the body you want. You can look at pictures or videos for inspiration. So I could look at a picture of an athlete and see myself as having a similar body. Your thoughts effect the shape your body. If you want a lean and muscular body visualize your body as being lean and muscular.

Another way to cause changes in your body is to visualize cells or organs. You might want to do research so you can learn about cells, organs and your immune system before trying this so the imagery is more accurate. However you do not need to. Your body will respond to the intention.

Imagine your immune system as very effective and it will be more effective. See your good cells as strong and the bad ones as weak. You can visualize your immune system killing off bad cells without knowing what they look like. You could visualize sharks attacking the bad cells if you wanted to. Imagine your organs as being healthy and they will be healthier.

If you wanted to burn fat you could imaging your body turning the fat into energy. To increase your muscle size you could imagine your muscle fibers growing bigger. Another approach is to visualize a healing light. For example if you sprained your ankle you could visualize a healing light speeding up the recover process.

To be effective visualizations should be possible and believable. You also need to take action. I can visualize myself eating healthy, exercising and having the body I want. Then I can take action. However if I fantasize about being a character from a TV show or video game nothing will happen. If you want to be like someone you see on TV you could imagine you are an actor portraying the character and do the necessary training.

If you visualize yourself exercising or participating in a sport try to keep it real. For example boxing is very tiring. If you visualize yourself boxing do not just see yourself effortlessly going through the motions. When I visualize lifting weights I do not see myself lifting them like they were nothing. I see myself struggling and I see myself improving.

If you are like most people you have 1,000s of thoughts flashing through your mind every day. Over half your thoughts are probably negative. Focusing on being fat and out of shape makes it harder to become skinny. Picture yourself as having a disease and you may start to experience the symptoms. People often make themselves sick.

With all the information you are exposed to a lot of the thoughts come from outside sources. I often used guided meditation. I listen to a recorded message that helps to guide me into a deep state of relaxation. The process causes my to visualize things that relax me. When I watch TV I often see people fighting and killing each other. You can not avoid thinking negative thoughts when watching violent TV shows or playing a violent video games.

To reach your goals try to focus on what you want instead of what you don't want. When I started doing one handed push-ups I needed to believe I could do them. I tried and failed because I was unsure of myself. Then I told myself I could do them and did a set of 10. Your thoughts influence your health, the way you look and how successful you are at achieving your goals.

Try to avoid thoughts that stress you out. Think about things that are relaxing. See yourself doing the things you want or need to do to achieve your goals. Imagine the body you want and focus on it. See yourself as having a strong immune system and healthy organs. Picture who you want to be then take action.