FAQs & Media Info

FAQs and Media Information Fact Sheet

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WHAT IS THE ACADEMY FOR GUIDED IMAGERY?

The Academy for Guided Imagery is an accredited post-graduate training organization for health care clinicians, coaches, educators, lay practitioners, and the public. As the culmination of more than 30 years of clinical research, practice and exploration in the use of the human imagination in the healing process, it is the preeminent organization for teaching health professionals how to work directly with the imagery process.

WHAT IS THE ACADEMY'S MISSION?

• To further our understanding of the imagery process in human life and development by exploring innovative mind/body applications in health care for individuals, their families, their workplace, and their communities.

• To provide systematic, high quality training and guidance for health care clinicians, coaches, and educators who desire to learn how to access and use the power of imagery and the mind/body connection for healing.

• To network our professional community in a supportive, creative and enjoyable way.

WHERE IS IT LOCATED?

The Academy's research and corporate offices are located at 30765 Pacific Coast Highway, Suite 359, Malibu, CA 90265, and at 10780 Santa Monica Blvd, Suite 290, Los Angeles, CA 90025.

WHAT DOES IT DO?

The Academy for Guided Imagery teaches Interactive Guided Imagery^sm, a clinical process with a unique set of imagery based tools for practicing health care professionals to use with their patients and clients. The interactive nature of this process allows health professionals to evoke the insight, motivation, and resources needed for change directly from within their patients.

WHEN DID IT START?

The Academy was formed in California in 1989 by the professional working partnership of David E. Bresler, PhD, LAc, a health psychologist and acupuncturist, and Martin L. Rossman, M.D., a medical doctor. The Academy has taught more than 10,000 psychologists, physicians, nurses, social workers, counselors, and other health professionals, coaches, and educators in its live workshops and home study courses.

WHY IS IMAGERY IMPORTANT?

Imagery is the predominant language of the human unconscious, and as such, it plays a major role in almost all therapeutic interactions. Guided Imagery is a valuable therapeutic approach that allows practitioners to teach their patients/clients to skillfully use their imagination to evoke relaxation rather than anxiety, problem-solving rather than helplessness, and self-confidence rather than self-denigration. This process opens the door to a remarkable world of perception, meaning, affect, insight, and growth that empowers health professionals and their patients/clients in their mutual search for healing.

WHAT IS INTERACTIVE GUIDED IMAGERY^sm?

Interactive Guided Imagery^sm utilizes a unique set of imagery based tools that allow practitioners to evoke the insight, motivation, and resources needed for change directly from within their clients. IGI^sm incorporates innovative principles and techniques from conventional and Ericksonian hypnosis, Neurolinguistic Programming, psychosynthesis, and Jungian active imagination, and adds a unique interactive component that transforms the therapeutic relationship into one of supportive collaboration and successful self-actualization.

HOW DOES IGI^sm WORK?

Interactive Guided Imagery^sm works by helping the patient/client to use the powers of their own imagination to explore a particular area of concern, illness, or interest. The process invites an image or images to form that in some way hold significant information and/or knowledge about the area of concern being addressed. By dialoguing with these images, both the guide and the patient/client can connect with a powerful source of inner wisdom that leads to new insights that facilitate the healing process.

Since these images are drawn directly from the imagination of the patient/client rather than a script read by the guide, they are deeply personal and meaningful. It is through the gentle process of interacting with these personal images that patients/clients often reach a broader understanding regarding the meaning of their situation.

Through this deeper understanding and by grounding these insights through personal action, the empowered patients/clients are able to significantly participate in their own healing process.

WHY IS THERE A "SM" AFTER THE TERMS, "INTERACTIVE GUIDED IMAGERY^sm" AND IGI^sm?

The service mark, or "SM" in superscript format, is applied following the terms "IGI^sm", "Interactive Imagery^sm" and "Interactive Guided Imagery^sm" and "Interactive Imagery Guide^sm." The service mark denotes that IGI^sm is a legally registered process, that these terms are owned by the Academy for Guided Imagery, and that "sm" must be applied when referring to or using these terms.

The use of this service mark indicates that this specific way of using imagery interactively is clearly defined and differentiated from other approaches to guided imagery. No individual or organization can legally use these terms without the express written permission of the Academy for Guided Imagery. Individuals must be trained in the IGI^sm process to represent they are using it, and those who have been trained by AGI must include the service mark whenever they use these terms in print.

The service mark provides patients and clients with the assurance that Certified IGI^sm practitioners have been properly trained and evaluated by the Academy and that they have demonstrated their competence by meeting or exceeding the Certification criteria we have established.

WHAT WOULD A TYPICAL FIRST-TIME SESSION WITH A CERTIFIED INTERACTIVE IMAGERY GUIDE^sm BE LIKE?

In what is called "Foresight", the client/patient and guide discuss their goals in using Interactive Guided Imagery^sm - relaxation, symptom relief, insight, problem-solving, conflict resolution, etc. The guide assesses the appropriateness of using various IGI^sm techniques and then moves into "Insight," the imagery aspect of this process.

This usually begins with a basic relaxation exercise that enables the client/patient to focus inside, and then to imagine being in a beautiful, peaceful, safe, healing place in which they can work. They are then asked to allow an image to form of the area of concern, illness or interest. As an image forms, the guide facilitates an interactive communication between the client/patient and the image to help clarify and offer insights into the situation. An wise and caring imaginary Inner Advisor may also be invited to help facilitate this process.

After interacting with the image for an appropriate period of time, the guide gradually assists the client/patient back to ordinary awareness in "Hindsight". The session lasts about 50 - 90 minutes. The client/patient then has an opportunity to de-brief the session with the guide.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN VISUALIZATION, GUIDED IMAGERY, HYPNOSIS, NLP, AND INTERACTIVE GUIDED IMAGERY^sm?

There is considerable overlap and some major differences between these approaches.

Visualization is a form of imagery that usually utilizes the imagination through scripted images. The guide reads a prepared script as a means of helping the client/patient to imagine a particular desired outcome, such as pain relief.

This type of visualization is also common with Neurolinguistic Programming, or NLP, as a way to reprogram or re-frame a particular situation. With NLP, an individual attempts to route and re-route the neural connections that make up a particular behavior or pattern in hopes of altering the outcome. There is an emphasis on the practitioner analyzing and understanding the client's patterns and creating an alternative strategy.

Hypnosis often requires an individual to enter a type of hypnotic state of focused, concentrated attention that allows suggestions to enter the unconscious mind. It is mainly through suggestive interaction that individual change can occur, and it includes an expectation on the part of both client and hypnotist that the hypnotist will provide the solution to the problem.

Guided imagery is a way to access the images of the unconscious mind to help resolve problems and to gain greater insights and deeper understanding regarding a specific illness, issue, or situation. It may or may not be interactive and it usually uses prompted or suggested imagery. Again, the guide is often expected to provide "better imagesä for the client.

Interactive Guided Imagery^sm is an innovative process that includes all the features of guided imagery and adds an element of interactivity to the mix. IGI^sm works directly with the images that arise from an individual's own imagination and inner wisdom. This provides a unique window of personal exploration into the inner workings of one's own healing processes. With IGI^sm, the Interactive Imagery Guide^sm assists the client in learning to access and utilize these insights and solutions in their own unconscious, which is significantly more personal, specific, and empowering to the client/patient.

WHAT CAN IGI^sm BE USED TO TREAT? STRESS? CANCER? HEART DISEASE? ADDICTIONS?

Interactive Guided Imagery^sm is a process that can be useful for nearly all health concerns. It is an effective tool for engaging the patient/client in their own healing process, and for engendering a greater sense of self-efficacy. IGI^sm is an approach that is empowering not only to the client, but to the practitioner, as well, and one that enhances the power of healing in the therapeutic encounter.

It is more accurate to say that IGI^sm treats people, not problems, and by empowering people, helps them deal more effectively with any problem.

People with health issues ranging from musculo-skeletal problems to major addictions and life-threatening illnesses have utilized IGI^sm to relieve symptoms, find meaning, stimulate healing, and make the critical lifestyle changes that support and encourage healing.

CASE STUDIES

Click here to review several case studies illustrating the clinical application of Interactive Guided Imagery^sm.