Juliet Rohde-Brown

Ode to Meredith Echoes of the Stillpoint

This is a song and melody Juliet Rohde_Brown, president of Imagery International, wrote when Meredith Young-Sowers asked her to sing for Stillpoint.  Shantha Sri was kind enough to play some background music. Juliet offers this song for a New Year’s gift.

We thank her for her outstanding leadership and open heart.

Wishing you a prosperous, happy and healthy new year.

Imagery International

Anybody can become angry — that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way — that is not within everybody’s power and is not easy.
–Aristotle

Leslie Davenport, MFT

Anger has been getting a bad rap for centuries. Medieval Christianity decreed anger as one of the seven deadly sins. Buddha teaches that anger side-tracks enlightenment and is rooted in illusion. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna regards anger as a sign of ignorance that leads to perpetual bondage. And the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch, a source of Judaic law, advises, “Anger is a very evil trait and it should be avoided at all costs. You should train yourself not be become angry even if you have a good reason to be angry.” Even current medical research conducted through the American Heart Association lists its negative health consequences, including anger as a trigger for heart attacks. Click to read more.

Glenda Cedarleaf

Come immerse yourself in a women’s circle and into your creative imagination through Guided Imagery, Expressive Arts, Movement, Healing Ritual and  FUN !!!

You will open to inner guidance and release emotional blocks for greater clarity and commitment

This retreat will be facilitated by 
Glenda Cedarleaf MSW LICSW 
and includes a very special
 experiential with
 Mary Lynn Patton Ed.D Clinical Psychologist

Glenda Cedarleaf is a Guided Imagery practitioner and Clinical Hypnotherapist -  who follows her calling to be a muse and midwife  for deepening the healing process through creative exploration.

She  has facilitated women’s retreats since 1995.  She has a psychotherapy and guided imagery practice in Minnetonka Minnesota.

Tepoztlan is in the mountains and is known for being the birthplace of the mighty Aztec god Quetzalcoatl. It is home to artists and lovers of Native Mexican culture. This town is filled with beautiful loving and authentic people who have maintained the best of their native culture.  You will love the weekend market filled with the colorful and flavorful foods and crafts of the people of this lovely village.

Glenda writes and records guided imagery journeys.  Her audios “Your Healing Journey” and “Healing Surgery” are now being provided to patients in the Cardiac Catheter Lab, Emergency Room, Joint Center and Surgical Department.

For more information on the retreat and how to sign up click here.

To learn more about Glenda’s work visit her website http://www.guidedimagerycd.com/

Linda Blachman

All the world is just a narrow bridge. The main thing is not to fear. – R. Nachman

May 2011

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

I am pleased to announce the launch of my life transitions coaching and guided imagery practice, a complement to my ongoing work with personal histories and legacies.

Whether self-initiated or forced upon us, transitional times can feel like standing on a bridge in a fog of confusion. Wanting to avoid discomfort, we may miss the opportunity to delve deeply enough to make wise life-affirming choices and thoughtful plans for crafting the next chapter.

After an extended transition of my own, I am called to help others learn to use times of challenge and change for growth, healing and renewal. My mission is to help my clients navigate inevitable losses and uncertainties and take the necessary steps to author a new narrative. Together we review the past and release what is no longer needed; identify sources of authenticity, vitality and joy; visualize and plan the future; and move towards meaningful goals, all the while living with awareness in the present moment.

We discover our truth by telling our stories.To this work I bring more than 30 years as a counselor and health educator, as well as extensive training and experience in personal history and legacy preparation, life review and life planning, and contemplative/spiritual practices, including a Choose Life! exercise I developed while working through my own transition. Additionally, I am certified in Interactive Guided Imagery (SM), a powerful tool for stress reduction, symptom management, enhancement of positive thinking and performance, and inner-directed decision-making and goal setting.

I can work locally or nationally with adults facing most life changes. Some areas of specialization include:

· Midlife and beyond (career change; retirement; empty nest; meaning/creativity; relocation; aging)
· Mental/physical/spiritual health (stress reduction and wellness; illness; bereavement; caregiving)
· Parenting (infertility; pregnancy/new motherhood; return to work; divorce)

Watch in the coming months for my new web site, special packages and a periodic newsletter. If you know anyone who would like help with a life transition, I would be delighted to receive a referral from you.

Warm wishes for a spring of renewal,

Linda

Linda Blachman, MPH, MA
http://www.lindablachman.com
linda@lindablachman.com
510.540.8755 (desk)

Linda’s book, “ANOTHER MORNING: Voices of Truth and Hope From Mothers with Cancer” is available by clicking here.

Dr. Jeanne Achterberg, a leader in imagery exploration and application, refers to imagery as “the thought process that invokes and uses the senses: vision, audition, smell, taste, the senses of movement, position and touch. It is the communication between perception, emotion, and bodily change.” Guided Imagery can evoke change through the senses both physical and imagined by skillful guidance.

Guided Imagery Experienced

A definition does not capture the experience of working with a trained Guided Imagery practitioner.  And most people who have not had experience with this approach want to know about research on efficacy of Guided Imagery for changing symptoms, behavior before deciding to try it out.  Imagery International’s professionals have written about their work over the years and through articles in Imagery International’s newsletter – ImagiNews -  discuss how they have incorporated their Guided Imagery training into their practices.

Our membership is comprised of diverse licensed and certified professionals who show how this work is useful to virtually all types of work.

To see these articles that range from relevant research citations to treatment of symptoms and behavioral problems visit our About Guided Imagery page.

All types of professionals are not represented here.  We will be adding information as articles are submitted.

Leslie Davenport

Tapping into the heart’s wisdom through imagery is an ancient practice, but today guided imagery is enjoying a renaissance in a variety of medical, psychological, educational, artistic and spiritual practices. It is used in as part of treatment with medical conditions, post-traumatic stress disorder, addiction, phobias, writer’s block, athletic performance, and deepening spiritual practice.  I hope to see you at one of these upcoming events

April 16: Guided Imagery to Support Grief Sutter Hospice
10:30AM – 12:30PM, San Mateo, California

April 22 – June 10: Integrative Healing for Cancer Care: An Educational Support Group
California Pacific Medical Center, San Francisco
Fridays 1:30PM – 3:30PM,  Free  415-600-3081

May 7: Shout! A Healing Arts Day for Veterans San Francisco, California Free 11:00 AM – 4:00 PM

May 14 & 15: Revive, Thrive & Restore to the Core Wellness Retreat Renaissance ClubSport, Walnut Creek, California.

June 25: Spirituality & Religion in Psychotherapy
JFK University, Berkeley, California. CE Credit.

August 20: Spirituality & Religion in Psychotherapy
in Campbell, California  CE Credit.

September 10: Clinical Application of Deep Imagination
10:00 AM – 5:00 PM, Institute for Health & Healing, San Francisco, CE Credits

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Leslie’s book Healing and Transformation Through Self Guided Imagery includes a self-facilitation worksheet with step-by-step instructions for unscripted guided imagery everyone can learn. It is available on Amazon in both paperback and Kindle editions.

To find out more about Leslie Davenport, visit her website:

http://www.lesliedavenport.com/

Mental Imagery uses Imagination “The Intelligence of the Heart”
to heal what ails: physical, mental, emotional and/or spiritual

Randy Kasper, LCSW, BCD

This workshop will highlight how to read images using the tools of colors, numbers and directions, how to use imagery to assess clients’ level of commitment and will incorporate the twelve steps in a fresh, imagery-oriented way.

Randy will be presenting at Imagery International’s Second Conference Co-Sponsored by Beyond Ordinary Nursing – Imagery for the Future: Illuminating Lives

October 22-24, 2010 
Vallombrosa Center, Menlo Park, California

To see more about this unique imagery conference and register click here to visit the conference page.

**Registration due by October 5.

___________________________________________________________

Randy Kasper has been offering work in mental imagery for the last eighteen years and is on the faculty of American Institute for Mental Imagery. Randy is currently running an Employee Assistance Program and has been the director of three comprehensive programs for chemical dependency, eating disorders, and domestic violence.

In addition to teaching and training, Randy’s background includes theater and improvisation.

Imagery International hosts the Second Annual Conference:

Imagery for the Future: Illuminating Lives

Co-Sponsored by Beyond Ordinary Nursing

Co-Sponsored by

Beyond Ordinary Nursing

Imagery for the Future: Illuminating Lives

October 22-24, 2010
Vallombrosa Center, Menlo Park, California

Visit Imagery International’s Annual Conference webpage to see our featured speakers and topics.  Their pictures and biographies are also posted here.  On the conference page you can conveniently register online or download, print the registration form and mail it in with your check.

Attendees who attend all workshops receive 11 contact hours, provider approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing, provider #13833,. This course meets the qualifications for continuing education credit for MFTs/LCSWs as required by the CA Board of Behavioral Sciences, provider #PCE 3201.

We have designed the conference to meet practitioners needs for an economical conference.  This is an exciting, educational and inspiring event for imagery practitioners no matter what your training. Your participation will help us mainstream guided imagery, so do plan to come.

Forgiveness and Imagery by Jann Fredrickson, MS, LICSW

One of my foster father’s died this past week. I say one because I actually had three. Wendell was the last one an also the longest. I lived in his home for three years and then periodically when I was in college. When I heard of his death, my first reaction was, well, how am I supposed to feel about a person I hardly knew? How am I supposed to feel about a man who barely seemed to tolerate me in life? Was I SUPPOSED to be sad? How about his own four children who only recently have reached out to me as an adult? Ho am I supposed to feel when they decide to include me in the ritual of “walking down with the family” that goes on in funerals? Was I supposed to be glad that NOW they finally decide to accept me? To little, too late, was my first reaction. Bitterness and anger, and a very quiet, lingering hurt was the second reaction. Oh, how familiar these emotions are to me whenever I think of all those years in foster homes.

So, what to do? I remember my foster sister who didn’t talk to me the entire three years that I lived at Wendell’s home except through the filter of her parents or by the surreptitious glares across the dinner table at one of my foster mother’s unbelievably find dinners. Or the best one….her completely ignoring me at her wedding and going out of her way to make sure everyone in the family got flowers but me.

Boy, does anyone ever “get over” that nagging, indulgent self-pity that goes with the more subtle forms of abuse? I had no scars. I was well fed, (in this particular home), well-clothed, warm and I had clean sheets. What more could one ask? I kept asking these questions on the solitary drive to Wendell’s funeral, two hours from my home in St. Paul, Minnesota to a small Northern town in Iowa called Northwood.

Wasn’t it time to forgive? And if so, HOW?

Here is the beauty of imagery and the power it provides us in this life of ours. I settled in my mind all the things I would like to say to Wendell and I said them, in the car, alone, and out loud on the drive to Northwood.

Then I drove up to the funeral home. I thought I might be sick. I kept thinking, if I just drive away, no one will know. I would “know”, though. I had to resolve this. I walked in and was greeted effusively by all my relatives and all the people involved in the family. The love and graciousness I felt from them was palatable and I kept thinking, is this what “forgiveness” is about?

And then I saw him. Wendell. Alone, very small in his little casket and so very, very pale. And something broke in me. 30 years of pain and sorrow and anger broke. I began crying so hard, I could barely see him. My emotions took me by surprise. I was not prepared for their intensity. I took his hand and said to him, Wnedll, you provided a home when no one else would. You put up with all my teenaged “sh…” when no one else would. I want to thank you.

And you know what? He spoke back to me. Oh, I don’t mean in any literal way, but in that spirit-way that is imagery. He said, Jann, please forgive me for not being for you what you needed. And I did. I forgave him.

Later, my foster sister gathered me in an uncustomary hug. (We are Norwegians. Norwegians do not hug. It is simply not done.) You cannot know what this meant to me, she said. You just cannot know what it meant to have you drive down here.

And you know what I did? I hugged her back. I REALLY hugged her back.