Can I listen to visualizations while driving?
No! Please never listen to our visualizations while driving or operating heavy machinery. You need to be able to relax while listening. Also please don’t listen to them while someone else who’s driving can hear them.
Visualization brings up painful memories or makes me cry. Should I still do it?
Absolutely. Crying is one of the most healing things you can do emotionally. It’s your body’s way of cleaning out emotional toxins. So if the visualization brings tears to your eyes, if it brings unpleasant memories and you’re releasing them through crying, it means that your body’s letting go of those emotions, which is exactly what you want to happen.
I fall asleep listening to the evening visualization. Is that okay?
The evening visualization is designed for you to fall asleep listening to it. It’s got a frequency-following pattern that puts you into the SMART Mode states of alpha, theta, and then eventually the delta state, and allows your body to drift off into a deep state of sleep. While you’re sleeping, your mind will still be very receptive to all the positive suggestions, so you’ll still be reaping all the benefits. It’s actually a great scenario, because it puts you in a deep state of sleep, while your brain is being prompted to make positive suggestions for healthy lifestyle and eating habits.
My mind wanders. Is that okay?
It’s totally okay if your mind wanders. I once heard a quote that 99 percent of success in life was just showing up, and nowhere is that more true than with visualization. You just want to show up, just want to press the button and listen to the visualization. If your mind wanders, it’s okay, because over time you’ll start getting into deeper and deeper states of clarity and focus, and your mind won’t wander. Either way, even if your mind is wandering, you’ll still benefit from the suggestions.
I can’t concentrate. Is that okay?
That’s totally fine. Don’t worry if you can’t concentrate. As a matter of fact, in the beginning don’t even try to concentrate. If you try too hard to concentrate, it’s actually going to take you out of the deep state that you want to get into when you’re doing your visualization, and it’s going to require too much effort and you’ll get frustrated and you won’t continue. So allow your mind to wander. Don’t worry if you can’t concentrate. It’s totally okay, and over time you’ll get better and better. Visualization is like a muscle that gets stronger and stronger with use.
What if I can’t imagine my ideal body?
Many people can’t imagine their ideal body, and that’s okay. There are a couple of things you can do. One is to find a picture of either when you were in your ideal body or a picture of someone else who has a body similar to the one you’d like to create, and right before your visualization just stare at it for about 30 seconds. Then close your eyes and imagine yourself looking like that image. If you can’t imagine it, just feel it. Feel what it feels like to have no excess weight on you. Feel what it feels like to be walking on the beach, thin and fit. You can also feel what it feels like to have all the fat melting off your body as you’re sitting there. So you don’t have to worry if you can’t see it. Just try as best as you can to feel it.
I can’t imagine light going through any part of my body. Is that okay?
Whatever the suggestions are for the visualizations, don’t worry if you can’t see them or imagine them. Simply imagine what you can imagine, and the rest of the time just stay present as best you can and allow yourself to get into a relaxed state.
What if I can’t sit for too long without feeling uncomfortable?
It’s really important for you to do the visualizations in a position that you’re comfortable in. So if you can’t sit while you’re doing the visualizations, then lay down in a comfortable position.
How do I know it’s working?
What you’ll find, once you’ve been doing visualizations for a while, is that you’ll experience a subtle shift in the way you approach your body weight, food, exercise, and activity. You’ll find that you’re not as hungry, you don’t crave the same fattening foods, your blood sugar stays stable longer, you’re simply not thinking about food as much, and you have more energy. You’ll also notice a shift in the way you think and feel about your body. You’ll start to become more loving, forgiving, accepting, and appreciative of your body. This can happen fairly quickly or it can take a little bit of time, but that’s the first indication that there’s been a shift in your body’s chemistry toward letting go of weight.
How do I know when I’m in SMART Mode?
When you’re doing your visualizations, if your mind starts to calm down a little bit and if you find as you’re sitting that you’re less inclined to fidget or move, then you’re beginning to get into the SMART Mode states.
I fidget. Is that okay?
If you’re fidgeting in the beginning, don’t worry, that’s totally fine, but what you will find over time is that your body will start to become calmer and you’re going to be less likely to want to fidget or want to move, and eventually you’ll get to a place where your mind and your body become very calm and still.
I can’t see anything when I visualize. What do I do?
When you’re listening to the guided visualizations, don’t worry if you can’t see anything. Just feel whatever you can feel, imagine whatever you can imagine, and simply be present for the visualization. Over time, it will start working better and better, even if you can’t see anything, you’re still communicating with your body and you’ll still get tremendous benefit.
What if I can’t get into SMART Mode?
Getting into the relaxed state of SMART Mode is a natural process that we all go through every night as we’re going to sleep, only in this case we’re doing it while we’re awake. If you can’t do it in the beginning, once again, don’t worry. It’s like a muscle that gets stronger over time and your ability to go into those states becomes quicker and easier. Simply be present and show up for the visualization each day, and eventually you’ll be able to get into that state without any effort at all.
When should I visualize?
The best time to visualize is first thing in the morning, as soon as you get up, and also just as you are going to sleep. In the morning, you will be programming your day for success, and at night your mind and subconscious will be processing the positive visual images and suggestions you imagined as you are going to sleep. Ideally, for the morning session, what you want to do is have an area all set up just for your visualization, where all you have to do is sit up and press Play and listen to the visualization as soon as you arise.
If you can’t practice visualization first thing in the morning, the second-best choice is simply to aim for consistency. Choose a specific time when you can practice visualization every day, because what will happen is your body will get used to the stress-reduction benefits that come from visualization at a certain time during the day.
For the evening visualization, you simply want to visualize as you are going to sleep. Another great time to practice visualization is in the late afternoons approximately an hour or two before you come home from work or an hour or two before dinner. I call this a stress-reduction break. Have a healthy snack and listen to a visualization, and it will help reduce the stress of the day and keep your blood sugar stable so that when you come home from work, you won’t be famished, exhausted, and stressed out, and you’ll be better able to make good food and lifestyle choices the rest of the night.
How often should I visualize?
It’s important to visualize every day, even if it’s just for a couple of minutes. What will happen over time, if you do it every day, is your brain will start making neural connections toward feelings of peace, safety, love, and healthy lifestyle choices and away from the connections of fear and stress, and that will have a tremendous benefit in your life. It takes some time to rewire your brain, but it will happen much quicker if you do it every single day. Also, if you do it every day, it will start to become a habit. Then it takes on a life of its own, and it becomes one of the most beneficial and pleasurable experiences that you can have over time.
How much time should I spend practicing?
There’s no limit to how much time you can spend practicing, but at the very least spend a couple of minutes each day. The daytime visualizations that I make are usually less than ten minutes long. But you may find that you want to continue visualizing after the recording is over, because you’re feeling calm and relaxed and your body doesn’t want to move. So if you feel like it, just stay in that meditative state and visualize some more.
I have a pacemaker. Can I do it?
If you have a pacemaker, you don’t want to listen to the visualizations we’ve created with music, because the music has a frequency-following response built into it, and sometimes that frequency-following response can interfere with the pacemaker. You can check with your doctor. Some doctors say it’s fine, some may not, but you can listen to the visualizations without music and you can practice visualizations on your own.
I have epilepsy. Can I do it?
If you have epilepsy, you don’t want to listen to the visualizations with music, because the frequency-following response is similar to a strobe light and can cause a seizure. But check with your doctor; he or she may say it’s fine for you. Either way, it’s totally fine to listen to the visualizations without music and to practice visualizations on your own.
After I’ve reached my goal, what visualization should I listen to?
After you’ve reached your goal, you can listen to any visualization you want. It doesn’t matter. Or you can start practicing visualizations on your own. Instead of listening to the visualization first thing in the morning, just sit up and do your own visualization in the morning and let that start to take on a positive momentum and develop a life of its own.
I’ve been listening to the visualization but have not lost any weight. Why?
Sometimes it can take time to address the real issues and to change your body hormonally and chemically. I’ve had people lose tremendous amounts of weight, but it took them several months before it started. If you’re noticing changes in your body where you’re less hungry and you have more energy and you’re craving healthier foods, that’s a clear indication that there are changes taking place, but it still may take time. So be patient and continue, and what you may find is you’ll get to a certain place where all of a sudden you start losing weight.
When will I start losing weight after listening to visualizations?
There’s no one-size-fits-all answer to that question. Some people lose weight quickly, as soon as they start practicing visualization. For other people, it can take months before any weight loss appears. But you will notice differences when you start visualizing that are indications that changes are taking place, such as having more energy, craving less junk food, craving healthier foods, and going longer periods of time without being hungry. These are all indications that hormonal changes are taking place in your body, and it’s just a question of time as to when the weight loss will start. So if it doesn’t happen immediately, definitely persevere.
Which visualization should I do?
You can listen to any visualization you want. There’s no wrong way to visualize. You can never listen to a wrong visualization. If you’re attracted to a certain visualization because it makes you feel good or because it touches something in you, then that’s a good visualization to listen to. If you’ve got specific life issues that you want to work on, such as improving your abundance, healing your digestion, keeping your blood sugar stable, reducing stress, strengthening your boundaries, or working through emotional issues, then you can listen to those specific visualizations. Otherwise, any visualization you listen to will yield benefits.
If I’m going through a painful divorce or other life-changing situation, how can I use visualization to help me?
If you’re going through a challenging divorce or breakup or changing jobs, the best thing you can do is visualize everything working out incredibly well, during your visualizations and also during the day. Instead of holding on to the fear and uncertainty, visualize your most ideal scenario, separating from your spouse in a healthy, happy way, having it be amicable, having the family be happy, maybe being with somebody else if that’s appropriate, and having that scenario be beautiful. If you’re going through a change with your job, visualize the new job working out tremendously well and having it be everything you expected. Stay focused on the positive, and use visualization to imagine your most ideal scenario throughout the day, and it will help direct you and attract for you the most ideal scenario.