Guided imagery can reduce stress and slow heart rate, stimulate the immune system, and reduce pain, by using the power of the mind to evoke a positive physical response. As part of the rapidly emerging field of mind/body medicine, guided imagery is being used in various medical settings, and, when properly taught, can also serve as a highly effective form of self-care.

  Martin L. Rossman, M.D., co-founder of the Academy for Guided Imagery, says that the imagination is probably a person's least utilized health resource. It can be used to remember and recreate the past, develop insight into the present, influence physical health, enhance creativity and inspiration, and anticipate possible futures.

  All of us have to some extent experienced the effects of the imagination on the body. Getting goose bumps while listening to a frightening story, breaking out in chills at the thought of fingernails scratching a chalkboard, or becoming physically aroused from a sexual fantasy, are all examples of the body reacting to a sole stimulus-the imagination.