Monthly Burnout & Recovery Resource Letter

Grounding through Guided Imagery

August Newsletter: Guided Practice, Soul Care Resources, and Upcoming Event by the Ignatian Center

Aug 01, 2026

Hello! Thank you for subscribing and reading! I shared a version of this post a few years ago to paid subscribers, and wanted to share some of it again to all readers.

Blue Lake, WA. Photo taken by Bethany Dearborn Hiser

Entering Place with our Imagination

In Soul Care sessions, I often invite people to go to a place in their imagination as a way to calm their nervous system, return to their Soul Home, in other words, a way to pray, meet with the Divine, and connect to their inner self.

Meeting place prayer exercises or guided visual imagery can be a beautiful and grounding way to focus, calm, and center ourselves—as well as meet with Jesus.

While sitting in the dentist chair, in labor with both of my daughters, or while being led in imaginative prayer, I use my imagination to locate myself in a place of peace and natural beauty.

Since hiking to this lake 8 years ago, it has been my place of encounter and grounding through my imagination and senses. I have often pictured myself on the rock over looking this glacial turquoise-blue lake, noticing the sights and sounds with my senses. Mainly I’ve been drawn to the incredible color of this lake.

Last summer I hiked to the lake again, for only the second time. Unexpectedly, I was overcome with grief and gratitude. Varied emotions that were connected to so many different experiences, bubbled to the surface.

Tears streamed down my cheeks as I navigated the last of the trail up to the lake, catching glimpses of it and eager to get to a quiet spot with a good view, up above it like I had in my imagination in so many intense moments over the past years.

I hadn’t expected to experience such emotion returning to this spot. I didn’t realize all that my body had been carrying.

The more I learn about the wisdom of the body, about prayer and imagination, about somatic trauma healing, the more I am amazed. Amazed at how we are created, amazed at our capacity for resilience and healing, amazed at the gift of nature to calm and regulate our nervous systems.

Whether in Somatic Trauma Healing conferences, or inner healing prayer times, the use of imagery and engaging our imagination is frequently engaged. It helps get us out of our thinking self and connect with our core self, our heart and spirit in a different way. It also helps us physically as the below description from John Hopkins Medicine describes:

John Hopkins Medicine:

The mind is a powerful healing tool. Imagery (visualization) has harnessed the power of the mind through various therapies for centuries.
By creating images in your mind, you can reduce pain and other symptoms tied to your condition. The more specific the visualization, the more helpful it will likely be. People are taught to imagine sights, sounds, smells, tastes, or other sensations to create a kind of daydream that "removes" them from or gives them control over their present circumstances….
Guided imagery is most often used as a relaxation technique. It involves sitting or lying quietly and imagining yourself in a favorite peaceful setting such as a beach, meadow, or forest. Imagery may be guided by direct suggestion from a qualified imagery practitioner.
Studies have shown that imagery can help the mind and body relax. It can also help:
Manage anxiety, stress, and depression
Help reduce pain
Lower blood pressure
Lessen nausea
Give you a better sense of control and well-being

When you have a moment, I invite you to go to your own meeting place in your imagination, perhaps as a way to regulate your nervous system, perhaps also to connect with your self and the SELF, in IFS language, to God with you through your imagination.

Guided Imagery Practice: Meeting Place

(Inspired by Brad Jersak’s Can You Hear Me?)

Find a place in your imagination that gives you a sense of calm, beauty, or nourishment. Go there in your imagination and engage all your senses. What do you see, hear, smell, feel, taste?
Notice where you are sitting. How does it feel to be there? What do you notice in your body.
See if you can welcome to a sense of spaciousness or groundedness.
As your mind starts questioning, perhaps thank your mind for its curiosity and questions, and ask if they would step aside for a moment, right now you want to listen with your heart and your spirit.
In that place, as it feels right to you, notice where the Divine, the Big Self, God is in your midst. Notice how you feel and begin to engage in a dialogue in that space.
If there is constriction, notice that with grace, and come back to the sense of groundedness you may have first experienced.
Is there any gift that God wants to give you?

Journal Prompts

Describe the place you go in your imagination. What about it helps ground and nourish your spirit.
What would it be like to return to that place as a daily practice?
If you have a meeting place, when/if you go there in-person, what comes up for you in your body?
What does your thinking self have to say about all of this?