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Self Help From The Ancients
An archetypal technique of psychological therapy
As a mental health practitioner and qualified hypnotherapist, I am struck by the degree that creative visualisation techniques are used for a myriad of therapies, across a variety of professional disciplines, from it’s use in relaxation and mindfulness to countering phobias, addictions, weight issues and pain management. The efficacy of such techniques are often enhanced through hypnosis, although this is not a necessary condition for their use.
One of oldest and most effective types of creative visualisation is often referred today as The View From Above. It is useful for anyone who needs a greater sense of perspective or proportion in their lives. There is the old saying about not being able to see the wood/forest for the trees. This refers to when we see our lives in too much detail, too much close up, to be able to see it correctly, in proper focus. Sometimes we are all in need of seeing life in the bigger picture, taking a step back from our lives in order to see it in its rightful, harmonious proportions. It is an extreme form of visual dissociation that allows us to focus on things in our life within a broader context, as part of a unity.
The great Stoic philosopher, Marcus Aurelius, in the second century of the Common Era, accredited this approach to Plato:
