Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Ripple Resource | Bonus #4: Future-Focused Visualization for Mental Well-being
80 Plays5 months ago
Explore the impactful world of visualization in this special Ripple Resource bonus episode. Isa shares fascinating insights from her capstone project at California State University, Channel Islands, focusing on the significant impact visualization has on reducing anxiety.
Discover how envisioning positive future experiences can dramatically lower anxiety levels and foster a sense of empowerment. Isa unpacks the nuances of using mental imagery to influence emotional states, providing an overview of the scientific findings and practical applications of visualization.
At the end of this short bonus episode you’ll get to listen for yourself to the guided meditation created by Isa, and engage in the same transformative practice as her research participants. Isa guides you through the methods that can help transform anxiety into a positive driving force.
Join us for a session that promises to enhance your understanding of the mind's potential to reshape your reality and the potential for personal transformation by way of emotional balancing.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to 'The Ripple Affect' Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
You're listening to The Ripple Affect with your hosts Cheech and Nippy, a podcast that explores how individual change has the capacity to affect the whole. From neuroscience to donuts, we're two sisters with a deep curiosity for ancient wisdom and modern knowledge, and we're obsessed with learning alongside you because we don't know. Let's dive in.
00:00:22
Speaker
Welcome
Exploring Visualization Techniques
00:00:23
Speaker
to today's bonus episode where we delve into the fascinating world of visualization techniques and their profound impact on emotional states. Hello everyone, this is Isa, your co-host, and today we are exploring a fascinating topic of the impact of visualization techniques on self-esteem and anxiety.
00:00:48
Speaker
This topic
Research Insights on Visualization and Anxiety
00:00:49
Speaker
is especially close to my heart as we delve into the research study conducted by my team at California State University Channel Islands. For those of you who don't know, I'm currently studying psychology and this was my capstone project, so I am very proud that it's done and excited to share it with you.
00:01:10
Speaker
Our research focused on three different types of visualization meditations and their effect on mental well-being of our participants. We were curious to see how these practices could potentially enhance life quality and academic success for students. So just to give you a little background of what went into the study,
00:01:32
Speaker
We're looking at this to see how it could affect people positively. The goal is always to find something that maybe could be used as a tool for students to up their self-esteem and lower their anxiety. We didn't find anything significant in relation to someone's self-esteem, but anxiety levels were affected.
00:01:50
Speaker
So in our study, we had our participants randomly assigned to one of the three visualizations which were created by yours truly.
Experiment Details and Anxiety Measures
00:01:59
Speaker
You either got a past negative self visualization where it walked you through a event from your past that you maybe felt shame or guilt around.
00:02:09
Speaker
a current neutral visualization, which was mostly mindfulness and a little bit of attention on breath and body, or a future positive visualization in which you envisioned a prideful or joyous experience in the future happening to you.
00:02:28
Speaker
And each participant listened to their visualization and then afterwards they filled out their self-esteem and anxiety measures, which had been pre-developed by other people and had pretty high ratings.
00:02:43
Speaker
And what we
Impact of Positive Visualization on Anxiety
00:02:44
Speaker
found was quite revealing. Participants who engaged in the future positive self visualization, that's where they envisioned themselves in the future, experiencing a moment of pride and joy. They experienced a significant reduction in anxiety levels in comparison to those who were walked through the past negative visualization meditation.
00:03:08
Speaker
which was where they were led through a previous memory where they had feelings of shame and negativity. I think it's important to point out that distinction. The statistical significance, which was a very exciting moment for me as a researcher, I don't think I've had a nerdier moment in my life.
00:03:30
Speaker
was between the past negative and the future positive. So the neutral version in the middle did not affect either self-esteem levels or anxiety. So what we found was between the past negative and the future positive,
00:03:46
Speaker
there was a significant difference, which we can extrapolate from that. There is an effect that takes place in one's mind, which then affects their emotional state of anxiety, positively or negatively. Maybe the most important element of this study was that if you are having a
00:04:09
Speaker
neutral day and you were to do this visualization, it may not have an effect on your anxiety levels. However, if you're experiencing rumination coming from reliving something that happened in the past that maybe you have shame or negative feelings around, you could use this future positive visualization as a intervention to help lower your anxiety levels.
00:04:36
Speaker
So for
Statistical Analysis of Visualization Effects
00:04:37
Speaker
those of you who are my statistical nerds, what we did was we ran two one-way ANOVAs and our p-value was 0.367 with an eta squared of 0.036, meaning that
00:04:52
Speaker
3% of the variance in anxiety could be explained by these visualizations, which doesn't sound like much, but it is something. So all of that work I couldn't not share on the podcast. If you're interested and you want to know more about the statistical analysis behind this research about our participants, which I think some of my listeners were actually a part of the study. So I want to say thank you for participating. If that is you, I appreciate you.
00:05:21
Speaker
All of that will be in our show notes or you can reach out to me personally and I'd be happy to email that over to you. After spending so many hours on it, I feel like I don't want it to just be filed away in my Google Drive and never seen again. So that's why I wanted to share with you what I found and share with you some of the work that I put into this project to figure out effective science-based techniques that could help us
00:05:46
Speaker
as a whole, experience higher mental well-being and more emotional regulation at our own fingertips. I think that was one of the biggest takeaways for me is that we could have something very accessible to us who have iPhones and AirPods
00:06:05
Speaker
to be able to emotionally regulate when we need it.
Preparing for a Guided Visualization Exercise
00:06:09
Speaker
So without further ado, I would like to share with you the meditation that I created and the participants were walked through. What you're about to hear is that future positive visualization.
00:06:21
Speaker
So I encourage you, like all of the participants, to find a quiet place where you will not be interrupted, to snag a pair of headphones, wear some comfy clothes, and take five minutes to experience this. Please do not do this while driving. If you are driving, listen to it, but keep your eyes open.
00:06:42
Speaker
Imagine it in your mind, that's perfectly okay. And any further questions or anything like that, please just reach out. Happy to share this bonus with you this week. Thank you for being a part of this for me and helping me celebrate the completion of my capstone project. All right, y'all, till next week, signing off, nibby.
00:07:08
Speaker
You
Listening to a Guided Visualization Exercise
00:07:09
Speaker
are about to be walked through a visualization. There is no wrong way to do this. Simply follow along with what you hear and whatever imagination comes up with is perfect. Begin by gently closing your eyes and placing focus on your breath.
00:07:36
Speaker
As you inhale, imagine you're taking in fresh clearing air and exhale all tension, stress, and thoughts you had today up until this moment. Breathing in, fresh new moment, breathing out everything that came before.
00:08:09
Speaker
Feeling the breath moving in and out, gently cleansing your mind. Each deep breath relaxes your body more and more and you can feel everything slowing down and relaxing.
00:08:42
Speaker
Breathing in fresh, cool air. Breathing out, allowing all tension, stress, and thoughts to leave the body with the exhale. Continue breathing deeply.
00:09:08
Speaker
I invite you to see your future self in a moment of pride and confidence. Whatever you imagine yourself to be doing is the correct image, regardless of the activity. Put yourself there now. Feel what it feels like to have pride in yourself in that moment. Observe your surroundings.
00:09:39
Speaker
What is happening? Who's there? What are the noises? What are the facial expressions on people around you? What are you experiencing in your body? Feel what it feels like to live this moment.
00:10:07
Speaker
Breathe as though you are in this moment. Hold your body as you would in that moment of pride in yourself. Maybe nod your head. Allow a smile to come across your face.
00:10:34
Speaker
I'd like you to turn your attention to this image of you in this moment. Maybe loved ones are around you. And I want you to just turn the brightness up on the image. See it more vividly. Allow the colors to pop a little brighter. And then from the edges, allow the memory
00:11:05
Speaker
darken and fade slowly drifting away and refocusing on the breath now put all your attention on your feet
00:11:27
Speaker
Slowly wiggle your toes, allow your attention to travel up your legs, focusing on your feet, your calves, your knees, your quads. And then really feel yourself sitting in your seat. Feel the air on your skin. Take a nice deep breath and come back to present.
00:11:58
Speaker
Your visualization is now complete. You can open your eyes and refer to your researchers for further details. Thanks for listening to another episode of The Ripple Affect. We're looking forward to exploring a different facet of change with you next Tuesday. Same time, same place, next week.