Research conducted with some basketball players has shown that those who visualized shooting the ball into the basket performed as well as those who actually had practiced it. On the other hand, those players who had not practiced or visualized shooting the ball, had inferior performance in relation to the other two groups.The brain does not differentiate between something that has been vividly imagined and reality.
Visualization can be used not only for anxiety reduction but also to achieve goals, improve self-esteem, etc.
Pick a quiet place and time to practice your visualization. Make sure you will not be interrupted. Sit down and relax. Close your eyes. As soon as you close your eyes, your brain gets into alpha state. In alpha state, your brain is in a state of focused concentration. This makes it easier to imagine things.
Visualize yourself achieving the things you want. You don’t see yourself during the visualization because you are actually in the scene. In order for the visualization to be more effective, use all the senses.
To explain how an effective visualization must be performed, let’s say that you suffer from social anxiety.
(keep in mind that the principles explained using social anxiety as an example can be applied to any other thing that you want to change or achieve in your life).
Imagine yourself talking comfortably in a group of people. Imagine things as if they were actually happening to you.
Notice the body sensations that you would have if your visualization was actually happening. Hear the sounds and what the other people are saying to you. Notice how relaxed you are in the scene that you are imagining, how easily your hands gesticulate and how confident you sound while talking to other people.
If it is too much for you to imagine something like this in the beginning (talking to a group of people, in our example), practice what is called gradual exposure. Start imagining a social situation that is a little bit challenging to you but that you can certainly deal with. Continue with this visualization for a number of days until you feel totally comfortable with the situation during your visualization. Then start to imagine another social situation a little bit more challenging. After you feel comfortable with this last situation during your visualizations, pick something else more challenging and keep doing this until you are able to deal comfortable with most of the social situations in different circumstances.
Remember that the more vivid your visualization, the more effective it will be.
Make sure that besides visualizing, you also act toward the things you want to achieve. Imagination without action will probably not produce the desired results. If we take the social anxiety example, besides practicing visualization, you should also gradually expose yourself to situations you don’t feel comfortable with.