Selections from Relax, Reflect, Restore, and Recover: Guided Imagery Meditations for Women With Breast Cancer

Imagery meditations soothe and comfort. Guided imagery encourages a woman to listen to her heart, to overcome fears, to relax and reduce stress. Each guided imagery meditation, poem or nondenominational prayer lets the patient know that she is not alone. Each imagery story guides a woman or a man with breast cancer to sort out his/her feelings, question fears and negative thoughts, calm anxiety, and restore some normalcy to daily life.

Imagery means creating pictures in the mind. New pictures develop new thought patterns; break the cycle of worry. Visions of gratitude, hope, and peace can replace gloomy pictures in the mind. The imagery stories guide a patient to use deep relaxed breathing and meditation. An individual will then journal her reflections, sort out positive steps and coping strategies she can employ each day.

The imagery stories in Book One invite and encourage the mind-body connection. These meditations support a patient to muster inner strength and confidence to face the future. Using visualization, deep, rhythmic breathing, drawing and writing, a patient can find inner strength, grace, gratitude and peace for the road ahead.

Janis L. Silverman wrote these meditations for herself when she had breast cancer. Janis is the author of several education and counseling books, including, Imagine That!, guided imagery for children.