Script 01: My Secret Garden

This script was written to help me create in my mind my own "special place"; somewhere where I could be relaxed and safe, where I was surrounded by things of beauty that nurtured my artistic side and my spiritual nature, and where I could "meet" whatever internal "guides" or "advisors" I wanted or needed to meet. You can either use this script verbatim, or use it as a template with which to create your own "special place".

In their book The Relaxation and Stress Reduction Workbook (1995) by Davis, Eschelman, McKay, the authors suggest the following for creating your own "Special Place" imagery:

1. Allow private entry into your special place.
2. Make it peaceful, comfortable and safe.
3. Fill your place with sensuous detail. Create a midground, foreground, and background.
4. Allow room for your inner guide or other person to be comfortable with you.

INSTRUCTION: Before starting the script, be sure you're as relaxed as you possibly can be. Make yourself free of distractions, lie or sit in a comfortable position, close your eyes, breathe deeply. [If you need to, you can use the Relaxation Script reprinted on the Visualization Page connected to this website.]

SCRIPT/ BODY: You are going to your special place... Relax; be totally comfortable... Close your eyes... Breathe... Breathe... You are going to your special place... Be totally comfortable... Relax...

You are in a mansion of your own creation, in a quiet, softly-dark room no one else, but you, knows about. Although the room is dark, you know there is nothing for you to fear from its soft shadows. There is no danger in this room; only safety, and privacy, and comfort. You are standing in front of a wooden door with an etched glass window pane in it. See the details of the etching in the glass...

INSTRUCTION: Pause 5-10 seconds

You then look beyond the etching, and see through the glass itself. Outside the door, you can see inviting sunlight and the promise of unwavering comfort and insight... The sunlight streams through the glass and touches your arm with gentle light and warmth...

You lift your arm slightly, so more of it can be exposed to the sunlight, and you see that in your hand, you hold a special key... Feel its shape... Its weight... The length of its neck; the shape of its teeth; whatever design may be on its surface... Feel, too, the smoothness of the satin ribbon from which the key can hang or be carried... You know deep inside of you that only you have this key. No one else has access to it but you, unless you give them access. It is yours. It is you own, special, private, perfect key...

You put your key into the lock on the wooden door. It fits perfectly. There is no resistance when you turn the key and you can hear the tumblers roll over as they move to unlock the door. When the door is unlocked, you withdraw the key, and put it somewhere on your person where you know you will be able to find it later.

Then you put your hand on the knob of the door. Feel the size and texture of the knob; the way it seems to fit the shape and size of your hand so perfectly... You turn the knob and open the door, and sunlight floods into the dark room, and over your body. Although the sunlight is bright, it is not overly bright; although warm, it is not overly warm. It is comfortable and comforting... With the sunlight comes fresh air and the scents of the garden beyond the open door... Breathe them in... A deep breath; and a long exhale. Another deep breath; and a long exhale... You love this place. You love the way it feels, the way it smells, the way it sounds... You are safe here. You can relax here. You can relax at will... for beyond this door and in the sunlight is your own Secret Garden...

You step out into the garden and just "feel" it for a moment. You know that beyond the walls of the garden are rolling hills, dark green shaded forests, and bodies of water, sparkling clear and full of life... The air and sky above you is clean and cool, and the sunlight is mildly warming... You feel the breath of a breeze move across your hair and around the nape of your neck. You see tiny birds flit in the air, fearless and bright... You see flowers and trees all around you... They are so lush and so healthy that weeds cannot grow between them...

You slip off your shoes and feel the coolness of soft ground beneath your feet... and you walk around your garden, taking in all the sights, and sounds, and smells, and sensations it offers to you... All of them comforting... all of them relaxing... There is nothing that you stub your toe on; there are no thorns or thistles that prick at your feet when you walk. Walking on the ground here -- whether it be in the dirt, or in the grass, or on the rocks -- is like walking on pillows, or soft moss, or deep carpeting. Everything feels goof against the soles of your feet. You could walk for days in here and never get tired...

You feel so good in this place... Just take a few moments to bask its beauty and the comfort it affords you... You can just stand there, or walk, or run around and play for a while... Whatever you want to do. It is your garden...

INSTRUCTION: Pause for 10-20 seconds.

SCRIPT/ BODY: You remember, as you take in the sights and sounds of your garden that, even after you have unlocked the door that leads to the garden, no one else can enter this place without your knowledge; without your permission. You can always feel safe and relaxed here... It's so nice here...

INSTRUCTION: Pause for 5-10 seconds.

SCRIPT/ BODY: When you're ready to, you walk off to a place in your garden where it encloses you in its beauty and comfort... You come to the little clearing where a small, round, reflecting pool sits quietly in the ground, surrounded by comfortable, outdoor furnishings. The furnishings look as new as when you first placed them there. And the pool is clear and still, mirroring the sky above it...

You step over to where the furnishing are set out near the pool, and you sit down or lie down on whichever piece of furniture feels most inviting to you... You notice how the furnishing supports you without confining you... You can rest here, you can meditate here, you can gaze into the pool here, you can close your eyes and sleep if you want to... It's that's relaxing... it's that comforting... it's that safe...

INSTRUCTION: Pause for 10 seconds, then either use the remaining time you have to simply relax, or to go on to the following suggested exercises:

1. Wait for a guide to come to the garden to meet with you, then let the guide speak to you. Remember that no one (and no thing) can enter the garden without your permission, so you need not fear being tricked or assaulted while you're within the garden's walls.
2. Use the reflecting pool as an oracle. Ask it a question, and wait for it to answer you.
3. Choose an animal that appears in the garden and become that animal for a short period of time, so you can see the garden from its perspective.
4. Find a book, or scroll, or poem sitting nearby on the furnishings (or on the ground), and read it. Take in whatever answers or insights the writing offers you.

However you choose to proceed, be sure that you finish with the "Closing" below.

SCRIPT/ CLOSING: You have rested all you need to; you have done whatever you needed to do here today, and now you're relaxed enough to leave the garden and feel good for the rest of your day. You rise up from the furnishing, and walk back through the garden to the place where you'd left your shoes behind. You slip them on again, and walk back toward the wooden door, refreshed, relaxed, renewed. You feel good; you feel rested; you feel that you have accomplished whatever you needed to accomplish in your garden, and you can go forward now with the rest of your day...

You step back into the softly-dark room, then take a long look at your garden -- knowing it will always be there for you whenever you need it again -- and close the door. You find your key, lock the door so that no one else can go into your garden without your permission, and you walk back out through your mansion, into the world beyond it... into this room [place] where you are right now...

With your eyes still closed, picture this room [place] in your mind... picture what's around you... how you feel... When you're ready, take in a deep sighing breath, or yawn if you need to... Stretch, a big cat's stretch, and, when you're ready, open your eyes... and come back fully inside of your conscious self again...

INSTRUCTION: To solidify your "garden" experience into your conscious mind, use some time following this exercise to either write about it in your journal, or do one or two drawings of it -- in vivid color. The drawings can be of the garden itself, the window pane, the key, whomever you met in the garden or whatever you did there; or the drawings can be of whatever the exercise brings to mind: a mood, a memory, whatever... (even if it's not related directly to the "garden" script itself).

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