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What is Visualization?

Visualization can be looked at from two perspectives: technology and psychology. In technology, we have about four types of visualization that are computer-based:

1. Graphic Visualization: Using diagrams, graphs, or animations to convey a message. 
2. scientific visualization: Using computer graphics to process voluminous data obtained from the laboratory, through simulation or abstract data or serve as tools for cognition, reasoning, and formulation of hypothesis. 
3. Knowledge visualization: Concerned with studies in information design and instructional message design. 
4. Product Visualization: This is a feature incorporated into some media player software applications.

And from the perspective of psychology, visualization is the process of creating mental images; it may also refer to the mind's spatial visualization ability. 

This article is interested in the psychological aspect of visualization and will explore how this process works. We will limit ourselves to our visualization abilities in using imagery to alter our feelings, with the goal of transforming certain physical sensations to create a sense of well-being, mentally and physically.

In other words, it is putting our brains to work so that our bodies benefit from visualization. 

Visualization can be likened to the "mind-over-matter principle." In fact,, in a highly stressful situation, the brain can put the body on overdrive so it is willed to go beyond the limits, enabling humans to overcome feelings of hunger, pain, or fatigue. 

The reverse is also doable. We can use our minds to relax our bodies, gain mastery over our fears, and keep sickness at bay.

How visualization works?

Visualization works on the basic premise of the mind-body connection. Note that we have two forms in play: the mind produces the mental form-also known as emotion, whereas the body is the physical form and generates a physical sensation.

Visualization has sometimes been associated with meditation; some experts even say that it is an inherent component of mediation. We see visualization at work in many aspects of our lives: take the case of phobias. 

Psychologists have been treating people for their irrational fears for centuries. Hypnotism is a favorite method of treating these fears. People's fears range from lovely spiders to tall, imposing buildings. 

There's also the case of David Blaine who must have an extraordinary capacity for visualization. In one of his feats, he remained inside a block of ice for more than 60 hours, saying that he trained his mind to tolerate extreme cold hunger, and fatigue. 

 Of course, he had to be rushed to the hospital because doctors wanted to make sure that all his vital signs were still there!

The practice of visualization:

When you begin to learn how to visualize, you can learn it using mental imagery or computerized imagery.

 Olympic coaches have used computer animation in training athletes and this tool can zoom in on a specific body movement or stroke, expose what muscles are working and what body parts can be enlarged or minimized to help the athlete visualize his performance better. 

• Mental Imagery: 

We do mental imagery when we imagine ourselves performing a specific action or movement without actually doing it. We play it just like a movie unfolds in our minds. Athletics is one area in which mental imagery has been maximized.

It can also be used in dance choreography, intellectual pursuits (as visualizing yourself defending your thesis in front of a panel), artistic endeavors (a painter who spends hours gazing at the ocean before he actually applies oil to his canvas). 

It is however used more frequently by athletic trainers and coaches who promote the thinking that winning a game is 90% mental and 10% physical.  

• Computerized Imagery:

The advantage of using computerized imagery for your visualization exercises is that you can actually command your computer to execute movements. You train your mind to focus on these movements while your body is relaxed. 

You can make commands such as simulation of the environment (make it sunny, rainy, cloudy), is there a crowd or is it just you and your coach and the tennis court), the color of the surface, whether the surface is cement, grass, or clay, etc. 

You can tell the computer to freeze a particular movement while you're doing service so that you see exactly how your wrist and arm are positioned, how you're holding and tossing the ball upwards, and where your torse, legs, and heads are turned to.