That’s what it felt like when my therapist sent me on a guided visualization into my body.

Having one’s heart in the right place is a metaphor. For example, according to here,
if someone’s heart is in the right place, they are a good and kind person even if they do not always seem to be.
I “saw” my heart lower down and centered in that place where one usually gets “heartburn.” So, if my heart’s NOT in the right place, does that mean that I am NOT a good and kind person even though I often seem so?

After being home a while and contemplating the visualization experience, and after making a connection between feeling my visualized heart (which was radiating energy) where heartburn occurs, I’m pretty sure what I was sensing was the place in my body that stores up all the stress/agita of my living situation. My heart is burning. In other words, I have heartburn.

During the visualization experience in my therapist’s office, I released the burning energy I saw radiating from my heart out through my hands (which, as the therapist noted, rarely lie still).

Now, that formerly “burning heart” is still in that same place, sitting like the lump of cold coal that I once found in the toe of my childhood Christmas stocking (disobedient child that I was).

During my next therapist’s visit, I will ask to go back into my imaginal body and find out if I can do something to get rid of that lump. At least, for now, I am feeling more energized, less constricted in my breathing.

Yes, I do believe that there’s a strong connection between mind and body, and that many so called “miracles” of healing have something to do with the power of that connection. As are many so called “diseases.”

I’m not discounting medical science at all. I’ve had my share of surgeries and take my share of medications. But there often is more to the healing process than all of those tangible treatments.

As a poet, I know how powerful metaphors can be. As you enter into a personal metaphor, guided by a therapist trained to support you in that journey, you discover truths that you might never feel if you chose to engage in traditional “talk therapy.”

I don’t know where my inner journey will lead this time. My goal is to survive here until my mother doesn’t.

Here’s a good short guided visualization to try if you’ve never done one before. If you try it, please consider leaving a comment here to share what happened.