Charlotte Reznick, this month's teleseminar speaker, is a professional wizard and renowned educational psychologist, assistant clinical professor and dynamic speaker. Her life mission is to harness and spark the imaginations of children of all ages.  

She is best known for her Imagery for Kids™ Breakthrough Program for Learning, Creativity, and Empowerment. Also for her recent book The Power of Your Child's Imagination as well as her therapeutic CDs for kids and teens (for more information about Charlotte, please visit her website www.imageryforkids.com).

Dr. Reznick has noted that research on using imagery with children and adolescents now clearly reveals highly significant benefits. These include: stress relief, reduction of pain and need for medications, improved performance in school and with sports, relief of anxiety, fear and panic; alleviation of sleep disorder, reduction of behavioral problems, and increased attention and focus.

One of her many contributions to the wide range of issues and problems she addresses with children and adolescents includes relief of headaches. Since 90% of all school-age children are reported to suffer from headaches, her recommendations are especially valuable to help with the most common type of pain they experience. Here are several of her effective tools:

• Discover the power behind the pill. Ask children how they believe pain medication may help them with headaches. One boy, for example, described Tylenol as a "SWAT team" that parachuted into his brain to reduce his headaches. The child's vision of healing can then be translated into healing imagery that, with practice, can assist in stepping down or in some cases eliminating the need for medication.

• Ask 3 questions: 1) What color is it? What shape is it? How heavy is it? Teach the child balloon breathing (place hands on the diaphragm just above the belly button and breathe in so that the belly fills her hands to a count of 3 and "deflates" while breathing out to a count of 3). Ask the same questions after each round of 5-10 breaths and notice how the headache changes or disappears.

• Talk to the headache. Charlotte teaches kids how to talk to different areas of their bodies to get more information about what is needed to release more of the pain.

• Use cooling colors. If the child describes the headache as hot or burning, ask him/her to imagine a color such as ice blue or deep forest green to cool down the head area.   


• Melt away the rest. Have the child imagine headache pain melting through their temple and out of their head. Hold your hand about 3 inches from the forehead (or headache area), to give him/her a direction to send the headache pain out of the body and toward your hand. With practice, children can learn to use their own hands in this way.

For help with many kinds of stresses, Dr. Reznick offers additional coping tools:

• Encounter a personal wizard. Introduce children to a personal magician who can serve as a conduit for creative gifts from their own imaginations.

• Check in with the heart and belly. This approach guides children to learn about the wisdom of their "gut" intuitive feelings and heart emotional intelligence. Often exploring these avenues for the imagination can evoke new solutions to troubling problems.

• Digging for buried treasure. If a child is stuck and doesn't know why, suggest that there is a treasure chest buried in his Special Place that holds an answer to his problem. Help him/her find the magic shovel that can help him/her dig for the treasure, opening the box or chest together to see what is inside.

• Capture the memory. When children discover special resources on guided imagery journeys, suggest that they draw or find pictures of what they encounter, such as Animal Friends, their Special or Safe Place, or a buried treasure image. Remind them to hang their pictures in private but accessible places to help them remember that help is always available.

If you find these tools helpful, please consider registering for the audio download and assorted bonus items (which are in themselves worth the price of admission): A heart-centered audio meditation, an audio interview with Dr. Reznick on Helping Kids Cope with Disaster, a handout on Practical Applications of Creative Imagery with Children, the complete edited transcript of Treating Depression in Children, a teleseminar with Dr. Michael Yapko and me, and The Power of your Child's Imagination e-book by Dr. Reznick plus deep discounts of up to 50% off on many of her CD's and DVD's created for children and parents.

Thanks for reading this newsletter. I know you have many written offerings that compete for your time and attention and very much appreciate your ongoing support.

Enjoy whatever ways you find to "bounce
into spring,"

Maggie