This mind-body therapy uses your imagination to help you relax, relieve symptoms, stimulate your body’s healing responses, access inner strengths and resources, and tolerate procedures and treatments better.
Affordability and access
Prescription required?
- No
Other names and brands
Guided imagery may also be found with these alternate names:
- Active imagination
- Creative visualization
- Hypnotic visualization
- Purposeful daydreaming
- Visualization
- Waking dream
Where to access
Guided imagery is widely available from practitioners, or as audiotapes, scripts or videos, many available at no cost on YouTube and on apps. We list some here as a sample.
Free of cost
Guided Imagery Videos › for healthful sleep, immune system support, easing pain, preparing for surgery, fighting cancer, relieving stress, and healing trauma.
Dr. Jen Green: BeLoved Guided Imagery for Cancer › for sleep, smooth chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation therapy, inner healing, and receiving spiritual healing.
For purchase
Guided imagery meditations and books ›
By Belleruth Naparstek, LCSW, and others, including programs for people with cancer
Find a health professional
Meditation / Creative Visualisation ›
Find practitioners or clinics providing guided imagery
Affordability
- Generally inexpensive (less than $500 US/year), with professionally led classes or sessions costing between $20 US and $150 US
Keep reading about guided imagery
Reviewer
Laura Pole is senior clinical consultant for CancerChoices. Laura is an oncology clinical nurse specialist who has been providing integrative oncology clinical care, navigation, consultation, and education services for over 40 years. She is the co-creator and co-coordinator of the Integrative Oncology Navigation Training at Smith Center for Healing and the Arts in Washington, DC. Laura also manages the “Media Watch Cancer News That You Can Use” listserv for Smith Center/Commonweal. In her role as a palliative care educator and consultant, Laura has served as statewide Respecting Choices Faculty for the Virginia POST (Physician Orders for Scope of Treatment) Collaborative as well as provided statewide professional education on palliative and end-of-life care for the Virginia Association for Hospices and Palliative Care.
For CancerChoices, Laura curates content and research, networks with clinical and organizational partners, brings awareness and education of integrative oncology at professional and patient conferences and programs, and translates research into information relevant to the patient experience as well as clinical practice.
Laura sees her work with CancerChoices as a perfect alignment of all her passions, knowledge and skills in integrative oncology care. She is honored to serve you.
Last update: March 10, 2025
Last full literature review: October 2021
CancerChoices provides information about integrative in cancer care, a patient-centered approach combining the best of conventional care, self care and evidence-informed complementary care in an integrated plan cancer care. We review complementaryin cancer care, complementary care involves the use of therapies intended to enhance or add to standard conventional treatments; examples include supplements, mind-body approaches such as yoga or psychosocial therapy, and acupuncture therapies and self-care lifestyle actions and behaviors that may impact cancer outcomes; examples include eating health-promoting foods, limiting alcohol, increasing physical activity, and managing stress practices to help patients and professionals explore and integrate the best combination of conventionalthe cancer care offered by conventionally trained physicians and most hospitals; examples are chemotherapy, surgery, and radiotherapy and complementary therapies and practices for each person.
Our staff have no financial conflicts of interest to declare. We receive no funds from any manufacturers or retailers gaining financial profit by promoting or discouraging therapies mentioned on this site.
