The Magic of Great Grandmother Spider

Integrative Imagery is a powerful technique to use your imagination for accessing information, insights, and your inner wisdom. It is valuable for everything from physical issues to life transitions. The process is facilitated by an imagery guide who, in a therapeutic manner, creates a safe space and asks the right questions to help navigate the inner journey, creating a supportive environment where meaningful images emerge and offer new perspectives, comfort, and direction.

I’d like to share a moving illustration of this process.

An acquaintance—let’s call her Sandy— reached out to me to address her chronic lower back pain. For 3 ½ years, the back pain has significantly impacted her life. She was also slowly recovering from a lengthy bout of pneumonia. In addition, she is an independent filmmaker, “stressed when she is working and when she is not.” We agreed that we had plenty of material to work on.

We began with relaxation techniques and focused breathing to activate the body’s natural relaxation response. Within that very first session, Sandy’s pain shifted from a 7 out of 10 to a 4. The Imagery focused on sending healing rather than fear and frustration into her lungs. Through imagery, she related to her lungs in a new way. Her lungs magically became two small blue birds that communicated with her: “We are not angry with you, please don’t be angry with us.”

This simple yet profound message led to a significant change. By the end of just the first session, Sandy felt “as if a pressure valve was released,” and that she could feel the rest of her body, not just the pain, as well as feeling her lungs more robust.

Her back pain, however, revealed a more complex story.

Sandy acknowledged feeling like a “slave driver” to her body, and yet she felt like the back pain was “punishing me.” There was a tense, antagonistic relationship with the body.

In imagery, the pain first appeared as a hard, yellow, hot rubber ball—with a shrill sound, pulsating and throbbing. She was able to cool it down and melt it somewhat. However, melting it caused it to be like melted burning butter, needing to be cooled and solidified again. By the close of the session, she saw that beneath the yellow ball was “a deep, black cavity, like tooth decay.” To her surprise, a healing image also appeared: a cool blue porcelain bowl to help Sandy contain the pain.

Because the pain was so intense—“like a dark deep hole”— I wanted an ally to join Sandy in her next session. So we agreed to contact an Inner Healer figure. A spider readily arrived on the beach in her healing place; a sweet, handmade-looking spider with a red head, a patchwork quilt body, and wire legs. Although Sandy had mixed feelings about spiders, she felt affection for this one, noting it was more like something “a grandmother would make.” The spider’s name was Ali, the name of her Great-grandmother. This image comforted her, offering companionship and reminding her she was not alone. Ali suggested she nurture herself by baking homemade bread—a significant departure from Sandy’s usual reliance on fast food.

The Imagery process continues after the session. Sandy “spends a lot more time with Ali, who wove a healing web around my disc. I imagine the threads as having magical powers.” She connects with her imaginary healer when she receives treatment for her back. And finds “it very calming and comforting.”

Stories like Sandy’s highlight the transformative potential of Integrative Imagery. The process does not end when a session closes; often, the images continue to evolve, offering ongoing support and guidance.

For more stories of imagery in healing and transformation, read my book Guided Imagery and Beyond: Stories of Healing and Transformation, co-authored with Terry Reed (Outskirts Press, 2008).

To learn how to practice Integrative Imagery in your coaching, healthcare, and/or healing practice, join the upcoming Integrative Imagery for Coaches Course. Click here to learn more.