NOTES FROM THE NET NOMAD...
The Internet has brought the spirit of global communication and collaboration to nurses and other healthcare professionals in ways never before believed possible. These resources are offered to expand your opportunities for discussion, reference, education, and research.
Guided imagery and progressive relaxation techniques are simple, inexpensive, and effective. Given an Internet-connected computer, earphones, and a few minutes you can experience a guided imagery session and return to work refreshed and renewed (or maybe a bit more mellow). For those who are new to the practice or who have difficulty calling images to mind there are several sites that may prove helpful.
Do you respond better to spoken descriptions or a combination of visual and auditory suggestions? Everyone is different. Imagery that promotes the relaxation response in one person may elicit agitation in another. Spirituality and religious faith can be a powerful emotional support. There are Web sites with a spiritual, religious, and secular imagery. Choose your scenarios carefully and review them thoroughly before immersing yourself in their suggestions.
There are multiple file formats that can be used to present audio and video on the Internet. Their usefulness often depends on bandwidth requirements. Files that transfer quickly over a DSL, cable, or workplace network connection may be painfully slow over a dial up. Most players for the various file formats have a free version that can be downloaded from the manufacturer's Web site. The players themselves can take a while to download. A 5 megabyte file will take about 11 minutes with a 56K connection, but only a minute or so via DSL.
RealPlayer
http://www.real.com
Quicktime
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/
Windows Media Player
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/download/
Flash
http://www.macromedia.com/downloads/
Learning Meditation
http://www.learningmeditation.com/room.htm
More than a dozen audio meditations lasting from 3 to 10 minutes in Real Audio format.
Beliefnet Meditations
http://www.beliefnet.com/index/index_207.html
Beliefnet brings together a variety of information and resources, much of it religious and spirituality based, some not. Try out the "Potato Chip Meditation" exercise, excerpted from the book Tomato Blessings and Radish Teachings: Recipes & Reflections by Edward Espe Brown (Riverhead Books, 1997). There are 11 different meditation and relaxation exercises from a variety of backgrounds using Real Audio and Flash.
Dean Ornish, MD-Lifestyle Program
http://my.webmd.com/content/article/3077.1157
Part of a multifaceted program, this site offers 5 guided mediations in both Real Audio and Windows Media format. Each program is offered at 3 different download speeds optimized for your Internet connection.
As you explore these sites you may come up with your own therapeutic approaches to using Internet-based multimedia. Most of the player Web sites also have creation tools. Enjoy!