Guided Imagery and Music: My Gateway to the Astral Plane

As a music therapy student, I learned about the Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and music. Per the Association of Music and Imagery (https://ami-bonnymethod.org/about/faq) this intervention can be described as:

 “a music-centered, consciousness-expanding therapy developed by Helen Bonny. Therapists trained in the Bonny Method choose classical music sequences that stimulate journeys of the imagination. Experiencing imagery in this way facilitates clients’ integration of mental, emotional, physical and spiritual aspects of well-being.”

This method is named after its developer, Helen Bonny, who worked at the Maryland Psychiatric center. She was studying the effects of LSD on consciousness, including how it expanded conscious awareness. At one point, she added in the variable of classical music selections in the research. Eventually, she began to study if the same effect could be had with just music and found that music played a very significant role in changes observed. After more development, the Bonny Method was born. 

To be a facilitator of the BMGIM, you have to complete several levels of training including classes and supervised clinical hours. Many music therapists choose to complete this certification, but any therapist can choose to do so. It doesn’t often involve live music, but focuses on pre-selected music programs related to the therapeutic focus you and your therapist decide on. 

Often there is an induction phase with breathing to begin your transition into an altered state. As the music begins, the listener begins to visualize and image along with the music. The listener describes what they are seeing in their mind's eye. The facilitator/therapist may ask guiding questions if needed. They will also scribe everything you are saying. 

After the music is completed, just like meditations, the listener is slowly brought back to reality. Afterwards, there is often verbal discussion about any insights the listener or traveler gained. Sometimes, creations of mandalas are also included to further help the listener process the images. 

I am not trained in this method, but hope to pursue it one day. However, I have experienced it as a personal form of therapy at two different times in my life. Both have been during significant phases of change in my career. One was facilitated by a music therapist in the middle of their training. The other was by a psychotherapist who had many years of experience. Both experiences were life changing.  

I sought it out because as a music therapist, sometimes  talk therapy isn't enough for me personally. So I really wanted to have music involved, and I've always been someone who's able to envision with my mind's eye pretty easily. I quickly became in tune to the process. 

I will not share many specifics of my journeys because they are very personal to me, but I will say that through this process I met many spirit guides and “visited” places that became important to me. Several of them showed up again when I experienced pathworking, guided meditations, in the context of witchcraft, for the first time. 

As I traveled along my path in witchcraft, learning about the astral plane, I began to realize that my experiences in GIM were basically the same as accessing the astral plane! I thought astral travel was this thing I would never really achieve, and then after reading Trance-Portation by Diana Paxon I realized I was fairly skilled at it already!

Now I have recalled various pieces of my GIM journeys and aligned them within my personal myth and astral “home base” landscape. There is a field that has popped up in several of my GIM experiences, that I now understand is for my inner child work. I have located my “creative” spring that flows in the foundation of myself. I am able to quickly imagine my guides when I need them, whether during divination, making offerings. 

This type of therapy can truly be a transpersonal experience, uniting the emotional, cognitive, and spiritual self. I am always in awe of how music can help us transcend and reveal aspects within ourselves.