The Bonny Method is Different from Guided Imagery

The Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music is a very specific method. It is a method that uses music that has been put together in programs for this method. They vary in length from 30 minutes to 45 minutes. The programs are designed to enable an individual to have an imaging experience with music. The person’s own imagery is evoked by the music. It helps the imagery to move and the music supports the person while the process is underway. This process differs from guided imagery in that with guided imagery, the facilitator will usually guide the imagery, suggesting what will be seen or where the person will go within his or her imagination.  If music is used, it’s used as background; it’s used to relax and calm. With the Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music, facilitators speak of music as a co-therapist. It’s that close within the experience;  maybe even closer than that.  It is central to the method. In other techniques, such as guided imagery or guided relaxation, the music is ‘acoustical wallpaper,’ and is not intended to be something the person reacts to, feels emotionally or is guided by. It is like a mattress the person lies on. Pleasant, safe, and comfortable. Distinguishing between these approaches is important as the outcomes, goals, and manner of reaching these will be different. 
 
The original name of the method, Guided Imagery and Music, was coined by Dr. Bonny in the early 1970’s. She had met and worked with Dr. Hans Carl Leuner, the originator of Guided Affective Imagery, a powerful process that did not use music. She saw the similarities and the differences between his method and what she was developing and created the title as a synthesis. It was and is often referred to as simply GIM (in the U.S., this is pronounced by naming each letter; in other countries, it is sometimes made into a word like ‘gym’ or ‘gim’ with a hard ‘g’.) The words ‘guided imagery’ as part of the name of this method are misleading. Over the 30+ years that this method has been practiced, many practitioners have searched for a different name, one which would not use ‘guided imagery’ as a part of it. In the early 1990’s, practitioners in the United States added “The Bonny Method” to the title with the intention to distinguish this method from guided imagery techniques. Today you will see that different names are used: The Bonny Method, Guided Imagery and Music (GIM), The Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music, Music Evoked Imagery, and more as adaptations and modifications have proliferated over the last several years. Persons trained in and practicing this method will have an affiliation with the Association for Music and Imagery. Visit the AMI web site and view the registry of facilitators to find a practitioner in your area and to learn about training programs. ​