Internal Imagery – It’s So Not Just “Pictures!”

So here’s a story…

I was eager to return.  The previous storytelling workshop at the seminary had been so well-received, so well-attended, everyone expressed excitement at scheduling a follow-up a few months later.

I planned on really exploring the importance and variety of internal imagery in storytelling.

In our culture, at least, it seems that VISUAL imagery is by far the most common.

“Picture this.” “See it in your mind’s eye.” “Draw a picture of the story you just heard,” we invite children after telling them a story. Plus, “images” is equated with “pictures” in many contexts; certainly when talking about web pages and blogs (my WordPress theme offers a “Featured Image” – and the only thing that works there is a digital picture, a visual image).

But…visual imagery is NOT the only kind of imagery we experience and that we have available to us as storytellers – not by a long shot!

I really was eager to share some newly-developed workshop material, to give the participants an epiphany (!) about all kinds of imagery! I was going to wow them with pointing out the-obvious-that-is-often-overlooked: that “imagery” is etymologically related to “imagination,” not “vision.”

– See, people? – You can imagine sounds and fragrances and emotions and textures – not just sights – and we’ll explore incorporating them into your storytelling! Oh, I was going to teach them wonderful things!

My contact at the seminary, Karen, who had booked me for the previous workshop and instigated my return for this 2nd one, met me in our meeting room and helped me set up. As the starting time got closer and closer and no one was showing up, she then – then! – confessed to me that this probably wasn’t the best time for her to have scheduled my return visit: it was the week before finals for that quarter!  (Sheesh!)

Exactly one person showed up….

…Stay with me here…

…it was Joanne…

…no really, stay with me…

… who had been…

…wait for it…

…wa-a-a-it…

…blind since birth.

Ah.

…I had thought I was going to reveal wondrous new pathways to imagining by urging the workshop participants to stretch beyond their usual/default visual imagery…

We spent the whole (redesigned-on-the-spot) workshop time together – And as you can imagine, Joanne taught me a thing or two about non-visual imagery that day!    😉

(And Karen learned to not schedule extra workshops the week before finals.)

* Do you see that there is a person in the picture at the top?  What do you imagine is that person’s experience right there, besides what’s being seen?…Go ahead, scroll back up for a moment…

—–

“Imagination is more important than knowledge” – Albert Einstein

Stretching our imaginations and exploring ways to broaden and deepen our internal imagery is one of the very best things we can do to connect more deeply with our stories and with our audiences.  Bolstered with lessons from Joanne,  “Deep Imagery” is my favorite, favorite workshop to lead!

You can begin broadening your repertoire of internal imagery with exercises using all of the 5 physical senses. Some resources you might be interested in:

• These are designed for young children – yet can be a great resource for exploring various kinds of imagery!
• Some wonderful creative-sensual-imagery ideas in this guest blog by Monica Davis on Karen Chace’s blog, Catch the Story Bug!
• Touching Stories is storyteller Gwen Bonilla’s marvelous multi-sensory storytelling program for people with disabilities.

(And p.s – the seminary was my alma mater, Iliff School of Theology in Denver, CO)

Thanks for reading – Pam