Rapid Image Cycling and Memorization

If you have tried William Bengston’s Rapid Image Cycling technique, you know that it involves memorization.

I’ve been working with this technique for over a decade and have watched my patients struggle particularly with this part. They ask questions like, “Do I really have to memorize?” and “Can’t I just review my list every day?”

This article goes through some of my thoughts on how to get through these difficulties.

If you are familiar with Rapid Image Cycling, you will find this article really insightful but if you don’t know the technique, I would really recommend sitting with someone who does to really gain the most out of this.

Alright so, Rapid Image Cycling involves memorizing images of things that you want but don’t have. You memorize your desires then you cycle through this list faster and faster each time.

What I’ve found is that there is a good way to memorize and a better way to memorize your dreams and goals and visions for the future.

The good-enough way to memorize is any way you can–by hook or by crook! This includes by rote. You think of what you want, imagine a picture of it coming into your life, and you are “good to go.”

But the better way is to form a “living” relationship with your entire list.

A respectful disclaimer before I elaborate on this: I am only talking about my playful way of working with Rapid Image Cycling after over a decade of using it for my patients. I do not represent William Bengston’s point of view. If you are not familiar with Rapid Image Cycling, you can use THIS link to purchase Bengston’s audio training or book for a discount.

Embodying your Vision:

It’s one thing to think and dream and another to really embody what you want.

The first step is to imagine something as real… so much that you can see/hear/feel/smell/hear it as happening in the present moment. But still, this lacks a level of intimacy with your dreams.

The way you know you have properly envisioned an item on your Rapid Image Cycling list, is that you get a strong emotional response to it. Just seeing your image should send a wave of emotion through your body.

Think about it. When someone kisses you romantically, what is it like when they merely go through the motions? Or do you need to feel aroused by the contact? It’s the same with being intimate with the items on your list. When you see that house or that organized closet or that cancer cure in your imagination, you should actually FEEL IN YOUR BODY a strong emotion of joy or pleasure. If you just “think” you want it, without a sensuous feeling response, the technique may not work as well. When you slowly review your list, taking 5–10 seconds per image, you can experience an emotional workout of letting in more and more and more joy. Reviewing your list can be emotionally exhilarating! Your BODY should feel more alive after the workout.

As you gradually go through every image, getting emotionally attached to all of them, it becomes much easier for you to remember them — because you form such an intimate connection!

Doing this gradually, image by image, helps you envision your dreams a lot better, and get a very true sense of what you really want.

Let’s take an Example:

Say one of the things on your list while practicing Rapid Image Cycling is having your closet cleaned out. You would just love for everything to be more organized and there to be more space for your new stuff, and your old things to be cleaned out.

This is something that you really really want, but still don’t have.

Just thinking about it and having a word to represent it is not quite enough. To be successful, you need to embody the visualization. You need to feel yourself opening the door and feel the same sensation that you would have if your closet was wonderfully neat and organized.

Most visualization-for-manifestation techniques stop there. But Bengston’s technique goes a step further.

He asks you to memorize a picture of looking at your newly organized closet. He wants you to photograph that vision and remind yourself of that sensation every time you look at your imaginary picture. When you review the image, allow a bodily response to arise. Let each image on your List bless you with their radiance, hope, and love.

Blood Memory vs Qi Memory:

You may know that I am an acupuncturist. In Chinese Medicine, there are two different types of memory: Qi memory and Blood memory. Qi is similar to “life force.” Blood is a medical category that in Chinese Medicine means much more than the red stuff in your arteries and veins. Blood is a more “substantial” form of Qi.

Qi memory is your general — I look at the list and can remember it. You can even recite a Qi memory, but you are not really embodying it. If you feel like you are memorizing words and not images, your memory is probably not that deep.

The second one, the Blood memory is where you don’t have to look at a list, as it is memorized. Blood memory is stored in your body in a way that Qi memory is not. You can be woken in the middle of the night and are able to recite what is in your Blood memory. Qi memory isn’t really in your body… so it takes a few moments to “find” the memory.

The more thoroughly you memorize the items on your list, the easier it is to run through them quickly. You know them better so it is easier to remember. It’s that simple.

Memorization is a wonderful way to bring a thought (Heaven) into the body (Earth). This is alchemy! Embrace it!

Memory Struggles:

But what do you do when you are old or have so much stress that you can’t even work your regular memory, let alone your Blood memory? How do you memorize your visualization as an older person without actually memorizing it?

My answer to you is that it’s okay to read everything on your list once a day to help you. Doing this and owning it every day is much better than nothing.

Writing down your list every single day helps you embody it and gives you tighter ownership of the items on Rapid Image Cycling. It makes you better at it today than you were yesterday.

If you genuinely connect with the spirit of what it is you want, you are able to form a living connection with your list and improve your relationship every day. This is not the same as memorizing, but in my experience, can do the trick. It seems that you can have deep intimate communion with each item on your list without memorizing it, and still cool down hot cancerous tumors and treat patients successfully. If however, you only superficially review your list, without deeply (really deeply) caring about what is on it, then it’s harder to get clinical results.

So it is possible to embody it in ways other than memorizing. And the plus side is that if you are reading or writing your List every day, there’s a high chance you will end up memorizing it anyways!

Conclusion:

Rapid Image Cycling can be a path to the most intimate communion with your deepest self. It is this connection that transforms the procedure from a “technique” or “tool” into a living gateway for healing.

I’d love to hear how you embody your Rapid Image Cycling List. What struggles with memorization have you overcome? Any tips?

If you’d like to practice your cycling with a group, you are welcome to join my Facebook Group: Spirit Gate Cancer Support. We are a coherent group of healers and can always welcome more to our Friday free distance healing session. This is also a great forum to discuss cycling strategies, as many group members are trained in the Bengston Method

If you are struggling to take your Rapid Image Cycling to a place where it is actually working for yourself or someone you love, I may be able to help. I’ve worked with the method for over a decade and my clients value that learning curve. I am not formally affiliated with Bengston so what you get is my experience with his method, not necessarily his.

Simply schedule a complimentary Get Acquainted call and we can explore how I may be able to help you.

Begin to notice the emotional weather of your room — is there clutter or is there serenity?

Also, feel free to  email the office  for any questions or scheduling issues.