ABSTRACT

This chapter presents a specific model of receptive music therapy—The Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music (GIM). It explains how GIM activates the inner senses through relaxation, guiding, music and imagery, non-verbal and verbal processing, with the potential of fostering embodied therapeutic change and growth. Embodiment is a keyword, but in a special way: During a GIM session, the body mostly lies still physically, but the inner senses are at work in the client, and there is a special and deep interaction process going on between client and therapist. The chapter discusses the clinical method, underlying theories, selected evidence, and illustrative examples from sessions. The empirical part the chapter focuses on a study of GIM with cancer survivors and it presents grounded theories of their therapeutic GIM process and how the music and its elements contributed to therapeutic change in an interactive and embodied process.