Galen's Avoiding Distress provides an opportunity for scholars to qualify Galen's philosophical eclecticism because his ἄσκησις to avoid distress intersects theory and practice. My thesis carefully analyzes the theoretical framework behind Galen's claim that he “trained his φαντασἰαι for the loss of all his possessions” as well as the specific practices that constitute this training regimen. I trace the concept of φαντασἰα back to the first philosophical discussions in Plato's Theaetetus-Sophist structure and Aristotle's De anima to answer the questions “What are the φαντασἰαι that he talks about?” and “How do they participate in cognition?” I analyze Galen's On the doctrines of Hippocrates and Plato, Affections and Errors, and Thrasybulus to identify Galen's specific practices and relate them to what Galen thinks is the purpose of all humans. My inquiry allows me to argue that while Galen uses his imagination to condition himself not to fear the atrocities of Commodus he subordinates emotional tranquility and practices that promote it to the greater goal of doing good deeds for others.