What is Visualization really? And what does it have to do with meditation?
"Visualization" is kind of an umbrella technique that encompasses practices like guided meditations and guided imagery therapy to get your imagination going and your mind focused. But, it doesn't always have to be about the visuals - the picture of something - in your imagination. A person's "mental picture" may be of feelings or other sensations of an experience.
Meditation is a great way to calm and clear the mind and allow us some headspace to relax. It can be used to just get quiet, or it can be combined with various techniques in order to recognize, train, and utilize all facets of our Consciousness. There are meditative traditions the world over which use things like gestures, hand positions, chants, mantras, postures, body movements, and breathing techniques to work with the mind, its role in and pathway to Consciousness, and its influence on the body’s health & well-being.
All forms of meditation are equally powerful in personal, spiritual, and Consciousness development, yet forms or techniques of meditation may vary depending on purpose – why are you meditating? Some folks meditate to relax, to just clear their heads and take a breather. Different breathing techniques, body postures, self-hypnosis or hypnosis, and visualizations or guided meditations may all help in this relaxation meditation. The simplest way is to just sit, calmly & comfortably, and stare out the window at a tree, the skyline, the ocean waves, the clouds or the sky, the moon or stars at night.
You’d be surprised at how quickly your brain can turn your thoughts down or off when you do this. Sometimes you “snap out of it” and get your mind going again or start yourself awake if you were falling asleep. With practice you can then consciously tell yourself to look at the tree – no reason, just look, just observe, just watch. This is a lot gentler than “snapping out of it” or “starting awake”. This is a way of becoming consciously aware – whether you’re about to fall asleep or not – yet not letting your mind overtake your Consciousness as it stretches to breathe in the experience.
When getting ready to do any meditation, remember that you can always set yourself a fifteen to thirty minute timer if you have appointments or responsibilities to tend to, that way you can let yourself relax into the experience knowing you will be alert and awake when the timer goes off. You can even recite that to yourself as you sit down and set the timer – a little verbal reminder to yourself. This kind of “basic-goodness-daydream” meditation is the kind of gentle & effortless calming meditation we need to take in our fast-paced lives at least two or three times a day for a bit of balance between our inner world and outer world.
Any meditation is best begun with relaxation. But, if the purpose is something other than just relaxing and clearing your head, meditation goes further spontaneously or with use of a technique. Visualization meditations – like self-hypnosis, hypnosis, neurolinguistic programming, guided meditation, guided imagery therapy/practice, and other visualization exercises – have become powerful techniques in meditation. They serve to bring your energetic senses (the pure vibe senses corresponding to your physical senses) to the forefront of your imagination where creativity and life force blend according to intention and awareness.
I often like guided meditations for myself and in group settings, and one time after guiding a meditation someone mentioned that they don’t “see” the visual described but that they feel it. I, myself, am a very visual person most often, but it has become an art to change-up the language to embrace the various ways our energetic senses and imaginations combine to give us the experience of a guided meditation or visualization. Everyone is different, and everyone’s energy is meant to flow naturally through their experiences.
If you are not a “visual” person, don’t shy away from a visualization exercise. Just feel it instead of seeing it, sense it, know it, allow it to sink into you. Imagination is a facet of our Consciousness. Let your imagination flow with the exercise. If someone says, “See this chakra glowing yellow”, change it. Shift your attention to your upper abdomen, where your Solar Plexus chakra is located and often associated with the yellow color. Now, don’t try to see yellow – unless you can remember what the banana you ate for breakfast looked like. Try instead to feel the energy in that area of your body.
What feelings come to mind when you think of the color yellow or an object naturally colored yellow? Does it bring you joy or anxiety? Do you feel open or blocked? This could indicate a consistent pattern beliefs or attitudes or behaviors. It is, for example in chakra balancing meditations, an experience to note because that is what may need to be cleared or realigned or balanced for development and progress. That’s the point of the visualization in this example – to give your focused attention to that chakra, at least until you move on to the next chakra or step.
Everyone has an imagination – it’s a part of Consciousness. Anyone can participate in, effectively utilize, benefit from, and experience a visualization meditation exercise. When clients ask me how to meditate and ask how I meditate, which is quite often, I usually let them know: just begin by sitting quietly, usually near a window or outside. Just sitting quietly, observing the scenery and sounds and feels all around you without trying to think or trying to stop thinking, and with – if the mind begins a tirade – a focus on breathing deeply, inhale and exhale, are all you need to begin and continue. Whatever you are drawn to, whatever flows naturally for your meditation, whatever resonates with the basic goodness in your center (your core), take a step to experience that – a yoga posture, a Tai Chi form, a song, a chant or mantra, a guided visualization or meditative journey, a napping-daydream or lucid dream – calmly and consciously.
All forms of meditation are equally powerful in personal, spiritual, and Consciousness development, yet forms or techniques of meditation may vary depending on purpose – why are you meditating? Some folks meditate to relax, to just clear their heads and take a breather. Different breathing techniques, body postures, self-hypnosis or hypnosis, and visualizations or guided meditations may all help in this relaxation meditation. The simplest way is to just sit, calmly & comfortably, and stare out the window at a tree, the skyline, the ocean waves, the clouds or the sky, the moon or stars at night.
You’d be surprised at how quickly your brain can turn your thoughts down or off when you do this. Sometimes you “snap out of it” and get your mind going again or start yourself awake if you were falling asleep. With practice you can then consciously tell yourself to look at the tree – no reason, just look, just observe, just watch. This is a lot gentler than “snapping out of it” or “starting awake”. This is a way of becoming consciously aware – whether you’re about to fall asleep or not – yet not letting your mind overtake your Consciousness as it stretches to breathe in the experience.
When getting ready to do any meditation, remember that you can always set yourself a fifteen to thirty minute timer if you have appointments or responsibilities to tend to, that way you can let yourself relax into the experience knowing you will be alert and awake when the timer goes off. You can even recite that to yourself as you sit down and set the timer – a little verbal reminder to yourself. This kind of “basic-goodness-daydream” meditation is the kind of gentle & effortless calming meditation we need to take in our fast-paced lives at least two or three times a day for a bit of balance between our inner world and outer world.
Any meditation is best begun with relaxation. But, if the purpose is something other than just relaxing and clearing your head, meditation goes further spontaneously or with use of a technique. Visualization meditations – like self-hypnosis, hypnosis, neurolinguistic programming, guided meditation, guided imagery therapy/practice, and other visualization exercises – have become powerful techniques in meditation. They serve to bring your energetic senses (the pure vibe senses corresponding to your physical senses) to the forefront of your imagination where creativity and life force blend according to intention and awareness.
I often like guided meditations for myself and in group settings, and one time after guiding a meditation someone mentioned that they don’t “see” the visual described but that they feel it. I, myself, am a very visual person most often, but it has become an art to change-up the language to embrace the various ways our energetic senses and imaginations combine to give us the experience of a guided meditation or visualization. Everyone is different, and everyone’s energy is meant to flow naturally through their experiences.
If you are not a “visual” person, don’t shy away from a visualization exercise. Just feel it instead of seeing it, sense it, know it, allow it to sink into you. Imagination is a facet of our Consciousness. Let your imagination flow with the exercise. If someone says, “See this chakra glowing yellow”, change it. Shift your attention to your upper abdomen, where your Solar Plexus chakra is located and often associated with the yellow color. Now, don’t try to see yellow – unless you can remember what the banana you ate for breakfast looked like. Try instead to feel the energy in that area of your body.
What feelings come to mind when you think of the color yellow or an object naturally colored yellow? Does it bring you joy or anxiety? Do you feel open or blocked? This could indicate a consistent pattern beliefs or attitudes or behaviors. It is, for example in chakra balancing meditations, an experience to note because that is what may need to be cleared or realigned or balanced for development and progress. That’s the point of the visualization in this example – to give your focused attention to that chakra, at least until you move on to the next chakra or step.
Everyone has an imagination – it’s a part of Consciousness. Anyone can participate in, effectively utilize, benefit from, and experience a visualization meditation exercise. When clients ask me how to meditate and ask how I meditate, which is quite often, I usually let them know: just begin by sitting quietly, usually near a window or outside. Just sitting quietly, observing the scenery and sounds and feels all around you without trying to think or trying to stop thinking, and with – if the mind begins a tirade – a focus on breathing deeply, inhale and exhale, are all you need to begin and continue. Whatever you are drawn to, whatever flows naturally for your meditation, whatever resonates with the basic goodness in your center (your core), take a step to experience that – a yoga posture, a Tai Chi form, a song, a chant or mantra, a guided visualization or meditative journey, a napping-daydream or lucid dream – calmly and consciously.
| Peace & blessings to you and your meditations! Keep an eye out for free guided meditations and resources coming to the website in 2022. Check out this Meditation from our YouTube channel as an example of some of the free meditations we'll be sharing in the spring. | |
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