visualization meditation, How?

Ok, i've searched the internet for a clear explanation on how to get visualizational meditation going but came out relatively blank, the 'how to's' just go right to the 'and now visualize a purple bird in a dress'.

Well, i can imagine a purple bird in a dress but i cannot visualize it as such or is imagining the same as visualizing? I mean dreaming is visualizing and imagining is just symbolising a form without the visual aid(?).

So what technique should i try or which one worked for you when you tried to visualize something in a meditative state? Do you use music/sounds to aid you, what preparation do you do. Breathing technique, eating habits, the whole thing.

Is there a clear way to get into the visualizing state a explanation on how you get into the correct mood for it so to speak?

Thanks in advance

Here is a method you could try which works well for me. I don’t have much time so it will be concise.

I: Safe atmosphere, comfortable position, lying down, eyes closed, focus on relaxing all muscles.

II: Slow breathing, as if filling a jug up with air from the bottom up to the top and out from the top of lungs to bottom.

III: Imagine nine steps going down - imagine you see your feet and step down one step in conjunction with a breath, but don’t rush, take as much time as needed to progressively still the mind as you go down the steps…

IV: Monitor thought activity, and with each progressive step gently monitor and still any concerns, worries, and/or catchy songs stuck on loop etc.

V: At the ninth step, if there are little to no intruding thoughts, step of into a comfortable blackness, not a vacuum, simply absence.

VI: Visualise (imagine, but with intention on this and nothing else) a white dot. Hold this dot stable against the blackness, then send it away into the distance and hold it there, then bring it up close and hold it there.

This is a good start. In subsequent meditations, when you can do the above effectively, move on to varying the size and the color, make it into a ball (3d), turn it into an apple which you can hold and feel in your hands, bite into it, taste it etc. Do all this in steps, one at a time until adept. Continue practicing at a speed relative to success and expand upon the above to include full panoramic visualized landscapes and events.

The steps are imagined as a route to a place of stillness whereby visualization can be effectively practiced…you notice the difference between the imagined steps and the visualizations you create/inhabit when this technique has been practiced enough to be effective and you can therefore differentiate between what is imagined or visualized.

I think that visualization can be described as imagination directed with intent.

That’s my take on it anyway.

I know this is not well presented and you may well know all this already but I hope it is useful or interesting.

Have a good day.

reply to post by ThrIII



Thanks The problem i have specifically is how do i 'shut of' the eyesight so to speak? Can you give me tips on that, do i have to concentrate on a part of my brain? Or is it not to be put into words but do i have to experience it to understand? Is it that when i go deep enough that it is like the dreamstate without the unconsciousness?


[edit on 13-8-2008 by Harman]

Pleasure!

When you say “shut off the eyesight” do you mean light interfering through your eyelids or do you mean shapes and colors that appear unbidden or do you mean how do you achieve a state of detachment whereby you are not aware of the perception of having eyesight?

If it’s the first then I recommend those eye patches you get on red-eye flights…there great actually if your not meditating in darkness. If it were the second thing then that would refer to the practice of stilling the mind, but specific to replacing the shapes and colors with velvet blackness. If it’s the third then it is the case that you will know what it’s like when you experience it, given that it is the detachment from senses found in deep meditation.

Regarding concentrating on a part of the brain; the practice I first posted doesn’t include this, but there is another type of meditation I have practiced which is more about passive meditation/visualization which I call ‘free falling’ in which I do not direct the ‘journey’ but instead let it unfold ahead of me…this is relevant because the focus of consciousness is centered within the space between and behind the eyes and slightly up into the area of the traditional ‘third-eye’.



Bear in mind that I am simply sharing the practice that works for me having been meditating/visualizing and experimenting with this (and connected things) for twenty years. This is what works for me, not necessarily for anyone else. I don’t post on ATS as a rule (been lurking since the site first went live) but I think you have a good point. There are thousands of books out there touching on this subject but none of them seem to break it down and differentiate the separate parts of the process.

It’s all about consistent practice…and yes, when you go deep enough it is like the dream state without the unconsciousness, exactly!

Again, hope it helps.

The OP of this thread seems to know a thing or two about it. Maybe he can help.

I think i get it now, i never went in 'deep' enough. So, lights out practice practice practice, watch the breathing and go for the inky velvet detached blackness and go from there. Do you use any music for it or a certain setting or is that not so important? And i understand that it is different for everyone but at least i understand where i have to be mentally before visualization is possible/easier.

And i ment the eyesight yeah, not as much the eyesight itself but the attachment to the location of that eyesight if that makes any sence. But i can work with your explanation. I will give it a good read a few times and go with it. Thanks again and i'm glad to get tips from a meditation-veteran!

reply to post by Skyfloating


! Thanks for the tip, i had to look twice before i got it.

I follow a structure, and part of it is to get rid of interferring thoughts. And if you practise the same structure over and over, it gets easier to block other things out as you get used to it.Kind of like painting the same painting over and over.

1. I start off on a beach, and imagine the serenity there.
I walk up a hill off the beach into some woods. I find a well there. I place all worries into the well so they don't bother me. Money, social issues, cars, whatever. I visualize them and drop them into the well and bid them farewell.

Then I continue up a hill into a field.

That is where I ground and center, if you are familiar with the technique.

I know what you mean now. I think maybe that was it, you have been trying to practice visualization without first having a deep enough meditative state to do it successfully. It’s important to be in that velvet detached space before you try to go further, or at least reach an alpha brainwave state.

It is all about practice. Make it as easy for you as you can, black out the windows and turn off the phone etc.

Keep practicing and it will happen, the trick is to keep going and it will get easier and easier until it is a part of your ‘normal’ experiences. But bear in mind that the first few times you ‘get it’ you will consciously register that you have and congratulate yourself, thereby losing the state…the trick is to keep doing it until you don’t jog yourself back by being surprised that you got there…if you get me?

Regarding using music: Something that is greatly and unfortunately ignored in our lives is silence. It is incredibly important to know and experience complete quiet on a regular basis… but that’s another thing…as far as meditating goes there are two types of silence, active and passive, passive silence would be classed as an atmosphere in which noise cannot be heard, whereas active silence (restricting the word silence to a metaphor regarding personal space) would be to use a constant sound to block out extraneous noise so there are no distractions; such as a personal stereo with white noise playing, or drumming or possibly a recording of nature sounds.

Music can be used and there are specific ‘new age’ titles with music and undertones designed to help, but I prefer silence as I think that’s what it’s about, stillness of mind, body, senses…listening to music is using the ears, I wouldn’t eat a sandwich while trying to meditate.

That said there are many ways of meditating, and it shoots of into other directions…so introducing music into it does add a new dynamic, but to be specific to the practice of meditation to reach a state where effective visualization can be practiced then I would say that complete silence is the best thing, especially when starting out.

Keep at it and it will happen...good luck and enjoy!

reply to post by Harman


Visualizing is not as easy as some people make it out to be. I had a very difficult time doing it at first. I think, for me, it was a combination of two things:

1. Practice. Lots of Practice.

2. Trying not to imagine it right there in front of you, but at different distances and angles. Kind of like a movie camera that pans in and out. I found that when I zoom way out (and get further away from the object in my head,) it's a lot easier to visualize.

Not sure if this will help at all. I really did a poor job at visualization for a very long time. I would stress and strain and nothing, or just mumbo jumbo. Now, it's a lot easier.

Thanks for the great replies so far people. So before the visualization i have to get to the alpha stage. Well, i suspect i'll be quite busy with that aspect of the whole thing for some time to come but at least there is more then enough info to be found on meditational practices to get there.

Basically, I have a little routine that I do to get prepared. I like to do it have a cold bath, followed by a hot shower. I like to be fed, and well hydrated. After the hot shower, I'll go through some stretches, and begin to practice some deep breathing exercises.

The deep breathing exercises energize you,and also put you in a calm and happy state. They're simple. Imagine that your body is hollow. Inhale slowly from the top of your head, and breathe a divine, healing, relaxing energy down through the top of your head, filling your entire body over the course of the inhale. Once you're full of positive energy, hold onto the white energy, and slowly exhale any dirty negative energy out. Try to inhale and exhale as deeply as possible. Once you can have one breath per minute, you're doing fantastic.

Take 10 deep breaths like this.

Then, find a comfortable position to sit, I like to have a pillow beneath me, and a light blanket over me because it's not uncommon to feel chilly.

Then I say a quick little prayer that does something like this "I am entering into a Sacred State to further develop my relationship with Spirit."

This step is critical, if you're not engaging your higher self, or whatever you call it, you are wasting your time. It's important to show respect.

From there, I will as vividly as possible, imagine what I'm visualizing. This isn't very vivid to begin with, but it becomes more realistic over time. Try to pay attention to any sights, sounds, smells, the crispness of the air, the ground beneath your feet in the visualized scenario

That is the visualization aspect. From there, I tend to relax internally smiling into myself, and breath positive harmonious energy into what I am visualizing, to give the image life, and to promote a harmonious interaction between myself and my vision.

When I am finished, I take a moment to relax, and then I thank Spirit for it's help and guidance. It's important to cultivate a sense of gratitude.

Quite often, the most profound stuff happens afterwards, when you're going to bed, or doing something else. Then it may hit you.

Most importantly, don't strain or try to force things to happen. Just practice, you'll get better, and allow things to work. As I am uncertain what you want to use this for, I can't be more specific with this.

reply to post by TheGreySwordsman

Oeh, i like that method with the breathing, thanks for sharing . And what i want with it is to get to know myself on a all together different level. Meditation always had some attraction to me because of the endless possibilities it contains, i believe that the visualization aspect of meditating is the doorway to so much more and am curious what i will find in here.

Thanks again

One of the easiest and natural ways to meditate, and I prefer it to different techniques, is kind of mindlessly paying attention in a light way to the colors under you lids, or the sounds even at a distance. So I lie down and close my eyes, and slowly gently be... paying attention ever so lightly to whatever I see or hear and then let it pass by. Within a while I begin to hear a ringing in my ears and experience vibrations throughout my body. When I am completely in this relaxed state I can visualize in a blending of 2 ways: one is just picturing a large white screen and you project your images, with as much color and emotion as possible. The other just happens on its own from that, I can see the shots from different angles, or hold the small puppy I want (I really keep visualizing being able to rent a house with a garden and where I can have a small dog). You can visualize the entire world. I picture everyone awake, and participating in grass roots democracies with complete separation of state and religion. Africa, India, middle east, wonderful neighborhoods with lovely middle class homes, not a single person left out, and children playing safely, intelligent happy children who are galactic citizens and are well taken care of. These kinds of things I vividly picture. Tried some remote viewing too in that state but with less success. I don't think I have the patience for remote viewing yet.

reply to post by Harman


No problem. If you ever want ideas for what to run through during your meditations, just PM me, with a basic idea of what you want to accomplish with the session.

I'm glad the breathing helped!