To visualise or not to visualise

[beherenow.space]

To visualise or not to visualise: can visualisation meditation be seen as a mindfulness practise?

One of the reasons I am drawn to mindfulness is that I never really found visualisation that useful. I struggled with seeing clear internal images, wouldn't be necessarily interested in the scenarios offered by guided visualisations, and had no enthusiasm for creating my own.

I feel much more at home simply connecting to the actual reality of the place I happen to be when meditating and I find developing a relaxed and accepting outlook whilst connecting with the present moment more useful and practical than finding relaxation through an inner escape into a created scenario.

This is of course just a personal preference and visualisation meditation can be a very effective and powerful tool for many; as always, do what works best for you and mix and match whatever techniques you find effective.

I have found myself a little conflicted though with one form of mindfulness meditation that I like to practise, that of spatial awareness, being aware of the space around me. I wonder if this practise strays into visualisation as I extend my awareness beyond the space around me that I can directly see and beyond the space around me within which all the sounds that I can hear occur, out into the unlimited space that is always all around us wherever we are.

I think this is still mindfulness as it is simply an awareness of a fact about the present moment, but when allowing my awareness to expand into the space around me that is beyond the five physical senses I do sometimes find myself adopting a bird's eye view of my location or visualising the earth floating in space for example.

Of course it doesn't matter whether it is one or the other or both, as long as it works, but it did get me thinking more about what lies at the heart of both mindfulness and visualisation meditation.

My supposition is that visualisation mediation works for the same reason that mindfulness works and the main difference between the two practises - one is connecting with the senses of the immediate environment, the other is connecting with an imagined environment - is a trivial one.

In a visualisation mediation one is usually asked to see, hear, smell and feel the created and imagined pleasant environment so that we feel fully immersed in it. The fact that we are choosing an environment in a visualisation meditation rather than working with whatever environment we happen to find ourselves in, is less important than the fact that in both cases we are connecting with our senses and being as wholly present as we can be in that environment.

As a thought experiment, to explore the common ground between these two techniques, imagine you are having a dream and in that dream you sit down and start a mindfulness meditation practise; is that a mindfulness meditation or a visualisation meditation?

So why do some people find connecting with the immediate physical environment easier or more effective, whilst others find that creating an inner environment to be the more productive method?

My guess would be that maybe most introverts and predominantly analytical people would be more likely to prefer mindfulness and that maybe most extroverts and predominantly creative people would prefer visualisation. What do you think? Does match your experience and personal preferences?

"When you understand what attention is, not only during waking hours but also during sleep, then the whole of the mind is totally awake." Krishnamurti.

Stephen

[beherenow.space]

Or maybe those who are more empathetic and are more deeply affected by their surroundings and interactions benefit more from visualisations and those whose state of mind is predominantly influenced by their inner world find mindfulness more useful?

[DJLSFC]

Hi Stephen, not sure if this exactly what you mean but I posted a bit of a garbled message on the body scan thread about up till recently moving my eyes even though closed, to the part of the body I was scanning. I felt this was making me think more about the actual body, lets say a foot for example, than actually feeling sensations. I noticed that I was doing this as well to a lesser extent with breathing by moving my eyes down as though looking at the belly.

So I started to try and keep the eyes still and thinking about the actual space where my foot was and immediately I could feel the sensations so much easier. Anyway, I was reading a book on the universe and how empty space is actually full of virtual particles pinging in and out of existence, and while doing the body scan, the book came to mind. I`m not really one for all the spiritual stuff associated with some practices (or some people who practice) but I suddenly began to imagine that I was just part of empty space, and imagining that different parts of my body were just these virtual particles or energy popping in and out of existence. It was quite strange, but a productive meditation and a few times, I couldn't help but smile.

I found that I could also apply this to breathing, sounds and even thoughts. It was really enjoyable and made it so much easier to focus on the sensations rather than any kind of labeling. I even imagined my brain in this way, but found there were only 1 or 2 particles there .

May try quantum teleporting myself tonight

Thanks Dave

[MiM]

One thing that definitely affects the effectiveness of visualization practices is your ability to visualize in the first place. This ability varies immensely, all the way from those who easily create their own inner holodecks to those who walk into a dark cave whenever they close their eyes. I for one, am close to the dark cave side of this spectrum and find visualization practices completely useless. Reading the beginning of your post, maybe you are on that side too?

If you want to read more about the inability to visualize you can google aphantasia or look at the aphant.asia website.

[beherenow.space]

I'm somewhere on the spectrum I guess. Interesting site, thanks.

[DJLSFC]

Have you tried a mountain meditation, imagining going thru seasons etc?

[beherenow.space]

I occasionally get mountain images popping up, but prefer not to generate images. This reminds me of a question I was asked after a mindfulness session: I was asked what my experience of speaking a commentary was and my answer was that to begin with I am using my commentary to help myself get into a state of mindfulness but after a while the commentary instead becomes an attempt to put into words the experience I am having. So too with visualisations, they can used to help you get into a meditative state but for me they sometimes come to mind as an expression and a crystallisation of an experience I am having.