Visualisation meditation is the practice of imagining an object, scene or event. It is used to direct the mind and body towards a desired state or future outcome.
The movies we play in our minds have a profound effect on our physiology. Our posture, feelings, emotions, desires and actions are all affected by the quality and intensity of those images.
When we play negative images, we put ourselves into a negative state. And that causes suffering. It makes us feel bad, it diminishes our energy and it kills our motivation.
On the other hand, when we play positive images, we get the opposite effect. We feel good, we gain energy, and we take affirmative action.
Visualisation meditation is about focussing our minds on what we want rather than what we don’t want. By choosing what to visualise (instead of leaving it up to chance) and practicing often, we make healing, energetic and uplifting movies the default.
And that, in turn, heals, energises and uplifts us.
What is visualisation?
Visualisation is a mental technique that involves picturing something in your mind before it’s happened. That could be playing a challenging piece on the piano, scoring a match winning goal or lifting a coveted award.
It’s a form of mindfulness practice that has been used for centuries and gained wide recognition in the 1980’s when the Russian Olympic team adopted it as part of their games winning preparations.
Visualisation makes use of our innate and powerful imagination to create positive feelings, emotions and states. It is said to build focus, confidence, clarity and skill.
The words visualisation and meditation are often muddled but they’re not the same thing. In visualisation, we are there to create and direct a mental movie to achieve a certain outcome. In meditation, we are there to simply observe what enters and passes through our minds.
One is about control and the other is about letting go.
These practices may seem to conflict when you look at them this way, but they are both beneficial and complimentary. Adding visualisation to your meditation practice allows you to better direct a quiet and focussed mind towards specific feelings you’d like to experience and outcomes you’d like to achieve.
The benefits of visualisation
There are a host of well documented benefits that are linked to visualisation. These include:
- Increased athletic performance
- Increased self-confidence
- Improved relaxation
- Improved tolerance for stress
- Improved sleep
- Greater emotional and physical wellness
- Greater compassion for yourself and others
As you may notice, they are very similar to the many science-backed benefits of meditation. Combining these techniques in regular visualisation meditation practice can enhance one an other and have far reaching effects.
A guided visualisation meditation
Loving-kindness is a popular visualisation meditation and a great place to start learning this technique. It can help to foster feelings of love, compassion and kindness towards yourself and others.
Color Breathing is another popular form of visualisation meditation. This technique can help with stress relief and overall mood enhancement. You can give it a try by following the instructions below:
Color Breathing
- Think of something that you would like to experience. This could be a specific feeling (warmth, comfort or relaxation), or a specific emotion (trust, confidence or joy). Simply choose your vibe.
- Assign a color to this experience: blue, yellow, purple, whatever you like. There’s no right or wrong answer here, but consider using a color you have positive associations with.
- Once you have a color in mind, find a comfortable position either sitting in a chair or cross-legged on a cushion.
- Close your eyes and take a few slow, deep breaths. In through the nose and out through the mouth. Feel the air moving gently as you inhale and exhale.
- Begin to visualize the color you’ve chosen.
- Continue breathing while holding that color in your mind, thinking about what it represents for you. Notice any feelings that this colour produces.
- With each inhale, imagine the desired color slowly washing over your body from head to toe. Continue breathing as you visualize the color filling your entire body, including the tips of your fingers and toes. Feel the feelings that this colour produces.
- Imagine any unwanted emotions draining out of your body with each exhale, and replace them with your chosen color with each inhale.
- Continue this visualisation for as long as you like – increasing the vibrance and intensity of your color and any positive sensations it brings.
Color breathing is great for beginners and will help to build your visualisation skills. As your confidence grows and you start to feel the benefits, you can try other, more advanced visualisations.
Visualization meditation can feel a little awkward at first. Some find it difficult to create a clear image in there mind. Others feel disconnected from the images that they create. Then there are those who struggle to maintain an image for any length of time – it keeps drifting away.
This is common, so don’t let it discourage you. Continue to practice visualisation meditation and you’ll get better at it in time. The images will become more vivid, the sensations will intensify and your duration will naturally increase.
You’ll want to stay in this space because it feels so good.
Practice this technique daily or every other day in rotation with your favourite meditations. Your ability and the benefits accrue through repetition.