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After thinking about visualisation for a few days, I looked at how I use it in my day to day life.
When I enter a prayerful situation, I “throw up” or visualise a medicine wheel, to remind me of the balance and fullness of life.
Then there is a game we used to play while hiking and camping. When you hike during the day, you see beautiful streams, trees, mountains, birds, squirrels, and sometimes larger mammals. At night you have a little fire to cook your meal, and then you are left with the stars and conversation.
An excellent game to play at this time is: “I close my eyes and I see…”
I played it with myself this morning.
I closed my eyes and I saw a wall of tan brick.
I closed my eyes and I saw a hand bursting out through sand.
I closed my eyes and I saw a sparrow, doing a curving, swooping arc to my left.
You may find that the images come too fast for you to “catch” them.
The goal of this game is to s-l-o-w the images down enough so that you can catch them. It will help you to retain what you experience in Journeying.
This is a more playful way of flexing and developing your visualisation “muscles.”
You are familiar with 4-7-8 breathing.
To make your inner vision stronger, visualise the numbers as you count them.
You can visualise them in different colors – you can visualise the inhale numbers as expanding, and the exhale numbers as shrinking or contracting.
Or, if you want to dedicate a Practice to visualisation skills, set a time aside and practice “counting.” Visualizing 0-9. Put the 0 at the end. You can use any number of representations for the numbers – dice faces, roman numerals, numbers, or even a quantity of bunnies. One bunny. Two bunnies, etc. until you get to No bunnies.
I’d like to start here. This sounds “basic”, like building a platform to grow on.
You mention visualizing your Medicine Animals, so perhaps this can also tie into 4-7-8.
Although, you write, “No bunnies” and that made me feel sad.
These exercises also require concentration. Visualisation is an Air quality – but concentration is a fire quality. Focus of Will. This is a step beyond Mindfulness into Creation. You aren’t just observing, but you are actually creating the images, and choosing which images to create.
Recommended reading: “Creative Visualization” by Shakti Gawain.
“. .. you are actually creating . . . ” is speaking to me.
When I enter a prayerful situation, I “throw up” or visualise a medicine wheel, to remind me of the balance and fullness of life.
Then there is a game we used to play while hiking and camping. When you hike during the day, you see beautiful streams, trees, mountains, birds, squirrels, and sometimes larger mammals. At night you have a little fire to cook your meal, and then you are left with the stars and conversation.
An excellent game to play at this time is: “I close my eyes and I see…”
Are you able to use this visualize when you are home, away from nature, and may need it? Does it work that way? Is it portable that way?
Can people in large cities use this to surround themselves with nature? I’ve found guides here, but it seems “strange” and “disconnected” in ways.
This is a more playful way of flexing and developing your visualisation “muscles.”
It seems more “interactive”. I’m going to try it!
No bunnies is actually the hardest number of bunnies to visualise!
An excellent game to play at this time is: “I close my eyes and I see…”
Are you able to use this visualize when you are home, away from nature, and may need it? Does it work that way? Is it portable that way?
It doesn’t need to be nature, that’s why I gave you the examples of the brick wall, the hand coming up through sand. It’s whatever random images your mind throws at you.
You can even do meditations on “I close my eyes and see – ”
And observe your thoughts as images. You will find that, as you observe the images, your thoughts will still, just as if you were doing a mindfulness meditation or a breath meditation.
The advantage of doing it as a meditation, is it can move, like flowing down stream or running along a road or path (my two favourite visualisations for falling asleep), or a flowing scarf that dances around before your inner eyes.
The advantage of doing still images (as opposed to moving ones) is they are flashes, temporary, and you cannot get lost doing it.
That means that you open your eyes in between each image.
Close your eyes.
What do you see?
Open your eyes.Rinse and repeat!
No bunnies is actually the hardest number of bunnies to visualise!
Lol, okay, that is very true. 🙂
The advantage of doing it as a meditation, is it can move, like flowing down stream or running along a road or path (my two favourite visualisations for falling asleep), or a flowing scarf that dances around before your inner eyes.
I haven’t thought of using this for sleep, but that gives me good ideas. Thank you.
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