I seldom write about meditation. Actually, I don’t recall ever doing so, because I don’t meditate. But since I started learning from my Taiwanese teacher, I started to use visualizations, and she had developed quite a lot of different meditation/visualization exercises. I didn’t bother with them in the first year, because I can’t visualize. Images pop up in my head, not because I want them to, but because they want to.
Hence watching tv becomes an alternative for me. Sometimes I would Google some images on the internet, and then visualize them in my mind. Basically my images need to be imported externally, not necessarily from a video, but can also from an actual event.
So I spend a lot of time watching videos on the internet, as a means of acquiring the underlying mood, emotions, feelings, thoughts, energies, etc. Often, what I am acquiring are not only visual signals but sound signals too, and in the sounds, there are moods, emotions, etc. The words themselves also encompass certain thoughts, humors, beliefs, ideas, etc., which are an extra layer to the overall mood of a story.
In the past year or two when I wrote on this blog, I occasionally mentioned flower essences as a method of healing, and the difference between that and visualization is that the former is typically used unconsciously while the latter is fully conscious. The effect of a conscious engagement is more powerful, though it may not be as convenient as just letting a few drops of essences do most of the work for you.
In addition to using flower essences unconsciously, you can also consciously tune your whole body, or whichever part of your existence you want, to the universe, then get that part of your body to access the nourishments you need. The difference between unconscious and conscious acquisition is that the latter requires you to feel the essences that you are absorbing.
Having given you a very brief background about accessing universal nourishments above, now we will go into visualization to actually download them into your existence. Note that nourishment is a broad term encompassing essences like love, joy, bliss, peace, power, zest, abundance, value, freedom, acceptance, connection, understanding, etc.
Below is an example of an actual visualization that I did the other night.
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I relaxed my body, layer by layer. I had a lot of tension, ,so with my attention on the tension, I connected to the horse I met at a historical fort. I felt the horse watching me, staying with me, loving me, supporting me, comforting me, etc., as my body cells clenched tightly, unwilling to let go. His presence brought immediate comfort and relief to my tense body cells and I cried.
A sliver of looseness came about.
I registered the grief. Then I connected to another image that I saw from a tv show of a leisurely afternoon tea on a resort island. The cool ocean breeze coming into a sheltered patio was a comforting and relaxing energy that balanced out some of my tension, and I was able to sink a little deeper into my relaxation.
While I bathed my body in that tropical climate, I tuned back to the horse, just to make sure he’s still there. Yes, he was, standing by to lend support whenever I needed it. A silent companion. A patient and dependable support. I felt assured, secured, comforted by that fact. So I continued to sink deeper into my body, scanning for the next layer of tension, fears, sadness, helplessness, etc.
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The next step of my visualization is to drive these acquired feelings home. By that I mean to bring them into every cell in my body, to encode them into my cellular memory, to make them into my root, my foundation, my emotional signature, my vibrational core.
So I continue to feel those emotions, stories, feelings, etc., that I want, like the horse forever being by my side whenever I need him, never leaving me no matter what, giving me his undivided attention when I need a listener, etc. Staying with those feelings is to amplify them.
Feel them infusing different parts of my body and my existence–my breathing, my natal chart, my zygote, my sense of self, etc.–until they become an intimate and intricate part of me. For me, this step takes many visualization sessions, with each session venturing deeper, growing stronger roots.
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What also differentiates visualization from flower essences is that the former has a story, a situation, an atmosphere, which means it is multi-layered, that the emotions, sensations, mood, etc., are intertwining together forming a complex picture with powerful effects; whereas the latter is just the basic ingredients for you to build your own story.
Above is an abridged version of my visualization session, because normally I combine release, balance, perception, etc., into my visualization, depending on what I encounter as I go deeper into my body. You can either build your skills on visualization separately from the other skills, and later if you wish, you can combine them in your practice session.
