The power of imagination

For beginners, meditation exercises normally commence with the proposition that you use your imagination to create an idyllic scene, awareness or experience. For many these visualisation exercises are easily created, while others find them more challenging as they require the freedom of creative, not analytical awareness. If you have difficulty visualising, do not worry!

Take a long deep breath and simply recall places, sounds and feelings that bring upliftment, inspiration, a sense of calm, tranquillity and happiness.

Can you remember spending a relaxing time at the beach? What were your happiest memories of this experience? Sailing your yacht with the wind filling the sails, enjoying happy times with friends and family, the invigorating feeling of walking along the beach in the early morning light, the soothing sound of the breaking waves, or the peace felt while watching a sunrise or sunset?

Such recollections required no mental processing. You simply reemerge yourself in the fullness of an experience that brought happiness or fulfilment. Such is the nature of meditation. Such recollections are experiences of the spiritual heart, which you can recall at any moment, anywhere.

As a meditative exercise, use your imagination to bring back any number of awarenesses and, holding them for as long as possible, let them expand. The longer you hold awarenesses similiar to these, the longer you are free of the analytical mind, the deeper and longer shall be your periods of mental stillness, the more peaceful and calmer you shall feel. This is the most successful, simple and powerful use of creative imagery in your meditations.

Next - Understanding the physical mind