Resting the mind has countless benefits both for our physical and psychological health. It allows us to restore inner balance through internal listening and harmony between the soul and the body. But what if we could take advantage of its benefits through our imagination? That is what meditation with visualization is all about; a creative way of performing mental exercises to achieve well-being.
To imagine is to create, immerse oneself in a world one has never been in before, and push boundaries. Thanks to our imagination we can design a reality according to and for our desires. That is why its use in meditation is so beneficial. Meditation with visualization is used by all kinds of professionals, from athletes to different types of artists and big businessmen.
“Balance is the ultimate goal.”
-Ricky Lankford-
To fight anxiety
Visualization is a widely used technique to reduce anxiety. Specifically, it is a tool used to achieve a state of complete relaxation by reducing the arousal or physiological activation of the organism that appears in those anxious moments.
The following meditation exercises with visualization allow you to bring back calm and awaken that feeling of peace that we sometimes so need. They also facilitate the opening of new challenges, opportunities, sensations, and future joys.
The first thing we should do is go to a comfortable place, where we feel calm and can find peace in silence. Once we have that place of refuge, we have to start breathing deeply, inhaling through the nose and exhaling slowly through the mouth. Then, we can apply some of the following exercises.
Colors
The chromatic range has been widely studied in psychology to analyze the perceptions, behaviors, and sensations that colors arouse in us. Therefore, imagining that our body is filled with light can be a good way to attract emotions.
This exercise consists of breathing deeply while imagining that we are surrounded by a light of a specific color that changes to white, orange, and red… In addition, we have to focus on the physical sensations that we experience in each case. What does each color make us feel? Once this is done, the next step is to imagine that we are a light that emanates green tones and that we are in total harmony.
Muscle tension
We often come home and notice that our whole body hurts. To relieve this pain, we can use this meditation exercise with visualization. We have to sit or lie down on the floor and focus on the part of our muscles where we feel the most tension.
The next step is to imagine that there is a knot in that area that prevents us from moving freely and we have to try to undo it with our mind. Thus, we have to keep our attention on each loop of that knot while we breathe and visualize how it is undone. The strands unravel and eventually disintegrate as if they were a simple layer of sand.
We can repeat this exercise as many times as there are points of muscular tension in our body.
Active memory
We have had a hard day. Too many things have happened to us and not all of them have been pleasant. The exercise that we explain below will help us to connect with that state of calm that we need so much. To do this, we have to close our eyes and take a deep breath to transport ourselves to the beginning of our day: how we slept, what we had for breakfast, and how we greeted our family … It is about reliving all those thoughts and sensations as if we were witnessing them at that moment.
Once we have recreated everything as vividly as possible, we must focus our attention on the painful moments to release them and allow that part of the day to leave us. Then, we just have to focus on the present, on the here and now, to feel relaxed.
Bubbles
This meditation exercise with visualization is one of the most complete because it combines two senses: sight and hearing. It consists of imagining that we are in a quiet, solitary, and dark place. In addition, we are enveloped by a feeling of peace, and in the distance, we hear a light and pleasant explosion.
That sound comes from a small bubble that has burst to our right. And immediately after that, we hear another one to the left. Then above our heads. Little by little, bubbles burst all over our bodies, with the same intensity and gentleness. We feel more and more relaxed…
Facing the unknown
What lies beyond? What will our future be like? What will life hold for us in a few years? To deal with this uncertainty, we can visualize ourselves in a dark, closed room located in a forest. Outside, the wind is blowing and we can hear hungry animals… The next step is to close our eyes and focus on the sensation we are experiencing. Is it fear? Anxiety? We hold it in for a few minutes and slowly release it.
Now, let’s imagine that another door opens and we see the exit from that room. We run towards it and suddenly we find ourselves in the forest with the same situation. What emotion are we feeling? Once we have identified it, we see that a path opens up before us. We decide to walk along it and escape and little by little we feel how the tension we were feeling is relieved and eliminated from our body. We feel safe, calm and comfortable. All that remains for us to do is enjoy the sensation and connect with it.
These simple meditation exercises with visualization can be done anytime, anywhere. All we need to do is train our ability to concentrate and develop our creative abilities to feel that sense of relief that we so desperately need.