Visual Meditation

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Visual meditation uses our natural capacity to think in pictures and our ability to create images in what is often called the mind's eye. It may be practised with the eyes open or shut or by opening and shutting them for alternate periods,concentrating on the after-image that remains in our mind when the eyes are closed. The latter method is most usually recommended for beginners.

Place the object of your meditation (on which more later) at eye level between a metre and two metres from your face. If you decide to use a mandala or yantra the central point should be level with the eyes. Assume whichever meditation position you favour, and in as relaxed a way as possible, gaze at the image, focusing your attention on it, trying to become absorbed in what you are looking at rather than just thinking about it.

After two or three minutes or as soon as you feel any sign of eye strain, close your eyes and visualize the object for as long as you can, still trying to be part of it. Open the eyes again and continue alternating open-eyed and closed-eyed meditation for the full session.

Initially it will be difficult to retain the image in your mind's eye for long when your eyes are closed: don't worry. When the image starts to fade, open the eyes and gaze at the object again. As you become more practised in the art, you will find that you can retain the image for longer and longer.

Meditating on a candle

Many of those who come to visual meditation for the first time find that a lighted candle in a darkened room is the ideal object of focus. One method recommended for beginners is to light a candle in a darkened, draught-free room, draught-free so that the flame burns as steadily as possible. To meditate on a candle, sit as motionless as you can in any of the recommended positions and gaze at the flame so that it holds your attention completely.

Let the image fill your mind for a minute before quickly closing the eyes. Notice how the candle has imprinted itself on the darkness. Hold it in your mind's eye, not worrying about any change of colour. If it slips to the side, bring it back to the centre and keep concentrating until the image fades completely. Now open the eyes and resume gazing at the candle. Continue in this way for ten minutes at first, gradually increasing the time until you can sit comfortably for a full twenty-minutes.

A flower or a bowl

Some people begin their visualizing techniques with a flower. One expert tells his novice pupils to gaze at a patterned china bowl, taking it all in at first, then allowing the eyes to travel over it, tracing its lines and colours, the pattern that decorates it, the way it catches the light. Only when his pupils come to experience the bowl's visual qualities for the first time, does he move on to telling them to close their eyes and try to focus on the image of the bowl held in the mind.

It takes practice

At first, it is hard to hold a mental picture of the object, but with practice it becomes easier and easier until the point is reached when the actual object can be abandoned completely and you can meditate on the mental image with no external visual stimulus being used.

This can be extremely difficult, and if you have been successful with the alternating method but have had problems when you have tried to meditate holding a mental image in your mind for the entire session, you have probably been trying too hard or expecting too much. It can take years of practice before you can see the image clearly. Think of the mind as a musical instrument that has to be tuned with patience and sensitivity before it can be used to produce beautiful music.

Some who practise visual meditation find it helps to train the mind by closing the eyes and picturing a friend, concentrating on each feature in turn, the colour of the skin and hair, the shape and colour of the eyes, and so on, and then returning to the complete face, holding on to the image for as long as they can, and when it starts to blur, focusing again on the separate features.