[wolfgang]

Originally Posted by Roze

1. Where do you "see" the images? Do they appear behind your eyes, or more to the back of your mind, or in your heart? Are you thinking the images, feeling them or really seeing them? Because I never "see", I more like "think".

There isn't really a location to me when I visualize - maybe it's in the spirit world. I can actually have a sense of the visual information - like when you remember or have a lucid dream - it's like that.

2. How do you see the images? How vivid, how clear? If you focus on one detail, can you still see the whole picture, like you can in the material world?

It morphs around a lot to focus on images. It's different that the material world because it's easy to zoom in and out at whim. If I zoom in to a detail, yes the background is still around but that background can change and I don't really try to insist on it being exactly what I was visualizing since I zoomed into something else.

3. Comparing visualization to other mental processes: How does visualization differ from daydreaming, from thinking, from dreaming, ..., or from seeing in the real world?

Supposedly our brain doesn't know the difference of visualization and seeing the real world. That's one use of imaging something like the perfect golf shot will train your brain to a high degree.

4. Can you visualize with your eyes open?

not really, or rather not as deeply or vividly.

5. What kind of images can you visualize? Can you really "create" visions, can you only see what you have seen before, or is visualizing an outlet of your subconscious awareness? Or is it all the above?

I think it's a creative part of me that is boundless and outside of what I've seen before as well. Sometimes the subconscious shows up but usually I am doing like a guided meditation that walks me through a garden and through a gate and the like. I've used guided meditation CDs that have a narration about what to visualize. Then I meditate on my own and paint a picture of me own journey. Sometimes if I have had a really vivid dream, I'll visualize that dream again in a sitting mediation. I visualize mostly nature and journey's - like crossing bridges and walking in the sand. But also I do visualize the perfect ski turn or perfect surfing ride.

6. How did you learn visualization? What was the technique or exercise that worked for you?

With those meditation guided CDs I mentioned. Also try this: Hold some like a box or similar object in your hands. Look at it for a couple minutes and find details about it, study it. Put it down and close your eyes and remember what you looked at for a couple minutes. Do that back and forth for 3 or 4 times. Then move on to visualizing that box on your own. I think meditating and having a super relaxed body helps a lot to take a visualization into more of a first person event instead of just thinking about it. I know when I still have something tight in my body, there's part of me still with the body and I won't enter the visualization as first person so much.

7. What can visualization be used for? (like visualizing goals, ...) When people speak of visualizing in connection to different kinds of personal development tools, is it always the same kind of visualizing they are talking about? If not, are there different kinds or maybe even subkinds?

Improving sports. Relaxation. Improving performance. Walking through scenarios that might have fears around them so when you are in real life, you are calmer. Insight into what your habitual mind is doing. Feeling connected to source. Lowering blood pressure. I would think most visualizations are about the same in structure - that is you get comfortable and relax, maybe with breathing first then the content changes based on what you want to play with. Might just be to relax and take a inner journey - or to play out a specific situation that you are going to have in real like. There are also visualizations around tunning into your body's energy. Like imaging the colors of your chakras or bring white light down and around you. Or bringing your aura in close and moving it out as imagining white light expanding around you and then coming in closer around you. I really liked one chakra vis I used to do. Spend some time with the color (actually a little flower opening and closing (got that idea from this form to add to what I was doing) of each chakra and then move up until at the crown - and bring all of the colors up and blend them together into white and connect it up. I've had some spontaneous information related to each chakra doing this - and the blending into white lights seems to balance all the different aspects of each and balance them and makes me feel more whole and connected.

These are the questions I could come up with for now. I'm sure I will have some more questions as I learn new things. Feel free to add more questions. And also a big thank you in advance if you can help me! I'm really eager to learn visualizing.

Specifically there are brain frequencies (theta) that are known to be what the brain is vibrating at when visualization is happening. There are hemi sync or binaural beat meditation CDs that have theta for that - but it's not necessary.

Kids under 6 (I think I remember that right) have a lot of theta and often when they are playing and make believing they are actually visualizing and make it real in their head. Then we grow up and our brains speed up and we get trained to think a lot and it gets harder to snap back into something that was natural for us. But the good thing is that is natural and trainable to do.