Should one visualize while scanning different parts of the body? If not, should one try to suppress it? When I do body scanning practice, automatically an image of the corresponding body part arises in my mind. In fact, every single time when I am changing attention from a part to another it is the mental image of that part that arises first and sensations after that (if any). I have a hunch that this is not the right practice. I tried to "stop" it, but I could not...and hence the question. Can you give your insight on this? Also please share a method to avoid visualizing automatically (if that is indeed correct).

I've seen variations on some of the last few chakras as white instead of violet or purple, so I'm wondering what are the official/original - from Sanskrit (?) - colors?

When I first started meditating, the body scan phase confused me. For a long time, I imagined the shape of a body in front of me in the distance, and scanned down through it. More recently I’ve realised that you get much more out of it by scanning through the feeling of my own body “in place” — but I still sometimes get muddled about which perspective I am “seeing” or “experiencing” parts of the body *from*. I’ve had the same challenge with the visualisation of the white pinprick at the solar plexus. Sometimes I wonder whether I should be looking “down” from my eyes, through my neck and into my chest… or if my “eyes” should themselves move to the chest … or… something else? At the moment I am practicing with the visualisation of the red pearl / red lotus at the throat chakra, as recommended in the book *Dream Yoga* by Andrew Holocek. The same puzzle keeps coming up! Where should this shape be relative to my mind’s eye? What angle relative to my spine in three dimensions should it be in, where should the “camera” of my mind be in relation to it, and what should the resulting image actually look like? How should the feelings of my body relate spatially to this shape? Here’s another example, a simple description of a visualisation from this blog entry that puzzles me: > Picture the energy of your root chakra as a ball of ruby light centered on the base of your spine. With each breath, see this ball becoming larger. In this example, should I be “seeing” my body in front of me, like watching a mirror, so that I can look at the base of my spine? Or should I be feeling the base of “my” spine where I know it to be? In which case, “where” is the “ruby light”? My eyes can’t see the base of my spine when they are looking roughly ahead with eyelids closed. I feel *very* confused, especially as I have managed to feel very “in” the breath and body at this point in my practice, but visualisation always humbles me. I’d welcome any guidance about this, including simple steps and theoretical underpinnings. Am I somehow too attached to the position and perspective of the eyes in my head and, if so, how would you loosen that and what replaces it? Is this a known challenge of body visualisation? Nobody seems to talk about “where” in experience a visualisation should emerge. It’s a bit disheartening.

I noticed that I usually think in a very abstract manner, without images, just words and ideas. When I try intentionally to think visually, only then does lustful or worry-related images pop up. And, only then can I seemingly redirect my attention from these images. **If a person thinks very abstractly, is it possible that cravings or worries don't arise in consciousness? What is going on here?**

A while ago I attended a Tibetan Buddhist group. They were very nice but I just couldn't get on with the visualisation practices. I find it reasonably clear how mindfulness of breathing becomes an insight practice and metta bhavana. But I just couldn't see how an intricate visualisation practice would lead to an understanding of conditioned existence, suffering, no fixed self or any of it really. How do visualisation practices relate to insight? Additional detail - the practice involved the Buddha in a bright blue sky on a throne and I remember there were snow leopards under the throne and light was going out of the Buddha.

I have practiced meditation for the better part of a decade now. I wouldn't call myself a Buddhist, but that's immaterial. I've experienced and practiced many kinds of meditation (energy, dream, mindfulness), and all of the meditations I have practiced I have a logic for. I can understand the goal of the meditation and why the meditation works. One meditation that I've always been troubled by is visualization meditation. The type where repeatedly visualizing a very complex scene leads to certain goals. How is it that by visualizing a certain scene I enact unique changes in my psyche? Obviously there are many different flavors, but recently every path I turn to has resulted in some kind of visualization meditation and I quite honestly doubt the very fundamentals of such a meditation. When I have such a strong doubt I certainly won't be able to practice effectively. Are there any resources on this subject?

I know that Buddhists practice compassionate mediation by wishing to free first their loved ones from suffering, than their friends and than the people they have trouble with. Is this only for the individual practicing or can the practice actually reach the object too? (ie. friend) ps: There is recent scientific evidence for ESP or telepathic communication but did the Buddhists monks know this whole time? thanks.

I've come here many times for meditation on the breath. I've come to understand this meditation better, but I encounter problems unrelated to meditation. I've noticed that my memory is rather bad, and that my thought process relies mostly on verbal means. However, I remember being extremely visual at an early age, scoring quite well on visual aptitude tests, and these days I can sometimes visualize complex things. Yet, I fail to use visualization in every day life because I understand Buddhism discourages mental fabrication. I am thus very focused on exterior reality, either sensing reality or thinking abstractly. I'm wondering if visualization meditation would help me with memory and conceptualizing. I must also mention that I have a mood disorder, and though I doubt visualizing could affect this, I am still worried of the possibility. Thus, my questions are: 1. Is intentionally visualizing something very different from fantasies discouraged in Buddhism? 2. Is visualizing generally different from engaging in visualization in meditation? 3. Are there any risks involved in visualization practices, in visualization as a general trait of mind? 4. Would visualizing improve memory, retention, or modelling? 5. Could visualizing in a free and unrestricted way liberate or affect emotions, undo repression? I am thankful for any replies.

I am a relatively new (about four months) meditator. My meditation technique is closing my eyes and focusing on the sensation of the breath as it passes in and out of my throat. Today I was meditating for 30 minutes and, as often happens, I saw swirling lights in the darkness of my closed eyes. As I became more deeply focused on the breath-sensation, the lights went away and there was darkness, but the odd thing was that the darkness extended - it seemed as though I was looking down an endless, dark hallway rather than just looking at my eyelids. As I noted this, I started to see a purple, vibrating orb appear. I remember thinking to myself that maybe I was about to have some kind of mystical experience. I became a little excited about this, but all of a sudden the excitement morphed into an incredible fear. My breath began to come in gasps and was shaky, and my heart was pounding. I eventually managed to calm down, but wow that was strange. So my question is - has this happened to anyone else, and is there a reasonable explanation? I have always had issues with anxiety, so I wonder if that is related to this experience. I have heard that meditation can be harmful - is this a sign that I should refrain from meditating? Thanks for taking the time to read. Ian

Somehow, I seem to be forming mandalas within my psyche without any particular knowledge of how I'm doing so. I'm merely walking around, or meditating, and there will occur mandalas of great complexity (usually of the same shape) which arise in my mind. When they do, my mind will explore and think about them, almost obsessively, and attempt to understand them. Any idea about this?

By dream yoga I mean the practices intended to attain lucid dreaming, and then using that ability to realize that the world as we know does not exists as perceived (as in a dream) so one can reach the fully awake condition.

Some time ago, I found a mala in a shop that I was quite drawn to for reasons I cannot explain. At the time I thought it was wood but as the stain wore off I saw it was bone. This lead me to do some research into Bone Malas and I learned about tantric buddhism and wrathful meditation. This in turn lead me to a mantra I started repeating with the mala 108 times every day. Everything I read said I needed a master or guru to help initiate or guide me. So my question is how dangerous is this? Do I need a guru, and how on earth does one get initiated into a a type of buddhism?