Meditation and Visualization – One can find lots of definition for these two words but I believe these two words cannot be defined easily. They have to be personally experienced and highly individualistic in nature. Meditation involves focusing the mind. The purpose for doing this can range from wanting to relax to feeling more energized to raise your awareness to bring about positive thoughts and changes and connect with yourself. Adding any mental image to it becomes visualization. Examples of this can range from visualizing calm scenery such as beaches or a field of flowers to achieving a goal – say crossing the finish line or visualizing a presentation going off beautifully with the audience applauding or even manifesting any of your desires. With this mental image, you give it a shape and structure as to how exactly you would want it in your real life.
There are different types of meditation and visualization and one has quite a variety to choose from and adopt what suits you best. There is mantra meditation – chanting a particular phrase or hymn that you feel good about, mindfulness meditation – to be aware of the present moment at any given time, guided visualization – forming of mental images through a series of instructions, listening to subliminal music (now, this is a vast topic in itself) focusing on breath or heart rhythm, chakra meditation, there are meditations that involves being seated and those involving movement…the list is quite long. I’ve been doing a few of them for the past six years and have reaped benefits from some of them.
Of all the types of meditation and visualization, I find white light visualization which I’ve adopted recently for my daily practice as one of the most powerful and soothing forms. It fills me with a strange sense of peace. It is easy and convenient and can be done anytime anyplace. There is no specific time frame involved. There is no need to be seated and though a calm quiet place is preferred, it is not a must.
Sometimes I’ve done it while waiting in a queue at the grocery store! If at home, I sometimes visualize different ways I’ve listed in this article along with meditation music or subliminal music in the background. Other times I do a round of white light meditation and relax before I start visualizing what I want to manifest in real life.
WHY WHITE LIGHT VISUALISATION?
The color white stands for many things – purity, divination, new beginnings and mental clarity are some of them. It is known to promote healing of the body, mind and spirit. It clears up the mind for manifestations and spiritual enlightenment.
For me personally it’s a very flexible color. I feel good when I see anything in white and reading about the benefits helped. I use it mostly to calm down and for manifesting my desires.
Here are five ways that I use the white light to meditate. What is listed below isn’t an elaborate process that takes a lot of time. Most mentioned here is something you can do in an instant and carry on with your work though if you do set aside time to visualize at a leisurely pace that’s just as good.
1. White Light Shower : Pretend you are standing under a shower and imagine bathing in white light. Feel the white light coming down from the top of your head and travelling all the way down to your toes, waves and waves of it. Stay with this image for a few minutes. Imagine stepping out of the shower feeling fresh and cleansed. Remember I mentioned earlier that there is no time frame involved and it can be done anywhere? This is one way to visualize the white light shower – sitting at your desk, waiting for someone, or even in the shower:)
2. White Light Waterfall: This visual is usually in a natural setting, amid green trees, birds chirping and rocks and stones. Imagine as if white light is gushing out from a rock and falling on to a stone platform. You are standing on the stone platform and you can feel the white light cascading down upon you. This is not very different from the shower except for the natural surroundings. Serene nature images usually have a soothing effect on the mind and coupled with the white light waterfall meditation, it’s doubly refreshing.
3. Drinking from a glass of white light: Whenever you are typing in front of the computer or doing some task that involves some kind of tension, place a transparent glass near you. Don’t fill it with anything. At intervals, lift the glass and imagine it being filled with white light and you are drinking it. Close your eyes and imagine the white light water going into every single part of your body, cleaning it and filling it with positive energy. This activity will not take even a few seconds but the tiny breaks will do you good.
4. Soaking your feet in white light and have it travelling to your crown chakra: This is one more visualization where you place your feet in a tub while sitting on a chair. This is not an in-depth chakra meditation, for each of the seven chakras or seven spiritual locations in your body have their own colors. This is more like soaking your feet for a pedicure but only difference is there is no water. Instead, imagine the white light travelling slowly, very, very slowly right from your feet, to your knees, to your navel area, to the solar plexus (the area below your rib cage), to the heart, to the throat and have it bursting out from the crown chakra right on top of your head and fading away into the universe. The key here is not to rush this. Spend few minutes with the white light in each part of the body before moving on to the next. Imagine it healing any area that you feel is tense and needs energy. When I do this, I can’t wait for the white light to reach my neck. I’ve become aware that this is the area where I feel a lot of tension and consciously relax during this visualization.
5. Take a white light swim – in a river or a pool: Again this can be in a river surrounded by greenery OR a pool in a resort where you are left to yourself. Only your mind can conjure what images you want and sustain that image with what you enjoy:) I choose the river flowing with white light where I walk calmly and step into it right up to my neck in white light and I allow myself to drift with the river of flowing white light. Same goes for the pool. Dive and splash about in the pool of white light for as long as you like or just lie there floating on top of the pool of white light.
For all of the visualization except for the soaking your feet in white light, take as much or as little time you want with the process.
While I have tried all these techniques, I use the waterfall and shower the most since it comes easy for me as a visual and I can do it on the go.
Note the connection between white light and the different water related visuals? Water is being replaced by white light here. Being anywhere near water is spiritually uplifting and we all know how beneficial it is to actually drink enough water. For me, water represents everything that is tranquil and energizing at the same time hence I use the white light visuals and connect it to water. You can come up with your own visuals of course – getting drenched in white light rain, white light emitting from holding a stone in your hand and travelling all over your body, white light radiating from the sun and so on. Get creative!
While I like the color white for various reasons, I know enough people who feel quite the opposite and find the color white cold or plain. You can use any color you feel good about…bathe in green light, swim in a purple light river, stand under a blue light waterfall… Feel free to use the color that makes you feel great if white puts you off. The idea is to relax and enjoy the process of visualization whichever color you choose.
“The world is but a canvas to your imagination” – Henry David Thoreau.
