Thread: Visualization

When it comes to visualization it's not the physical eyes that you are going to "see" with, it's the mind's eye. If I now say the word "Batman" you think of that with images because that is the language that your brain is using, images and association. So in the same way that you use the mind's eye to see the image with eyes open, you can also see it with closed eyes. It's all about shifting what you focus on. It's difficult to describe exactly how this works because in short, we don't know.

I think you can get the feeling of what I am trying to describe.

So you should not think about what you do with your eyes, it doesn't really matter, the importance lies in the focus of your awareness!
A proof for that (that you can try yourself) is that I can move my eyes around in random movements and and circles but still hold a visualization image in my mind, no matter if the eyes are opened or closed.

We can all do this simple visualization by holding a mental image on our mind for a millisecond, but when it comes to actually keep that focus most of us struggle. And the reason for that is that we are unfocused. We are raised with shifting our focus all the time, from facebook notifications to textmessages etc. If you want to be able to maintain focus longer, you simply need to practise it.

A way to demonstrate that you already possess the ability to visualize, but the problem is maintaining focus, is to tell you to think about what you have done today, or to think of a memory. You are not only going to use words to describe that in your mind, you are going to use images! And by that time you are visualizing. But.. if you can't hold the images in your mind it's because you jump to another thought or image and that is why the image you tried to focus on falls apart.

You can either practise your focus directly with visualization by keeping your focus for as long as possible on an image, or you can practise meditation.
I have a guide on how to do that in my signature.

When you can easily keep a still image or a simple object in your mind's eye both while having your eyes opened and closed, then you can start using other senses and move your focus in this internally created world.

But remember to both practise your visualization skills but also your ability to focus, because if you can't focus, your visualization aren't going to be stable enough to play around with anyway. And not your dreams either for that matter.

I hope this helps and if you have more questions, ask away.

Peace!

Yeah, I know is not the physical eye that see that images but the minds eye. But it is also true that even the hipnagogic imagery is not seen by your physical but you can "see" those images. I experienced some short hipnagogic and they look pretty real. Another example is when you see for 30 seconds or more an image. When you Close your eyes you can see the afterimage for a while

Actually when I think about it I am not totally sure of how exactly it works, because the fact that our eye pattern matches our dream eyes is the reason we can prove lucid dreaming scientifically in the first place. And when I enter a dream directly through DEILDing in the early morning I actually do SEE the images. But what I mean is that it's different stimuli. If you visualize a dream through imagination you have to train yourself to maintain your awareness through internal focus. When you focus on an after image of light it's based on something external.

But what I described to you above is how I viusalize before entering a dream directly during the night, but then again then I am very close to a REM-period so then it's more or less automatic. And I do use this type of visualization to day dream more vividly but nothing beats the REM.

Take from my answers what you will, but I don't think I can provide better help than this.

Good luck

Sometimes in the morning I can visualize very well. I can even read text from the visuals, although it's difficult. I've noticed that when I lose focus, is like loosing focus with my physical eyes. I did this afterimage training for a couple of days but couldn't stick to it because it was boring, but I think could really help for image stabilization.

Yeah, I know how it is be completely concentrated in your imagination. It happened to while trying wild and it feel like no longer pay attention to anything of the real world and one time I could even really see what I imagine, maybe I was entering a dream but every time when I bought come aware of this all my concentration on visualization fade away and I come back to the real world. I tried to visualize while wilding but I fall asleep everything but when I don't visualize I stay awake all the time without nothing to happen