Four Meditation Visualizations to Awaken Your Inner Goddess
When I first started my meditation practice, I used to get pretty bored. When all you can do is sit still and be it’s easy to for your mind to wander. The best advice I ever got for my own wandering mind was 'You need to switch things up'. I’m talking mantras, hand positions, bodily focus, anything that feels good to fixate on! One particularly powerful technique that makes the minutes fly by is visualization. When visualizing in meditation, you focus on a mental image as you attempt to feel it in the body. That may sound complicated, but the experience is unique to each person so whatever you feel is right! After all, this is your meditation practice.
The following four visualizations are a few of my favorites. When attempting each visualization begin by sitting comfortably, the back should be alert yet soft; close your eyes or lower your gaze; relax your body as deeply as you can. And then, visualize:
1. Glow up. When I feel a cold coming on or just want any extra boost of energy, I always turn to a light visualization. Imagine as you breathe that a warm light is radiating out from your fourth chakra (heart center). As you inhale, this light grows. This light can be of any color. The focus should be on feeling this light throughout the body. As you exhale, the light (and focus) comes back to the heart center.
2. Third eye cleanse. This visualization is my go-to when I am feeling stuck. Whether I’m making a tough decision or facing spiritual stagnation, cleansing the third eye can promote intuition and clarity. It is done by imagining breath flowing through the third eye (above and between the eyebrows) in tune with the breath.
3. Started from the bottom now we here. This a powerful technique adapted from the Yogic Complete Breath. It is done by moving the breath from all the way down in the first chakra (the anus) up to and out of the seventh chakra (the crown of the head). Begin by inhaling deeply into the belly, feeling the breath fill up the bottom-most part of the lungs. Then fill the top-most part of the lungs by raising the chest and slightly sucking in the abdomen. Exhale as much air as you can before allowing the chest and belly to soften. By using this technique, we are both physiologically delivering more oxygen to our body and spiritually balancing our energy centers.
4. The lovingkindness technique. If you’re having trouble with a difficult person in your life, this one’s for you! The lovingkindness method is all about feeling universal compassion; for yourself, for your mom, for your coworker, and for those half away across the world. It is done by picturing light flowing from your heart center to that of another person. On your inhales, bring your attention to the feeling of warmth and brightness at your heart. On your exhales, send that bright light to the other person.
BONUS! – Dispelling distracted thoughts. This is a visualization method I use when a nagging thought keeps returning. First, picture the thought in your head as a vibrating cluster of energy. Then use the inhale to mentally send the breath into that cluster of thought. Finally, imagine the exhale is breaking open that cluster of thought as the particles dissolve.