Visualisation means “to form a picture of something in your mind”, in other words to imagine something.

The idea of doing a visualisation can often cause fear in many people as they just don't think they can do it. This then prevents them from experiencing meditation as they think they have to be able to “visualise” in order to meditate. This is not true, you can meditate without using visualisation and there are many books around now that given examples of lots of different meditations that do not use visualisation in their practice.

Visualisation does have its advantages; it helps reduce stress levels and induces inner calm and peace. It can help us gain awareness of our inner psyche, and can be as refreshing as going on holiday.

If you have tried before and thought you failed, chances are you were told what to visualise, and had an expectation of a wonderfully painted picture vividly forming in your minds eye of whatever it was you were told to visualise. When it didn't happen you were naturally disappointed and decided you couldn't do it. We can all visualise, it is just different for different people and you need to find out how it works for you.

If you freeze every time someone says “picture this” or “visualise a beach” or even “imagine a beautiful moon lit sky” – then change the words to “think about”. It sounds simple, but we often separate the thinking process from the imagination, because we think every single day. You think about what to have for dinner, where to go at the weekend, how to get to work when there is a train strike, what colour top to wear, and unconsciously you visualise those things.<br.

Try the following exercise, in order to get the best from it record the exercise on to a voice recorder up to the point where it says “now open your eyes”, or have a friend read it out to you (try it on each other), again to the same stopping point, or read through it a couple of times until its in your mind but please don't read beyond the words “now open your eyes”!.

the thinking exercise

Sit somewhere comfortable, relax and close your eyes. When you feel ready, think about your ideal home. Where is it? Is it the same house as the one you are in now? If so how is it different? If not, what kind of house is it? Is it a cottage, a town house, detached, terraced? Where is it? What surrounds it? Does it have a large garden? What is in the garden? What are the views like? Can you see the sea or fields or a mountain range? Is it in the UK , or Scotland , Wales or Ireland ? Is it in Europe or elsewhere in the world. What are the neighbours like? Are there shops nearby? How many rooms does it have? What extra rooms does it have that you do not currently have and what are they used for? What interior design does it have? Who lives there with you? Are you with the entire family, just your partner or on you own? What colour is the outside? What colour is the front door? What number is it? Or does it have a name? Keep thinking about this ideal home until you feel ready to stop. Before you finish make a note of the number/house name and the colour of the front door. Now open your eyes.

Before you go any further write down the number/house name and colour you thought of and look up what they mean in the numerology section and colour sections.

Now congratulate yourself, you just did your first visualisation.

From this easy exercise, you were able to build up a complete picture of your ideal home and in the process learn a little bit about yourself from the number/house name and colour you chose. This is just one of the uses of visualisation. Now that you feel a bit more confident with this process, try another exercise, you will be able to use this one in future meditations. Again record this on a voice recorder, or have someone read this out to you to get the best results.

Your favourite places exercise

Sit quietly, relax and close your eyes. Now just quietly think about your favourite places. First of all think about the places you've been to. Holiday destinations for instance, or a favourite walk, maybe it is your garden, or a special room in the house. With each place think about how it makes you feel, do you feel relaxed? Do you feel invigorated and energised?

Now think about places you've never been to but have become a favourite place nevertheless. Where is it? What is special about it? How do you think you would feel if you went there?

Lastly, think about some really wild places that would be wonderful to visit, like the moon, or to float on a cloud, or a desert island. Maybe you'd love to fly amongst the stars, in fact anything that seems completely out of reach, think about them in turn. These places have no boundaries so you can think of wherever you want, and again think about how they make you feel.

When you have exhausted your list of favourite places, known, unknown and out of this world, open your eyes.

Before you do anything else, write down a list of as many of these places you can remember and make a note of how they made you feel. These places can form the basis of all your future meditations where you just want to get away, or when you are in a yoga class and the teacher says “visualise your favourite place” you now have a list to choose from and you know you can visualise them now.

Visualisation should not be something that scares people, or something that seems out of reach, as the above two exercises have just shown everyone can visualise, its just knowing how and what it is and not being afraid of it.

From now on you should not feel scared to visualise or use your imagination as you have just experienced what it is for you. Hopefully these exercises have been of some help to you and have started you on your journey to discovering your innermoo!

For even more examples and information on meditation have a look at the books section, and when you read the section that gives exercises on creative visualisation, enjoy them.