Desi Bartlett M.S., CPT E-RYT, has been teaching health and wellness for over 25 years. She is a dynamic motivator, global ambassador, innovative creator, and expert in prenatal and postnatal yoga.
Visualization is the practice of connecting to your inner vision and seeing what you would like to manifest and make space for in your life and your heart. Whether it is a new home, a new relationship, a new job, or a new way of being, you can connect to your inner reality by:
- Closing your eyes and enjoying a slow steady breath: closing your eyes will allow you to let go of external distractions and to turn the attention inward. This is your time to slow your thoughts down, slow your breath down, and allow your focus to settle on the inner reality, or what I like to call the inner landscape
- Connecting to the inner landscape of your mind, you can touch your 3rd eye if that resonates with you- in the practice of yoga and esoteric teachings, the 6th chakra, is located above the physical eyes, at the level of the forehead, and relates to sight beyond the physical sense of vision. We often connect to this energy center when we daydream, and visualization is similar, but with a clear and intentional vision of something that you are calling into your life
- Seeing that which you are calling in and making space for- it is important to envision what you would like to make space for in your body, mind, and heart. The clearer the vision in your mind, the more that the subconscious can connect to this vision as reality. Your mind will experience this vision as a reality at that moment and you can connect to the feelings that you experience with this new vision.
- Envisioning your own reaction to an embodiment of the new– the feelings that we experience as we connect to this new vision are perceived by the body-mind (they are connected, we are whole beings) as reality. Take the time to do a quick and easy inventory of your feelings, are you feeling happy, joyous, empowered? Where do you experience this feeling in your body, in your heart, your abdomen, your face in the form of a smile or happy tears?
- Surrounding the vision in a pink bubble of light and releasing it- this is a classical technique of visualization in which you can surround the vision in your mind with a pink bubble of light. Imagine the bubble gently being carried into the future for you to meet the experience and embody it at the exact right moment. You will know when the vision is made manifest when you live the experience and remember the pink bubble.
- Trusting that your vision will become reality at the right time- there is time on a clock and then there is what I like to refer to as divine right timing. For example, we might have an idea of when something should occur. Sometimes we think that we should be married by a certain age, or become a parent at a certain age when in reality the “shoulds” not only can lead to feelings of disappointment or even failure, but they negate the possibility that something even better might occur if we are patient and trust that the vision will come into physical reality at the exact right time. Sometimes it looks a little bit different and that’s OK, it is important to leave space for trust and being delighted by how great things can be when we let go of the need to control
I recommend enjoying visualization after you have moved your body. Whether it is yoga, running, or weight training, when we take the fight out of the body, the mind can settle and focus easily on whatever we choose. Take your time with visualization. the first few times you might wish to simply connect to your breath and a vision of a sunrise. Like all practices, it feels much more natural when you enjoy visualization regularly. It is not always necessary to connect with a big meaningful event or life transition, it can be incredibly powerful to simply envision yourself as happy, healthy, and whole.