Meditations with aphantasia
How are you handling the "imagine" question, when there is nothing showing?
Imagine a red apple. If I see none, how can I continue?
Are there ways to open this mental eye, or is it simply blindness?
Most guided meditations include "imagine". What if i cant?
Common responses suggest to use your other senses.
Or simply try your best to do it anyways.
It feels like a big wall, keeping me out of spiritual exploration. There is no inner experience when i observe, only void.
Thanks Kristian and for those of you who haven't come across the term aphantasia, it is simply the self defined inability to visualise. For all of us who are on this planet, in a body - we are here to learn. This is our chance to learn and things ALWAYS change..in fact that is the only constant.
Please Kristian, I urge you not to define yourself as lacking this capacity , but rather as having not yet tuned into it . Meanwhile there are lots of ways to work towards connecting with guided meditations. I am certain our incredible practitioners may be able to add more or more detail . However here are a few suggestions to ' open the door'
*Sensation (somatic awareness)
how the breath feels
temperature
body weight
heartbeat
muscle tone
* Sound
guided verbal imagery in metaphor rather than visualisation
ambient sound
vocal toning
* Emotion + felt sense
tuning into subtle emotions
locating feelings in the body
compassionate inquiry
*Thought awareness
observing the structure of thoughts
working with self-talk
*Breath-based meditation
Rebirthing (conscious connected breathwork)
Pranayama
Box breathing
*Object-based or mantra-based meditation
repeating a mantra
listening
counting breath
anchoring attention to one physical point
These methods do not require visual imagination and work extremely well for people with aphantasia.