Creativity and Imagination Training For Better Sleep, Stress-Management, and Self-Development

Meditating in Colour — Create Infinite Journeys

How to use all six senses to relax and further transform your state of mind

Feb. 25th, 2023 UPDATE--
The direction you lead your mind matters.
Imagining the worst will inevitably turn
you rotten.
Use with care.

--G

Mindfulness

Using focus and awareness to induce an alpha state of mind.

Consider the following activities which may naturally help achieve this :

• deep reading or listening
• exercise and self-care
• practising an endless variety of arts and skills
• sensory meditation
• and, my personal favourite— training your imagination.

The more one focuses and consciously takes in — or recreates — through the senses, the more brain activity is being dedicated to achieving this valued state of mind.

This phenomenon isn’t true, or possible, of all animals. Humans are indeed fortunate beings.

We take everything to a whole new level.

The Prefrontal Cortex

It’s because we have a unique gift many other animals couldn’t even imagine having— literally. It’s called the ‘prefrontal cortex’, and it’s behind many of our specie’s extraordinary abilities. From logical prowess to a knack for the creative, the abilities to grasp then manipulate the abstract— our minds are capable of countless formidable feats.

This includes the ability to shift into higher, healthier states of mind— and all without the use of intoxicants.

The Senses — Hallucination

Nothing we sense is straightforwardly real. I’m not speaking philosophically, though sometimes that’s all I do :

But everything we perceive — as part of the outside world — is a mere representation based on our senses capturing and relaying information to the brain, which then makes its best interpretation of the information received, finally to become your conscious perception of existence. This also applies to the phenomenon of illusions, as the brain is easily tricked into activating the wrong cells for reflecting reality.

But why we care :

• the brain has the power to build and experience anything, and by doing so, increase our state of mind.

You have the ability to conjure any experience you’d prefer! Amazing, and easily achievable with small and forward action steps as found below!

The Six Senses — Practice

Always consider your surroundings before attempting to enter trance. Don’t meditate while driving, or operating heavy machinery!

Hearing

Personally, the easiest sense to recreate.

A good practice for training this ability is to imagine playing through the entirety of songs you enjoy. This can also work with other familiar sounds, be they musical, animal, mechanical, noisy, ambient, etc.

You might ask yourself what it would sound like. What you consciously ask, you subconsciously aim to answer.

An exercise I often particularly enjoy is modifying a sound in my head to create a new sense of it. With a song, this might mean switching out instruments or vocalists, altering the pitch, tempo, or genre, or altogether leading it into a new song of your own creation.

You can create any auditory environment as you please. Though it should be noted, this is easiest to achieve amid the grace of silence.

Vision

One of my favourites to work with, especially as it plays into furthering the others. Keep in mind, our visual senses are highly interpretative of symbolism; the slightest visualization will hold meaning to you and may affect the outcome of your final conclusions.

To begin, evoke the face of a loved one. They should be close enough to your heart that it isn’t an issue. If you absolutely must, ask yourself what they look like.

You can do this about anything at all.

Next, considering you have no difficulties with conjuring vivid imagery, think of energy.

Bright, wispy, flowing energy.

You can manipulate the shape, color, transparency, elemental attributes, and really any aspects to construct your desired scene.

Feb. 25th, 2023 UPDATE--
The direction you lead your mind matters.
Imagining the worst will inevitably turn
you rotten.
Use with care.

--G

Touch

As always, ask yourself how a particular object would feel.

Think of the weight, texture, temperature, solidity, etc.

It helps to imagine yourself interacting with the object. How does it feel against your skin? Do your muscles strain?

While it’s not my strongest sense to evoke, I often enjoy summoning a cool glacier breeze. Unless I’m cold, then I might conjure the heat of a controlled fire, which I’ll also visualize around me as a flowing stream of energy.

Feb. 25th, 2023 UPDATE--
Strength of temperature control is limited, 
and shouldn't replace appropriate temperatures 
in your environment.

What is something you enjoy feeling?

Reach out, and feel it.

Taste and Smell

These ones are really hit and miss for me, since I have a faulty sense of smell to begin with. That said, if you’ve noticed the pattern yet, there’s a pretty straightforward way to practise these.

How would the chosen item taste? How would it smell? If both, then how would those two senses combine?

Touch, vision and sound all may easily affect this sense.

I love recreating the sensations of the fruit I enjoy. Mandarin oranges especially; I can taste the sweetness and the acidity, and feel the juice gushing against my inner cheeks.

You know you’ve succeeded when recreations send chills up your spine.

Proprioception

This is known as your body’s sense of movement, as well as its placement in accordance to your environment. Think about the sensation you get in dreams when flying, or when falling from great heights.

This sense is fantastic for imagining yourself acting out any scenario, without needing to move a finger. In deep meditation, this is how you might feel yourself moving about and being a part of your imagined environment.

Easiest to achieve while sitting down, ask yourself what it would be like to walk forward. How would it be to run straight ahead? To jump several feet into the air?

As another level, try becoming an animal of your choice.

The different senses may easily tie in here, as you experience your surroundings from the full perspective of the animal.

I enjoy turning into a great forest owl.

Mainly, I sit high up on a cozy branch and survey the forest floor below, watching the other wildlife in their natural habitat, occasionally staring up at the canopy of the trees. Sometimes I fly to another branch, loving the light breeze beneath my wings.

The options are endless, and become easier to hold over time.

Endless Creative Meditations

Your inner world is endless, every sense available for your desired purpose. So what do you do with it?

Everything and Anything

There are no limitations to what you can want, none to what you can achieve. Billions upon billions of neural connections, just waiting to be put into action. That’s over 100 Trillion connections.

So the real question becomes: what do you WANT to do with it?

You can create any setting, any scenario, any state of being, and relax into it.

A Personal Favourite

I’m sitting upright, legs crossed, eyes closed.

It’s raining lightly; there are no clouds. The sky, a deep purple hue, the full moon shining greatly over a boundless horizon, I am at peace, hovering lightly over an endlessly vast body of water.

I feel the soft, cool trickling of precipitation against my skin, hear a delicate pattering against my shield of energy, cycling through the elements. I actively look around, pleased by the sight of a flat and unending skyline. If anyone was on my mind, they can be seen dimly in the distance, in their own state of peaceful meditation.

A bright white light slowly begins to form around me, I feel its warmth. I take a deep breath, and hold the energy field around me as I hold it for four seconds.

As I exhale, the field begins to turn green, pulsing briefly. Once more, inhale, hold, exhale and change the colour this time to blue.

I’ll repeat these steps seven times, each iteration changing an aspect of the energy field.

Gradually, I switch things up, until allowing the imagery to follow its own course.

Who knows, vines may choose to rise from the depths, surrounding me, and reaching high into the starry night sky. I might also begin to raise myself, mental-body outstretched, arms embracing the falling rain—

Without a care in the world.

It’s Up to You

If you’re new to this, I’m almost envious.

Or actually, nah— it only gets better with time!

Whether you’re converting music to your favourite genres, reimagining a twist on your surroundings, or entering fully controlled states of daydream, these colourful meditative techniques may bring much peace and joy to your life.

But again, heed my warning—

Feb. 25th, 2023 UPDATE--
The direction you lead your mind matters.
Imagining the worst will inevitably turn
you rotten.
Use with care.

--G

Gustave Deresse is a Canadian writer whose primary topics of writing include — but aren’t limited to — spirituality, philosophy, self development, and the Weird.

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