Mental Imagery

As we know, experience is constantly changing, always new and therefore a little unpredictable. To to try to pin it down, the mind can conjure up a mental image or inner picture of experience in our imagination, e.g. of the breath or body, that we end up confusing with the experience itself.

Confusing imagination with experience can occur when we simply aren’t paying enough attention, not putting in the proper effort or simply going through the motions. But it can also occur when we try too hard to concentrate.

When we aren’t paying enough attention, or we are trying to rush through our practice then the mind can drift into imagining the object of experience, which is far easier an object to focus on than the ever-changing reality of our actual experience. Alternatively, if our mind is dull and we are desperately trying to force concentration, then we might unconsciously rely on the imagination to give us the illusion of ‘success’.

Practice tips:

Try to regularly check if there is an image in your mind’s eye that you are subtly attending to. If there is either dullness in the mind or overexertion then be particularly mindful of this. Let go of the image and try to receive your immediate experience, not looking for anything in particular, just patiently ready to notice the body or the breath as it is from moment to moment.

This imagery can be subtle and sometimes hard to notice but remember, in all of these cases the mind is using thought as a buffer to protect us from the immediacy of experience, and the feelings that arise there. We feel safer up in the head and less vulnerable, so when our attention turns to mental imagery it is likely because there is something in our experience that we don’t want to face or accept.

For example, if we are desperately trying to concentrate in our practice then we are likely trying to run away from our own judgement of ourselves as ‘failing’ at meditation or feeling like ‘bad’ meditators.

So regularly check in with yourself during practice to see if you have the capacity and willingness to really open up and turn towards experience as it is, even if it is difficult. Offer yourself kindness if you are struggling. One of my first meditation teachers used to repeat this simple instruction over and over again ‘just observe experience as it is, not as you might like it to be’.