Creating your own world in meditation

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 01 May 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

moon_mermaid	01 May 2003
I don't remember from which website that I get this idea. The idea is basically about creating a world using your imagination. This world will be the place where you can refresh your spirit, for example when you do meditation, or you need a quiet place to escape from the hectic world, you can always go to that world. According to the website, the army teaches the soldier this technique, so that in case they get captured and tortured, they can use the 'world' to stay sane. When creating the world, you should add in elements that make you really feel like you are physically in the world, not just imagination. For example, if your world is a beautiful garden with a bright sunshine, you have to image what you see around you in a right perspective, and feel the warmth of the sun through your skin. Once you have made this world, then better not to alter anything frequently, or else, the world will not be 'real'. One more thing, you cannot share this world with others or tell others about it, it is your own and no one can interfere. I hope I have explained the idea clearly. I wonder if anyone has thier own 'world'. Could you share some thoughts? I am starting to create my 'world', and it is fun. Just like you are given a house and you can decorate in anyway you like. :)

jema	01 May 2003
this is from my journal: on building a sacred place within: it opens up at a meadow. warm earth and high grass with wild flowers, not flashy, but rather plain unless you look close. a tree with warm brown bark and dark green leaves like a canopy. sit there a while and feel the textures and the warmth. scent of nettles and ants and of valerian. close my eyes and feel the red heat and the millions of suns behind my eyelids. there is a low fence just so i won't get lost, more a landmark then an enclosure. i follow it to an open gate, the door of dry wood leaning against the fence, hinges is rusty like dried blood. there grows cornflowers here. i pick one and put it in my hair. a narrow path through the tall grass, to the right side a small mound of big boulders. another landmark. one can sit on the biggest boulder and drink luke-warm lemonade and eat cookies and talk about trolls in a whispering voice. and spill lemonade on the stones and water the bones of the dead loves ones. they speak to me here. *** there is more of course, i have after all lived in this sacred inner place for many years. i often find myself here in my dreams too. more on the inner world can be found in my labyrinth: http://w1.910.telia.com/~u91030693/lost/start.html this is a mix between my meditation world and my dream landscape. just a slight warning - that the labyrinth is highly personal and really not open for any kind of negative comments, i hesitated quite a bit before making it public but on my old site it was one of the areas i got the most mails about. *** creating inner sacred space like this is something many magical schools teach you to do, this is where you can perform rituals in the astral later on when you are advanced enough to do so. but even if one never "use" the space for anything but meditations or daydreams it is still a really good exercise in visualisation.

azuremariposa	01 May 2003
jema, thank you so much for sharing your labyrinth...that was amazing, i truly enjoyed it...i did something very similar on my first website :) though not as lovely as yours... moon_mermaid, yes i have done this before, though it has been sometime since i last visited mine...:) it IS very much like decorating your own house...and this is a good way to think of life...your thoughts, ideas, actions, etc. decorate the HOUSE that is your life...if you keep things "sparkly" and "bright" imagine how lovely that HOUSE would be? ;) just a thought... many blessings... ~azure

HudsonGray	01 May 2003
The Seagull Mind Institute in the Midwest in the 1970's & 80's taught this technique to all it's students (they were also teaching connection to your psychic self & a number of relaxation techniques). The place moved to New York, and one of the teachers stayed here. She ran a number of friends through a 'crash course' who were interested and what you're describing was one of the first things we learned. She called it creative visualization. We all had to make a 'workplace' and a quiet place, among other things. Mine was inside a tall mountain range with a great view. A friend's was all of outer space. I forget what the others had. It definately works, you imagine all your senses involved, and it can get very detailed. The best thing about it is there are no barriers, you can do anything, matter shape and form are all under your control. If you want to walk through walls, that's all right. Time travel is ok too. You can do anything.

Astraea	01 May 2003
This is one of the main techniques used in the Silva Mind Control course, as well: one creates a laboratory in which to work on healing, meet one's guides, etc. In creating an inner landscape or "safe space," we are actually manipulating subtle substance, which is what imagination is about -- visualization and imagination are as real, on their own plane, as physical being.

moon_mermaid	02 May 2003
Thanks jema for sharing your labyrinth and thanks for all your ideas, they encourage me to continue my decoration. Though I still have a bit trouble on how to involve all the senses, but I am having a good start. ;)

anjocoxo	03 May 2003
I have to say I've never hear of this idea before, but the moment I was reading I though "my God, I'd love to try this, because it sounds wonderfully!" So, I'm about to try building my own world (and only I know how much I'm in need of a world of my own...) Thank you very much for the idea, it sounds fantastic Anjo

Inana	08 May 2003
I always liked to do this. Someone years ago recommended me to do it when doing relaxation. The thing is... i always start at the same place, but after i come introducing new elements or changing things, so never is the same place. Only the shape of the mountains is the same. Maybe i still havent found the perfect elements. Is a very good exercise to do. It stimulates imagination. Never head before it was teached in the army... interesting.

Moongold	11 May 2003
Greetings all, This is a lovely idea, and thank you so much Jema for giving us access to your personal labyrinth. The idea reminds me of the creative visualization ideas of Shakti Gawain (sp?) in the late 70's early 80's. Her book by that title is still in print I noticed the other day. Music therapists often use the same ideas in their meditation work, helped along by the music itself. I find it hard to consciously create something. Rather images just float into consciousness (or is it sub-consciousness?) It often depends on how relaxed I am. It is amazing what deep and feeling images float in sometimes. By feeling I mean sensory - I can smell the grass or the perfume, feel the wind through my hair, the sun on my skin. Thankyou, Moon_Mermaid Moongold

Aerin	11 May 2003
This is reallly interesting moon_mermaid, I was taught similar techniques on my NLP courses. Moongold, feels to me like you are excellent at letting your unconscious wisdom take care of things. And jema, thank you so much for sharing. I was trying to find some links to NLP sites (they tend to be jargony so not so much luck) - this site has loads of tapes that use creative visualisation type techniques : http://www.nlpanchorpoint.com/storeaudio.htm (I've got a few of Suzi's tapes, I bought them separately and I use the 'communicating with your symptoms' ones a fair amount, the 'giving forgiveness' one is great as well). Unsurprisingly, many of these techniques were adapated from shamanistic practices. Or so the story goes.... I shouldn't have found this site. There are some really good sounding tapes here by people I've heard of/ seen speak before... *decides she really needs another tape or two by the Andreas's, hmmmm core transformation, hmmmm* Aerin

The Creating your own world in meditation thread was originally posted on 01 May 2003 in the Spirituality board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Spirituality, or read more archived threads.