Beautiful Visuals While Meditating

[Sherry Who]

Hello! This is my first post to the forum. I just finished a 30 minute meditation while listening to Tibetan singing bowls through my headphones. I was really focused on the one tone that I heard no matter which note was being struck. I close my eyes during meditation always, and this time...I started seeing some faint fractals, vibrating discs, mesh that was made of light, I saw a few very light colors, and each pattern I saw was vibrating and changing. This has never happened to me before and I took it as a gift. I believe this will happen again and it will perhaps be more vivid and colorful. Has anyone else spontaneously had this to happen? This was so amazing to me! I've only been meditating for a few weeks and I sometimes have to force myself but I love doing it. If anyone else has experienced this, what are some things I can do to really "go with it" and possibly see more? Am I being a little impatient? Thanks so much for any help! It's nice to meet you all! 

[Electron]

Lucky you, I never saw anything abstract like that or maybe I never noticed. I usually see things which I m familiar with, mostly people.

[Azrael]

54 minutes ago, Sherry Who said:

If anyone else has experienced this, what are some things I can do to really "go with it" and possibly see more?

Yes, this is typical if you get deeper into the zone. Fractals, pictures, even tones (heard), hypnagogic imagery. Zen calls this Makyo. Though this is very exciting in the beginning - and I looked into this myself I'd say for a good 3-4 months - it can distract you from your meditation. So if you want to explore this go ahead but don't get lost. I'd say it's your unconscious mind you merge with and through the higher concentration + relaxation hallucinations come in.

I do some extra meditations sometime very late into the evening / night. In these sittings the body "wants" to sleep - so if you meditate you can get very easy in these dream worlds. I had times in which I saw complete movies of my whole life in front of me. This can be very inspiring and beautiful. So - if you want to explore go ahead and mediate in the evening. Shinzen Young talks in this video about this. Also, it's very nice to dive in and out this dream state and kinda be at the verge of being conscious and starting to dream. Very inspiring.

As you meditate for more time these hallucinations will probably increase - they did for me. If you had your time exploring them you just accept them - I find it kinda beautiful to have them while being completely detached. I meditate with eyes open most times and my floor starts to move in front of my eyes, I get a kinda of thermal view and sometimes my view is completely distorted. With eyes closed I tend to go into the world of colors etc.

I understand your fascination though, when I started out I just thought: "How great is this?" - As you go on you'll focus more on the actual state you are in than the hallucinations.

[Neo]

I have something that comes very quickly which is light and dark patches moving across my field of view, however, as someone that suffers from visual snow even with my eyes wide open, I just put it down to the blood vessels in the eye and other phenomena.

[Sherry Who]

@Arik Thank you very much for clarifying what is happening. I felt like I was very much in the zone when this was happening. So do you use any type of music or singing bowls/wind chime sounds while meditating? 

[Azrael]

51 minutes ago, Sherry Who said:

So do you use any type of music or singing bowls/wind chime sounds while meditating? 

In my normal daily meditation: No. But that's because I mainly have the goal to deepen my awareness and get to new insights - go on with my spiritual journey. So I tend to just use "Do Nothing" + "Strong Determination Sitting" - sometimes varied with "Self-Inquiry" or contemplating death. I have my routines with that.

In some evenings I meditate and listen to Alan Watts lectures because they're so deeply inspiring for me. I had several very eye-opening experiences doing that. However, I don't listen and comprehend intellectually - but more merge with the sounds and get a good feeling of the act of listening. If you meditate for some while you can actually observe the sense of one voice in your head constructing meaning out of the raw sound.

I did listen to some meditation music some time ago - and there is amazing music. So if you want to do that, go ahead. For me it seems that if you just want to get into the zone and out of your mind fitting music or sounds might be the way to go with a mantra meditation. So I'd e. g. say something like "I" on the in-breath and "am" on the out-breath while listening to certain frequencies to get into the zone. With something like that you can reach a no-mind state without too much training in 15-20 minutes in my experience.

However, this probably won't bring you too much on your spiritual journey and so I stick with the other techniques laid out above.

[Sherry Who]

@Arik I listen to Alan Watts while meditating, as well! He was amazing. He had such insight and a deep understanding of this journey. I also like Eckhart Tolle.

I've been trying a variety of different ways of meditating and I ultimately want the freedom of enlightenment/awakening. I want it to better our world. That's my main intention. I also want to be free. I'm tired of the suffering I've experienced and continue to experience. I believe that if when I was growing up, and more people had attained enlightenment in this world, it would've been so much better for everyone. 

I've combined sds a few times with do nothing and it was tough, but I feel like it's helping me rid my mind of so much past ugliness and rotten emotions. I still have a long, long way to go, though. 

[Primeval]

I've had such experiences many a time. Plus having had Visions of past lives and potential futures. There is a chemical known as a powerful Hallucinogen called DMT. Our brains produce some DMT in the Pineal Gland. When you are meditating it can stimulate the production and or release of this chemical. What you saw could quite possibly be this DMT being released during meditation. I'm not saying it's JUST a chemical, because "Love" is obviously more than just chemicals firing in our brains, making us experience Love, of course it transcends and goes beyond mere chemicals.

[Paul Simon]

@Sherry Who 

Yess!! The best past about the visuals is the fact that it's different for ever person. 2 years ago I had the most vivid, powerful, visuals. So beautiful and peaceful, full of grace. But as @Arik stated, you don't want to get sucked in by these visuals. Just acknowledge them, appreciate them, and let them flow by (:

Edited March 9, 2016 by Paul Simon

[Sherry Who]

@Paul Simon Thank you for your help. I feel like this forum is going to help me so much. I live in a rural area in the Bible Belt and there don't seem to be any individuals who are working toward spiritual enlightenment in my area. St. Louis would be the closest but that's 100 miles from my home. I am very grateful for having found this forum.