The Untapped Power of Visualization

Visualization is a powerful method for achieving material or spiritual success. Yet many rarely use this marvelous technique, and those who do often lack the concentration and mental force to produce results.

As Paramhansa Yogananda said, “Remember that you are unhappy generally because you do not visualize strongly enough any of the great things that you want, nor do you employ steadfastly your will power, your creative ability, and your patience to materialize them.”

Visualizing a saint

With enough concentration and clarity you can actually draw a saint to materialize to you. Materializations are very rare, but visualizing a saint with deep concentration is a great aid spiritually. As Yogananda said, “When one visualizes a spiritual man and deeply meditates on his mentality and character, one can attract and imitate his spiritual magnetism. For the purpose of exchanging moral, mental, aesthetic, or spiritual magnetism, personal contact is not always necessary.”

Visualization is also a great aid for manifesting health, success in business, or even improving memory. For developing one’s memory, Yogananda recommended the following practice: “to look steadily at a certain object, or at some scenery, or in a store window, then turn away quickly and see how many of the details you can enumerate. The deeper your impressions, the more details you will be able to remember.”

The supreme power behind all success

Visualization is now being taught by hospitals throughout the world as a powerful tool in overcoming serious illness. Studies show also that students in a gym class who simply visualized shooting free-throws were nearly as successful as those who spent hours practicing.

When you visualize, picture the activity or object very clearly in your mind’s eye. It is even more powerful if you include other senses such as hearing, touch, taste, and smell. See and feel yourself going through the entire process in a completely successful manner. Repeating your visualization several times will help you reprogram your subconscious mind.

Yet always remember the supreme power that is behind all human success. Yogananda cautioned us that, “God is the secret of all mental power, peace, and prosperity. By visualizing abundance, you may strengthen your subconscious mind, which may in turn encourage your conscious mind, but the conscious mind will be hindered by karma—the working of the law of cause and effect. But when the human mind contacts God, it invokes the unlimited power of the superconscious.”

To help us develop sufficient power in our visualizations, Yogananda gave this affirmation: “Today I will develop the power of visualization and the power of hearing. I will concentrate upon one good thing strongly. I know that if I concentrate for long on a certain image, the life force becomes concentrated in the spiritual eye, reproducing an astral motion picture of that image.”

Visualize unity with others

The following visualization will help you feel unity with others and with all life: Visualize a globe of blue light at the point between your eyebrows. See this life-force as both very powerful and intelligent. Now let it spread slowly until it illuminates your whole brain. It is descending down your neck, spreading out to fill your whole body. Let the light expand out beyond your body to fill the room you are in. Let it continue to spread, permeating your home and touching everyone near you.

As it touches another person, see them light up with the same blue glow that fills your body. Let the light continue to spread until it fills your town… your state… your country… and finally the whole globe.

See everyone and everything filled with this light. See it especially bright in all your loved ones… your friends… your associates. Now let it touch everyone with whom you have any sense of tension or conflict. Feel how the light connects you on a deep, non-verbal level. Let the light take on a vibration of friendship, connecting you on a feeling level. Let go of all differences and project your blessings through the light. Bless the entire world with the sacred light of God.