Mindset shift: how visualisation can shake negative energy and support healing, contentment, and joy
Visualisation can be a powerful complement to mindfulness meditation, especially when we find ourselves in negative states we can’t seem to shake.
While the traditional definition of mindfulness translates approximately to “nonjudgmental awareness of the present moment”, sometimes being “aware” isn’t enough. We want more agency in how we’re feeling or how we’re healing and would like to be proactive about it.
There’s no doubting how inextricably linked body and mind are. Something embarrasses us; our face flushes red with heat. We get a sense that someone is watching us – our hair stands up on its end. Even thinking about someone we fancy has a visible reaction in the body (some more obvious than others!)
It makes sense why patients with serious illnesses like cancer are encouraged to take up meditation as part of a holistic treatment plan. The power the mind has on the body and vice versa is, well, mind-boggling.
Black Smoke White Light Breath Visualisation Meditation
Also known as “the cocoon” meditation or “white light purification” meditation in Buddhism, this black and white breathing meditation combines the power of suggestion with guided imagery – a stunning placebo effect – and the calming, grounding, rhythm of the breath.
As far as visualisations go, you’re not alone if you find it difficult to imagine detailed scenes in your head. Thankfully, this one is straightforward. It’s also an incredibly versatile practice that you can tailor to your specific needs – from preparing for a job interview to healing from illness.
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How to Do the Black Smoke White Light Visualisation Meditation
- Get yourself into a comfortable position where your breath can flow easily
- Start by bring your awareness to the out-breath
- As you exhale, imagine negativity, pain, fatigue, or illness (see below for more ideas) leaving your body as a thick black smoke
- Watch it evaporate into the atmosphere
- Keep breathing out this negative quality or situation as a dark, heavy smoke. Watch it leave your body
- Then, switch your attention to the in-breath
- With each inhalation, imagine with it a pure white light, entering your body.
- Each time you breathe in, see the white light fill up your torso, your arms and your legs.
- Imagine the white light permeating every muscle, bone, and organ in your body.
- Keep breathing in radiant white light until you are that brilliant white light.
- For as long as you wish to keep practising, you can toggle between the two; breathe black smoke out and breathe white light in
Ready to give the Black & White Breathing meditation a try?
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What the Black and White Breathing Meditation Can be Used For
Just as the breath is made up of a pair of two opposites – the in-breath and the out-breath, so too, is this practice. The visualisation combines the opposites of colour – black and white, as well as weight – heaviness and lightness.
Working with opposites, we can add a further layer, choosing words or phrases to give further meaning and intention to the practice.
For example:
- Breathing out fatigue, breathing in alertness
- Breathing out restlessness, breathing in patience
- Breathing out illness, breathing in health and healing
- Breathing out judgement, breathing in compassion
- Breathing out anxiety, breathing in calm
- Breathing out fear, breathing in confidence
Or perhaps you’d like to work with your own pair of opposites?
Would love to hear how this practice is for you. Share it in the comments below.
Ready to give the Black & White Breathing meditation a try?
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Every time I try visualing breathing in white smoke and breathing out black smoke I am unable to do it, I see only blackness no matter how hard I try! Whenever I try visualing anything else I can do it with ease and see it in great detail, everything except smoke, I just can’t seem to visualise that! Is there anything I can do that will help me visualise smoke?
Hi Jason, thanks for your comment. I want you to know that this meditation (and all meditations) are simply an idea; a suggestion or a prompt – and there’s nothing wrong with you if you don’t gel with what’s suggested.
There’s a reverse practice called Tonglen, you may know about it, where you breathe in black smoke and breathe out white light. I could certainly never do that one! Breathing in black smoke almost makes me choke. However, when I turned the black smoke into something else – a texture, a feeling of heaviness, then I was able to get the benefit of that practice.
What I suggest is exploring what the two colours mean to you. Usually, the black smoke is related to a heaviness, some suffering, perhaps a difficult emotion. The white light is related perhaps to healing, energy, lightness. Perhaps there is another texture, colour, shape, vision that helps you relate to these qualities?
Let me know how you go 🙂