A Visual Resting Place For The Mind

Resting awareness on this pleasant, neutral visual experience helps the chattering mind unplug - creating ease & a "place to park." (labeling "See Rest")

Transcript

So let your body settle in whatever position you're in,

Whether sitting up or lying down.

Let yourself be comfortable and see if you can allow the spine to be lengthened,

Stretching upward,

And the rest of the body just relaxing down,

Letting go around the lengthened spine.

And take a moment to tune into the stillness of the body as it settles.

And then bring your awareness to your visual experience with your eyes closed.

There is a variety of phenomena you may see.

Colors,

Shapes,

Swirls,

Geometric patterns,

Maybe images of the thought process of people,

Objects,

Places.

For now,

We're not going to tune into any of that.

We're just going to tune into what you actually see with your eyes closed,

Which may be patches and blobs of lighter areas and darker areas.

If you're in a dark room,

It may be mostly dark with a subtle distinction of shade.

If you have light coming from any direction in the external world,

That may create a lightness on the lid from that direction.

So as you tune into what you actually see,

There may be colors.

But for now,

Just tune into lightness and darkness,

Even ignoring color.

Some areas may be lighter,

Some darker.

The light won't be white,

The dark won't be black.

Just in relationship to each other,

There's lighter areas,

Darker areas.

It may be uniformly dark,

Uniformly light.

For most people,

There's a modeled mixture of the two.

There may be movement,

Maybe a slow,

Undulatory movement like a lava lamp,

Maybe with a patch of light or dark spreading until it gets quite large and then it starts again,

Or moving around.

Or maybe the whole field is solid but slightly sparkly,

Kind of like twinkly,

Effervescent quality.

Or it may be uniformly dark light with no movement at all.

Whether there's movement,

Whether it's still,

Just allow your awareness to rest in this gray scale,

Blank field.

Gray scale because we're only tuning into lightness and darkness.

And we'll use the word blank because it represents a blank mental screen.

We're not attending to images of the thought process.

And if images arise,

Just look through them or around them to what you actually see.

They will arise out of and return to this gray scale blank.

So just park your attention in this gray scale blank field.

In whatever way feels easiest for you,

You may like to just park in a patch of lightness or into a darker patch.

Some people like to just keep the focus ahead at a certain point,

Regardless of whether there's movement around it or it changes or it's light or dark.

Or maybe it's more restful to zoom your awareness out and hold the whole field lightly in awareness,

Like we do when we take in a whole sky.

Whatever way's easiest,

Allow your attention to keep continuous contact with this gray scale blank field.

Just park your attention there.

Just keep your attention there.

There's a couple more eggs,

I hope those are eggs,

And then.

.

.

And if you find your awareness,

Wandering,

Getting lost in thought,

Or any other distraction,

A very helpful way to develop concentration quickly,

To help you keep your awareness.

Where you're focusing is to bring in a mental label,

Which is a word or words you say to yourself in your head every moment or so,

Like a mantra,

With a regular rhythm.

And that word or words can be what describes whatever you're tuning into.

In this case,

We're tuning into what we see as opposed to what we hear or feel.

And it's a restful experience.

So we could use the label,

See rest.

See rest.

See rest.

See rest.

You can use that rhythm or one that's slower or faster.

Whatever works for you.

At some point,

The labels just may fall away as your attention just stays parked in that visual field of lightness and darkness.

See rest.

See rest.

See rest.

See rest.

See rest.

If you find your attention has wandered gently without judgment,

Bring it back to parking in this visual rest.

Tuning into the lightness or dropping into the darkness,

Just stay parked in this grayscale blank field.

And if there's movement,

Whether undulatory,

Kind of a slow motion,

Spreading,

Collapsing,

Or movement like a lava lamp,

Or if the fabric of it is shimmery,

Twinkly,

Effervescent,

Vibratory,

Any movement of any kind,

Allow to be like a massage of your visual field.

Soften your experience.

See rest.

And if there's no movement and it's totally static,

Allow that to stabilize consciousness.

Just allow yourself to drop into that stillness.

See rest.

You may have the experience of floating as there is no solidity.

Just park,

Rest,

Or float in this visual grayscale blank.

See rest.

See rest.

Just rest your awareness.

And see rest.

When we park our awareness in the visual grayscale blank,

Our awareness is forward.

We see in front of us.

We're just pouring,

Resting,

Parking our awareness there.

And that has a tendency to unplug other sensory experience so the mind may go quiet.

There may be no internal chatter.

This can be a place to park in this meditation or at any time during the day.

Just for ten seconds,

You can always close your eyes and just park your awareness in that visual grayscale blank.

See rest.

It's always available.

Now take a moment to notice if as a result of this meditation you feel more focused,

Relaxed,

If the mind stopped for a moment,

If you feel more ease.

See if you can allow those or any other positive qualities to continue after this meditation when you make the transition from formal eyes closed practice to opening your eyes and continuing with whatever comes next,

Always allowing the transition from eyes closed practice to opening your eyes to be a slow,

Mindful one.

And envisioning those qualities continuing with you throughout the rest of your day or evening.

Reviews

Very relaxing. I loved the spaces and the focus on the sense of sight.

Thank you! You have a very calming voice. That was the most relaxed I’ve been in a long time. I really appreciate the lava lamp analogy.

It was work to keep focused on what I was seeing, but it did keep the mind from drifting. When I stopped focusing, the mind drifted. So this was an effective technique. Interesting that I fell asleep at the end!

Dear Stephanie.
This session was magical, soothing (eyes and mind) and useful.
Thank you.
Orly
Israel

That was the first I've ever encountered instructions about placing the eyesight on eyes closed visual phenomenon! I'm surprised it worked so well to still the mind!

Hi Stephanie- once again this was a simple but new practice for me to Blank Out the Mind thru Blank Vision. (Eyes Closed)
And Rest in that Blank Space.
I kept searching for Extending that Blankness and simply Resting in it. Not bad!!
For me a lot less dialogue would’ve been perfect. But I know one size does not fit all. So I get it. It has to be this way! Lol 😂 Thank U.

Wonderfully relaxing Namaste

Very nice way to unplug thanks

Yes, I’m more focused and relaxed! I love this new tool, “see rest” and will use it again. Thank you for your magical voice. 🙏❤️

Really relaxing I’m in pain with my fibromyalgia and this really has helped thank you 🙏 🧘‍♀️ x

Lovely, restful, freeing.
Thank you.

Love it. Good see rest

I found it tricky but very beneficial. Thank you Stephanie.

Very useful, I found it both easier and harder to park my awareness visually, something new to practice.

With Stephanie's meditations I always emerge with a new helpful tool or concept. Thank you.

Very relaxing. Perfect for resting. Thank you.

Great for when the mind needs some gentle help quieting down!

I really like all your meditations, Stephanie. Thank you

Simple and wonderful. The phrase " See rest," was extraordinarily helpful. I will do this one again and again. 🙏

Simple mind set up for bed or to just remove yourself for a few minutes. Thank you.