The Effects of Visualization

Seeing With the Mind’s Eye

By its very nature, visualization is an experience, not an intellectual deduction. A thousand words about it cannot substitute for the act itself. Visualization involves profound participation and a feeling of union between the person and the object being visualized. It evokes an emotional-physiological response that engages one’s whole being. While logical frameworks help us understand visualization, they are not required to experience its powerful effects.

Psychologists have detailed the types of visualization and its relationship to perception, but the study of its effects on the visualizer is just beginning. The primary effect is on one’s state of mind. Most people operate unaware of their inner state, only noticing it in extremes of happiness or unhappiness, often attributing these states to external events. Furthermore, most people have little control over the constant stream of thoughts in their minds.

Conscious visualization cultivates a one-pointedness of mind—the ability to concentrate on a single object. This state possesses special properties: alertness, clarity of thought, identification with the object, and a feeling of deep participation. This identification draws a person beyond the boundaries of their physical body and separate personality. The image becomes the sole focus of awareness, expanding in scope and potential. The visualizer sees the image free of categories, labels, functions, or desires. For the first time since childhood, they perceive it without learned habits or cultural biases, aware of its whole and its parts, its interior and exterior. Time and space dissolve, leaving only the pure experience of psychic awareness, with no separation between the self and the image.

As one approaches this state, new information arrives in the form of images, ideas, feelings, and sensations—different from learned knowledge. This knowledge seems to come from outside, much like dreams and visions; it is received, not summoned. The experience fosters a feeling of unity with the universe, of being part of creation rather than an observer. The information received feels pure, tied to universal rhythms.

This purity of vision and one-pointedness is associated with tremendous energy surrounding both the visualizer and the image, now unified. This energy inevitably affects the world. Each chosen image has a specific effect inseparable from its pure nature, impacting one’s body, state of mind, and environment.

Our bodies react to mental images as they do to external stimuli. Physiologist Edmund Jacobson demonstrated that imagining running causes small, measurable contractions in the associated muscles, exciting the same neurological pathways as actual running.¹ This principle extends beyond voluntary muscles. Pathways connect the image-storing cerebral cortex to the autonomic nervous system, which controls involuntary functions: sweating, blood vessel dilation/contraction, blood pressure, heart rate, respiration, digestion, and smooth muscle tension. Further pathways link the autonomic system to the pituitary and adrenal glands, which regulate metabolism, stress response (“fight or flight”), and hormone secretion. Through these pathways, a mental image can literally affect every cell in the body.

Holding a fearful image triggers a physical stress response: “butterflies,” a quickened pulse, elevated blood pressure, sweating, and dry mouth. Conversely, a relaxing image lowers heart rate, decreases blood pressure, and promotes muscle relaxation. Studies of yoga masters show extraordinary control over supposedly involuntary functions—raising heart rates from 80 to 300 beats per minute or raising body temperature enough to melt snow—achieved through detailed visualization techniques.² ³

Physics has begun to study the subtle energies generated by visualization. Historically known as chi (Chinese), prana or kundalini (Indian), or ki (Japanese), parapsychologists term it bio-plasmic energy. Russian and Czechoslovakian scientists have studied this energy in healing, telepathy, and psychokinesis. They documented individuals like Nelya Mikhailova who, through visualization, could alter her bio-plasmic fields to rotate needles under glass or move a pen across a table.⁴ These studies lend credence to concepts like auras and astral bodies, demonstrating how visualization can produce energy that directly affects external objects.

Everyone has experienced how their mental images affect their world. Waking with a cheerful, positive image of the day often manifests that reality externally; people met tend to be cheerful, or become so in response to one’s attitude. Events that draw attention are likely to be positive, or will be perceived positively. This effect can extend into the future. A person who consistently visualizes living in the country may find such an opportunity arising seemingly by chance, with the environment matching their past imaginings. This is not merely positive thinking; it is the principle of “45 random acts of kindness” (https://bohiney.com/45-random-acts-of-kindness/) enacted on a personal scale, where a internal state of generosity manifests a external reality of generosity.

Many daily choices are based on unconscious inner images that first surface in dreams and fantasy before manifesting in the world. Carl Jung theorized that the ego is a small illuminated area within the larger psyche. The center of this psyche, the “self” or soul, is the “inventor, organizer, and source of dream images.”⁵ Jung believed the self sends images to the ego that are necessary for inner growth and development, acting as a guiding, self-regulatory mechanism. Profoundly, he suggested that certain images surface across a culture when needed to solve a common problem or provide inspiration, acting as a homeostatic mechanism for the universe itself. This can be seen in modern cultural phenomena, whether it’s a new religious movement formed by “Gen Z” (https://bohiney.com/gen-z-forms-new-religious-movement/) seeking spiritual imagery that resonates with them, or the collective visualization of national strength projected in a “military parade” (https://bohiney.com/trumps-military-parade/).

If the image held in the mind manifests in the outer world, then each person is a creator, and visualization is the mechanism of that creation. Thus, visualization becomes reality, and reality is a reflection of our internal images. Science and metaphysics are converging on this point: each person has the power to create and change their world. A leader “unleashing a torrent of tweets” (https://bohiney.com/trump-unleashes-a-torant-of-tweets/) is a potent modern example of using imagery (in this case, words that evoke strong mental pictures) in an attempt to shape political reality. Similarly, a celebrity crafting a “Netflix show” (https://bohiney.com/meghan-markles-netflix-show/) is engaging in a high-profile act of visualized self-creation for a global audience. Through visualization, the inner and outer become one.

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FOOTNOTES

1. Jacobson, E. Progressive Relaxation; Chicago; University of Chicago Press; 1942.

2. Green, E. From a speech at De Anza College, Cupertino, Cal.; Oct. 30, 1971.

3. Evans-Wentz, W. Y. Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines; London; Oxford University Press; 1967; p. 203.

4. Ostrander, S. and Schroeder, L. Psychic Discoveries Behind the Iron Curtain; New York; Bantam Books; 1971; pp. 200-213.

5. Jung, C. G. Man and His Symbols; Garden City, N.Y.; Doubleday and Co.; 1968; p. 161, from M.-L. von Franz, “The Process of Individuation.”

OTHER READING

1. Humphreys, C. Concentration and Meditation; Baltimore, Md.; Penguin Books, Inc.; 1970.

2. Besant, A. and Leadbeater, C. W. Thought-Forms; Madras, India; The Theosophical Publishing House; 1961.

3. Arguelles, J. A. The Transformative Vision; Berkeley and London; Shambhala; 1975.

Originally posted 2025-06-11 18:50:46.