Everything Under the Moon

So I've been having a very hard time with visualization when meditating... I keep thinking to use my physical eyes to see things in the blackness while my eyes are shut. Is this correct? Or should I be using my head and not my eyes?

You said it . When the eyes are closed, what is there for the rods and cones to sense? Use your image-I-nation. Try not to stress. It comes best when we relax and play.

Try not to intensively focus on visualisation as a "thing". Just meditate. You need to take expectation out of the equation and not predetermine the destination (even with guided meditation which is just an initiator for a tasked event).

Try mastering daydreaming instead, not simply as an idle pastime but as a training technique.

Picture a blue elephant eating watermelon by the beach. Bam, visualization~

I also scry with closed eyes. A good technique is to imagine you're looking in a mirror in the darkness. It'll lead you to an altered state of consciousness.

As far as visualization goes, it can be tricky. It's a good skill to have, but not the only way to do spiritual work. A technique I use that actually trumps visualization is using my heart to feel what I want.

It's a bit hard to explain, but I've been doing this for years and get better results than I had when I was just visualizing. PM me if you want to learn about it!

I'm such a practical old bird. I figure if you can picture an outfit to wear for the day, or what isle at the grocery store to find your favorite food, you are visualizing.

Every person {only a few don't} uses visualization for their understanding of what we can call navigating the multiverse. Shireside gave us a classic experience of fantasy visualization - his elephant. Now focus on reality. Your alphabet in Kindergarten or 1st grade. Most people saw those card stock alphabets we had as kids as a border to the chalk boards right in your mind. How many books to write to explain sight to a blind man and how can he tell you of being 100% blind, with its good and bad parts. Try to "see" both fantasy and reality objects during the day, visualization, and again when in bed at night. Then pick out a few to get "into" - color, temporal depth, smell if applicable.
Don't worry about charging to harder things. Practice with a steady evenness.

I hadn't thought about those alphabet cards over the chalkboard in years. I read that, and I was back in Miss Tourtelot's classroom in 1962.

Snow