Short Dakini Meditation/Visualization

As I've mentioned in a few posts, I've been doing the tibetian dakini visualizations to help untangle reactive emotions. At this point, I've got it somewhat dialed in, so what I need are little reminders and short practice sessions to reaquaint myself with the feeling/approach.

Here's how I've condensed it into a very short practice. I read this either aloud or silently, and I make sure I recreate the sensations of all of the mood/emotion words and visualize scenes to go with the descriptive words.

I'm interested in comments or suggestions for improving it.



Short Dakini Meditation/Visualization

I see the yellow dakini and I know she can teach me everything I need to know about the energy of earth. I ask for instruction. Within my pelvis glows a golden light. I trust her teaching. Already stubborn and stiff, I feel an initial rumbling and a growing of greater and greater uncertainty. I lose my footing in the earthquake. My mind locks on to thoughts, my body grabs things, trying to become stable. I keep trying to find a superior position, but I only become stuck and unable to move, and I am completely imprisoned by my efforts. Within my pelvis glows a golden light, and I remember I am being taught a lesson. The light becomes a sparkling multi-faceted jewel. I relax deeply. Whether feeling imprisoned, being thrown about by the earthquake, or feeling uncertainty, I am aware. The jewel reflects light at any angle. There is a balanced presence, regardless of conditions. I am filled with golden light and I rest in awareness.


I see the white dakini and I know she can teach me everything I need to know about the energy of water. I ask for instruction. Within my belly glows a white light. I trust her teaching. Already scattered and detached, I sense danger flowing towards me. I try to avoid it, but I my fear grows and grows. I feel myself carried away by the tide. My mind squirms, my body wiggles, trying to escape the currents. I keep trying to get away, but I am engulfed by the turbulence, and I completely freeze to protect myself. Within my belly glows a white light, and I remember I am being taught a lesson. The light becomes a brilliant mirror. I relax deeply. Whether frozen in defense, engulfed within tumbling currents, or feeling danger, I am aware. The mirror simply reflects what is there, nothing more. There is clarity, regardless of conditions. I am filled with white light and I rest in awareness.


I see the red dakini and I know she can teach me everything I need to know about the energy of fire. I ask for instruction. Within my heart glows a red light. I trust her teaching. Already impassioned and intense, I feel a growing sense of separation. I try to find situations where I can feel fully and deeply, faster and faster, but the sensations keep burning away without a trace. My mind is full of manic thoughts, my body full of strained sensations. I keep trying to increase the intensity, but everything ignites and I am completely abandoned, alone in a featureless desert. Within my heart glows a red light, and I remember I am being taught a lesson. The light becomes a radiant rose. I relax deeply. Whether completely abandoned, intensely passionate, or feeling separation, I am aware. A rose doesn’t strain to hold its beauty or the intensity of its color. There is precise knowing, regardless of conditions. I am filled with red light and I rest.


I see the green dakini and I know she can teach me everything I need to know about the energy of air. I ask for instruction. Within my neck glows an emerald light. I trust her teaching. Already busy and distracted, I feel the insubstantial. I try to do something to consequential, but it doesn't change a thing, I keep trying and trying, but I feel like I am falling in space. My mind is full of plans and schemes, my body busy with activity. I keep trying to do even more, but the activity creates a tornado that tears apart everything. Within my neck glows an emerald light, and I remember I am being taught a lesson. The light becomes a shining sword. I relax deeply. Within the wreckage of the tornado, busy in meaningless activity, or feeling insubstantial, I am aware. A sword cuts only at its edge, one edge at a time. I know what needs to be done, regardless of conditions. I am filled with green light and I rest.


I see the blue dakini and I know she can teach me everything I need to know about the energy of the void. I ask for instruction. Within my head glows a blue light. I trust her teaching. Already dull and foggy, I feel spacey and inadequate. I don’t know what think, I don’t know what to do. My mind is confused and disoriented, my body awkward and unreliable, and experience becomes more and more distant. I feel like I’m nothing and I go blank -- but then it’s chaos: meteors fall out of the sky, waves crash, volcanoes explode, the ground shatters, raindrops sting, the wind leaves me in tatters, I fall to pieces, I am reduced to gravel, to dust, I’m nothing. Within my head glows a blue light, and I remember I am being taught a lesson. The light becomes a searing ring of light. I relax deeply. Within the chaos, within the blankness, when feeling spacey and confused, I am aware. The ring exists by what is not there. Awareness is completely present without any need for reference. I am filled with blue light and I rest.


I become the yellow dakini and awareness already balanced, without need of rigidity or fear of uncertainty.
I become the white dakini and awareness is already clear, without need for escape or fear of danger.
I become the red dakini and awareness is already precise, without need for additions or fear of not having enough.
I become the green dakini and am already aware of effective action, without need of busyiness or fear of being insubstantial.
I become the blue dakini and awareness is already completely present, without need for a reference point or fear of being nothing.


I rest in awareness.

Perhaps useful: each of these exercises points to effortlessness: How much effort does it take to be aware (of anything, no matter what it is)?

It never takes any effort. Awareness is effortless. Always.

I find that I can visualize with eyes open and with distractions now, having practiced it for a long time. But it would probably help to record it if that's not the case.

What I do is read the sentence, then feel the meaning of the sentence, then create a few scenes to go with the feeling so that it feels even more "lived".

The thing that provides continuity for me are the sensations, which is really the point of this meditation -- to drench yourself in the yucky sensations until they become home, not something avoided.

The visualizations (for me, with limited visualization ability) are kinda snapshot-y, like a quick edited m-tv video (which no longer appear on m-tv, I heard?) I see a lady in a gold dress emerging from a forest, I see eyes that have gold irises which look back at me and know me completely, I feel my body shake and the cieling shatter and feel rocks hit me as this building is shaken apart by an earthquake, etc.

It's pretty fun!

There's a lot of fuss in magick circles over visualization, which many imagine must be like being immersed in a 3-D movie and then they spend months or years beating themselves up and struggling to make that happen. But though that may occasionally happen in heavy trance states, more commonly it's more like the kind of imagery you have when daydreaming. Imagine an apple right now. You know how it would feel to hold it, how it would feel and taste to bite it, how it would smell, you can picture it. That's enough. It doesn't have to appear before you like a hallucination for you to "be with appleness".