If you’re looking for a funky new way to hewl your emotions and meditate, try Inner World Meditation.
Inner world meditation is a practice that uses your imagination—not to escape reality, but to meet it more deeply. It engages your creative mind, your emotions, and your somatic awareness, inviting you into a vivid, symbolic experience of your inner life.
If you’re an artistic person like me, you’ll love it, especially if you’ve struggled with more conventional meditation techniques. If you’ve ever found meditation boring, flat, or hard to connect to, this approach will be far more engaging.
In this guide I’ll discuss what inner world meditation is, how it works, what to expect, and how to get started.
What Is Inner World Meditation?
Inner world meditation is a technique that uses structured imagination to explore internal experience. It’s not daydreaming.
As such, it’s not fantasy. And it’s not a visualization of “your perfect future self.” It’s the deliberate act of stepping into an inner landscape and letting that space reflect back something true.
This could mean imagining that you’re walking through a forest and finding your inner child in a clearing. It could mean watching the weather change in your chest as you breathe. It could mean standing face to face with one of the archetypes of your personality. It’s a very personal experience.
It really works too. How? It taps into the brain’s natural capacity for imagination to create emotionally meaningful, sensory-rich experiences that activate real neural pathways—helping you process emotions, access deeper self-awareness, and reshape internal patterns through lived inner encounters.
The Real Benefits (and Why They Matter)
- Regulates Emotions: Research on guided imagery and affect labeling shows that when we name, symbolize, and interact with emotional content, we reduce amygdala activity and increase prefrontal regulation. Translation: your feelings feel less overwhelming, and you regain a sense of agency.
- Enhances Creativity: Visualization meditation lights up the brain’s default mode network and activates the same areas we use in storytelling and art. This means your creative mind doesn’t have to shut down when you meditate—it gets to come with you.
- Increases Insight: Inner world meditation often leads to symbolic encounters—seeing a wall where you feel blocked, a child where you feel vulnerable. These metaphors bypass surface-level thinking and let you see what’s really going on.
- Builds Trust in Yourself: When you realize your imagination isn’t just a fantasy generator—but a mirror, a translator, a guide—you stop dismissing your own inner life. You start listening to it. And perhaps most importantly:
- It’s fun!: Inner world meditation can be moving, uncomfortable, hilarious, intense, comforting—all in a single session. It’s dynamic.
How To Do Inner World Meditation
- Prepare Your Space & Body: Choose a quiet space. Sit or lie down in a position that feels safe and supported. Take a moment to notice how your body touches the ground. Let your body soften where it wants to. Optional: place one hand on your chest or belly to signal safety.
- Ground Into the Present Moment: Gently close your eyes and bring awareness to your breath. Feel the air move in and out. Don’t change it—just follow it. Now scan your body from head to toe. Where is there tightness? Warmth? Buzzing? Wherever your attention lands, pause and say silently: I’m here with you.
- Set a Somatic Intention: Let the intention arise from the body, not just the mind. Try one of these: “Show me where this tension leads.” “I want to meet the part of me that’s holding this sensation.” “Let me explore what’s underneath this heaviness in my chest.” Notice how your body responds when you choose the intention. Do you feel more open? More hesitant? That’s part of the conversation.
- Step Through the Doorway: Imagine a doorway or threshold appearing in front of you. Pause. What do you feel in your body as you approach it? Excitement? Fear? Numbness? Place a hand on the imaginary door. Let your body guide the pace. When it feels right, step through.
- Let the World Emerge: Let a landscape unfold. It might appear visually, or as a felt-sense. What’s the temperature like? What does the air feel like on your skin? Notice what your body wants to do in this place. Sit? Move? Run? Lie down? Let your inner body posture shift. Follow its instincts.
- Meet What (or Who) Appears: A figure, object, weather pattern, or sensation may show up. Ask it: “Where do you live in my body?” or “What do you want me to feel?” Let the image and your body talk to each other. If discomfort arises, return to your breath or feel your seat. You can slow things down anytime.
- Interact Somatically: If you reach toward something, notice what your real hand wants to do. If a part of you shows up (a child, a beast, a fog), ask what it needs. Let your nervous system respond. Tears, warmth, goosebumps—this is your body participating in the healing. If it feels safe, try saying: “I feel you here. I’m not leaving.”
- Let Something Shift: Ask, “What wants to happen now?” Let the world move. The fog might lift. The creature might transform. A wall might crumble. Track what happens in your body as this inner change unfolds. Maybe your shoulders drop. Maybe your breath deepens. That’s integration.
- Exit and Return: When the experience feels complete—or you feel ready to pause—return to the doorway. Step through and feel yourself arrive back in the room. Wiggle your fingers and toes. Press your feet into the floor. Place a hand on your chest, belly, or thighs. Say silently: I’m here. I came back. I brought something with me.
Reflection
Inner world meditation helps you access deeper self-awareness by using your imagination as a structured, intentional space for healing, reflection, and transformation. It works because the mind doesn’t always distinguish between imagined and real experience—so what happens in your inner world can create real change in your outer life.
Want to go deeper and learn how to build your own personalized inner world practice? Book a private meditation lesson with me and let’s explore it together.
Paul Harrison is a meditation teacher with 20+ years of experience and a deep passion for helping others. Known for his empathy and authentic approach, he’s dedicated to guiding individuals and teams toward mindfulness, clarity, and well-being.