How to use your inner visual field to deepen attention
Closed-Eyes Visual Attention Meditation is simple in principle: you focus on the visual field behind your closed eyelids. But within that simple instruction, there is a surprising amount of subtlety.
How you direct your attention inside this dark visual space can make the difference between struggling to stay focused and entering a stable, deeply engaged state.
Not Visualizing, but Looking
A common mistake is to imagine detailed scenes, objects, or images. While imagination can be vivid, it tends to pull attention into thought rather than into direct perception.
CEVAM works best when you treat the visual field as something you are looking at, not something you are creating. You are observing what is already there: darkness, flicker, texture, depth.
Using Different Areas of the Visual Field
You can gently shift where you are looking inside the visual field. Some people find it easier to focus slightly upward, others toward the center, or deeper into the sense of space behind the eyes.
These are not physical eye movements, but attentional ones. You are moving the spotlight of awareness, not your eyeballs.
The Cockpit Metaphor
A helpful strategy for many people is to imagine that they are sitting in a cockpit flying through fog or mist, trying to see through the front window. You are not imagining a detailed scene – you are simply using the idea of looking forward into depth to stabilize attention.
This keeps the visual cortex engaged without triggering the narrative mind, which helps keep alpha suppressed and attention anchored.
The Takeaway
CEVAM is not about making images. It is about learning how to look. By gently exploring different ways of attending to the inner visual field, you can find the style of focus that works best for your brain.
Ready to refine your focus?
