Instruction like "feel the sensation around the nostril as your breath come in and and return the focus as your mind wanders" is simple and straightforward.

But as I read about candle light meditation it's taken me a while to understand how I should be doing it. Maybe I'm just being slow.

Is this the right summary? - Stare at the light for some time, close your eyes and focus intently on the bluish spot that appears as a result of retinal imprint light leaves for some brief time. When it disappears repeat above.

I am aware there is so much to it beyond this but at least is this the right start? Is there a dummy proof guide to candle Kaduna instruction that I can read?

Thanks!

That's it in a nutshell--watch the afterimage and see what happens. There's tons of information here on the fire kasina website and the book is excellent.

Have fun!

Thanks! 

I have couple of questions.

1) One thing I notice is I tend to strain my eyes by squinting my closed eyes to focus on the after image.

2) I find myself counting to 10 staring on the flame and closing my eyes. How long should I be staring?

Are there any advice/commentaries on this? 

Thanks!

1. It is normal. As soon as you become aware of it, relax. Same goes if you go cross eyed or the after image moves.
2. Try about 20-60 seconds depending on the light source. Experiment. Dont count. Focus on the light with all of your attention. When it gets "cool" in some way, close your eyes.

When you close your eyes, become fascinated with the detail. Try to capture every detail whatever it may be doing. Catch all of the hues, motion, flickering, spinning, morphing etc.

Hi Sam,
Try not to squint or strain your eyes. Close them gently. Two things help with this one. One is, look at the flame long enough so you have a good after image. I would say maybe 2 minutes to start, but I can get an afterimage very quickly these days (in fact it happens spontaneously daily, if I look at a PC monitor for 10 seconds and then look away. I can see the afterimage bobbing about for 5 minutes after this). Also, when closing the eyes it helps if it's dark. For this you might want to move your head face away from the candle or blow out the candle flame in a dark room. You have to see how distracted doing any of this makes you. It's also possible to do it with just closing your eyes if that is easiest for you. These are just a few tips I've found help.

Also remember that sometimes you will simply not be able to see an after image. I had once an amazing sit with grazy details, and I was doing the exercise the next day with high hopes but I coudn't see even the basic physiological retinal burn. Not that'll teach you something about the mind, let me tell you that...!

Good luck with the practise!

So is it normal, when first starting, to see an afterimage for only say 5-10 seconds?

Does using a real candle make things work better than using a youtube video? (I have dogs who want to be near me when I meditate, which makes use of real candles somewhat counterindicated.)

Thanks.

Seems pretty normal to me. As you gain more concentration, things last longer and have more details in them. You start getting the red dot and all the rest.

Hard to tell, but I suspect the luminance on the dispaly could the lower than with a real candle. Some use LEDs or similar point like light sources. If the image of the flame is very big on the video, it might affect things. But I can't give you a definite answer. It's nice that you allow your dogs beside you, but maybe atleast every now and then try it out with a real candle, as it is a golden standard in these kasina things? Or maybe switch to earth or water kasina? I have no experience with those, though.

We recently had a fairly big (for Western North Carolina) snow here, and when that happens it's almost guaranteed for the power to go out. I decided to try out fire kasina practice with a candle. I had heard about it from lurking around this site and a podcast, I think it was “Deconstructing Yourself” maybe.
Anyway I was snowed in and I gave it a shot for several hours for a couple of days.I’m not sure exactly how it is supposed to work, but I got a rather large candle, and there was no other light in the room, so I think that helped, and I stared at the flame for a few minutes probably three to five and then closed my eyes. I focused on the afterimage, and, as reported, I did end up having some interesting visual experiences.

I think it helped that there were no other lights at all and that I put a few hours in to it.

One interesting thing that happened when the afterimage had faded a bit and I was about to slip in to distraction. Then it was like I was looking through my eyelids at a disco ball made out of mercury, and this was accompanied by some strange mental… stuff.
I don’t think I’ve posted here before, so hopefully this will appear in the thread at a place that makes sense, I hit reply on the “am I doing it right” post

Thank you all for your advice.

I suppose I have a small update and a yet another insecurity on whether the after image I see is what I'm supposed to see. 

I notice firstly a blue circular blob that seems to  come from a round candle I am using. It's a small candle with aluminium casing. But within that circular image there is a darker image in the middle that is also round. I can only guess that must be the after image of the candle light itself. And after a short time I see a bright pea/dot in the middle which somewhat moves and I find myself swivelling my head to move in the middle.

Is this right?