Bump I guess

edit:
Okay, I'm making this bump useful now.

On the aphantasia subreddit I've been looking at various posts about people purporting to 'cure' their aphantasia. Here is a recent one which links to an article seeming to describe a practice similar to the fire kasina,
https://www.reddit.com/r/Aphantasia/comments/92wfqa/another_cured_aphant_2_kinds_of_aphantasia/

Excellent questions! I have observed the very same distinction and written about it on my facebook page (in Swedish). I have access to type 1 visualizations, although other senses are stronger for me. When I think about my partners I usually think about their touch and smell, and through that I also have access to visual images, mostly in detail because that’s where I’m able to feel and smell. I find it difficult to visualize my favourite beach in a way that shows a scenery in 3D, but it’s possible because I have the memories to draw from and can also connect to smell and physical sensations. Rememering images from photos is easier. None of these visualizations are projected onto the black screen, and I can’t even imagine placing them there. Thank you! I’m relieved it’s not just me! I have difficulties placing them geographically at all, but I have noticed that I tend to gaze upwards to the right when I focus on doing these visualizations, so maybe that’s where they are. 

When it comes to type 2 visualizations, I can easily imagine geometrical figures and colors being placed in front of the black screen. I don’t really see them, though. Fantasizing about things or persons or places I haven’t actually seen is really difficult, and they are not on the screen. In the kind of guided meditations (hypnoses) where you are supposed to meet a spirit guide or a spirit animal or something like that, I usually can’t visualize anything. If I manage to do it, it’s mainly touch. I can’t imagine a generic beach scenery apart from real beaches that I have seen. I can however imagine the somatic sensations from the sand, the wind, the water, the warmth of the sun... I did draw things from my imagination as a child. I often drew illustrations to books that I read. I could see what I read (not on any screen, though), but not very vividly.

In my lucid dreams, either the visual has felt like watching a movie on a large screen rather than being there, or it has been dark or otherwise unclear imagery. When I try to look closer at thing, they dissolve. Touch feels very solid, though, but not in a way that tells me what the objects are. It’s just texture and density. 

I don’t know if I qualify as having aphantasia. My visual imagination is not very strong. I have seen the red dot, though, just from staring at a candle for a few minutes. I have also seen psychedelic color formations and lights just from hearing certain sounds at low frequencies at an experimental dance show. I really saw them in the room. I thought it was part of the show first and was impressed. Then I realized that there was no way that they could have accomplished that kind of effect, especially when my partner next to me started to shine brightly.

In dreams, when I try to read a text, the words keep changing and make absolutely no sense, because nobody has written it. That’s how I know it’s a dream (combined with the fact that there are no toilets in private anywhere, but that’s another story).

Seeing an after image after staring at something is a physical phenomenon related to mechanisms in the eyes (I can describe it in Swedish but not in English), so of course one is able to see something then. Still, it’s true that I can imagine a candle flame very vividly now after staring at one for 15 minutes about a weak ago, or maybe a couple of weeks ago. Maybe I should do it more regularly to see if anything happens with my visualization skills.

I have found that if I draw a portrait of somebody, it is much easier for me to visualize them afterwards. That is also the case if I have felt the lines of their face with my hands.

Interesting thread ... for me:

Do these categories seem reasonable to you? Yes.
At what point during the Fire Kasina practice does the imagery in type 2 become more detailed/permanent? Immediately. As soon as I turn my attention from candle flame to after-image, this results in a Type 2 image. It's completely distinct from a Type 1 image. 
Does the practice also enhance type 1 visualizations? iirc, in the podcast about it, Daniel would say something like "I flashed onto an image of ___". That seems to be a type 1 visualization by my definition. I have always had a strong capacity for Type 1 visualisations and as far as I can tell, FK practice has not improved this in me. 
Are type 2 visualizations common? I think they occur as you mentioned - during FK practice, under the influence of psychedelics, as a result of organic visual hallucinations. In my case, I have not seen a Type 2 visual in 'everyday' life. FK was actually the first time I experienced a Type 2 visual, which is what made the practice so interesting to me. 
Does "concentration practice" as typically understood on this website develop type 1 and type 2 visualization equally? No idea! 

Today when I relaxed after my yoga practice I decided to try to visualize that candle flame that I can still remember so vividly efter focusing on it for only fifteen minutes a while ago. To my surprise, not only could I do a type 1 visualization of it from my memory, but I could also project it onto my black screen. It was faint and only lasted 1-2 seconds each time, but I saw it. I didn’t just remember seeing it, but it was there right next to the purple swirls that are usually there.

I think I need to take up this practise to see what it does to my visualization skills.

Maybe that’s what the practise is about, among other things? Eliminating the distinction between type 1 and type 2 and thus making images more readily available to us as a tool?