I have a somewhat limited ability for visual hallucinations, apparently called Aphantasia, discussed before on hn [Aphantasia]. As such, when meditating I tend to simply look at the "blackness" of my eyes closed. What I mostly see is a very dark pulsating tunnel pattern. A quick search suggests this is called phosphenes [phosphenes]. I find it interesting that as I fall asleep the pattern abruptly stops; somewhat like having a LCD screen set to black and the having the backlight turned off.

It works for me, particularly when trying to nap. In the evening I prefer to listen to podcasts. As dzhiurgis mentioned, finding the right podcast makes a big difference. I look for podcasts where are interesting enough to keep listing, but not interesting enough to keep me awake. Usually podcasts with 5-15 minute segments are best. I like The History of English podcast [podcast 1] and The Naked Scientists [podcast 2].

[Aphantasia 176 comments on a fb hosted article] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11554894 [Aphantasia comment by blakeross to a BBC link ] http://www.bbc.com/news/health-34039054 [phosphenes] http://scienceline.org/2014/12/why-do-we-see-colors-with-our... [podcast 1] http://historyofenglishpodcast.com/ [podcast 2]https://www.thenakedscientists.com/