A central element of Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhist practice is the esoteric visualization of deities, bodhisattvas, and buddhas—termed "deity-yoga"—during meditation that aims to transform a practitioners understanding of images and self-image. Tibetan Buddhist Lamas, including the Dalai Lama, claim that deity-yoga is a skillful and effective means of constructing a deeper understanding of emptiness, attaining enlightenment within a single lifetime, and a powerful mode of identity transformation and mental healing. By examining Vajrayana deity-yoga through the lenses of the cognitive and social sciences, the claimed paradigmatic shift in self-identity as a result of deity-yoga occurs (1) by utilizing image-based cognition as an alternative means of knowing the complex metaphysical doctrine of emptiness; and (2) through psychosomatic processes of habitualization and role-play of an imagined potential self-image during meditation, comparable to theatrical performance and social identity construction. Cognitive research conducted on actors concludes that emotional actualization and identity transformation during the portrayal of a character onstage is largely a result of the psychosomatic, routinized practice of a role based on a scripted, yet imagined self-image. This research supports the Tibetan Buddhist claim that habitual meditative visualization exemplified in deity-yoga is an effective means of identity transformation by targeting these processes. Furthermore, viewing the cognitive and psychosomatic processes underlying deity-yoga as akin to performance and social identity construction may help advance scholarship in religious studies, and carries implications for secular applications that benefit from creative visualization, such as scientific discovery as well as mental and emotional health.