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Seeing Colors During Meditation: Purple, Yellow, and More

Am I Visualizing Energy Flow?

I’m writing this article in the hopes that others who experience the same phenomenon will connect to try to make sense of it: Why do I see colors — almost always purple (indigo) and gold-yellow — whenever I’m in a certain meditative state??? What’s the meaning of this purple aura, and seeing colors during meditation? Let’s go into the details.

Seeing purple color during meditation
The colors I see when in a meditative state are purple and gold.

Seeing Purple Color… When?

What spurs me to see indigo and gold? It happens whenever I’m in a certain relaxed and connected state: sometimes during deep meditation, by the middle of a professional massage, during a very deep conversation, and always during acupuncture or Reiki.

The Colors I See Move in a Specific Way

With my eyes closed, I can watch the purple and gold swirl and play. The direction and type of movement the colors do always reflects what’s happening with my energy.

An Example from Acupuncture Energy Work

The moment I realized that the colors moved with purpose was when I was in my third trimester of pregnancy and went to an acupuncture appointment to ease discomfort. As I lay on the table with the needles doing their work, I closed my eyes and wondered if the colors would come.

Indeed they did: Indigo and greenish gold popped up in blobs, bobbing and weaving. Then they began a distinct downward movement. I watched as the purple and yellow alternated pulsing downward, from my head towards my feet. This is what it looked like:

Seeing colors during meditation
The way the colors move mirrors the energy flow.

At the end of the half hour, my acupuncturist came back into the room and explained that the needles she’d placed were on the specific pressure points to move my energy from my head downwards, in order to prepare the flow for birth.

I was shocked: this confirmed that the flow I’d been distinctly seeing behind my eyes in color form mirrored the exact energy direction my acupuncturist had created — even though she hadn’t told me, or placed the idea in my mind. The colors were saying something and were moving with purpose. Whoa!

Seeing indigo color during meditation
It’s fascinating watching the colors play.

What Does Seeing Colors Mean?

Over the years I’ve been researching what this phenomenon could indicate. We’ve already discussed the direction they move mirroring energy flow, but what about the meanings of these meditation colors? Each hue might have a purpose…

Do Colors Mirror Chakras?

The day I did one of my first Reiki healing touch treatments on someone and suddenly saw the color RED then began seeing orange, I realized that each person must have different energy colors. It was an odd moment seeing this new color — I was so used to always purple and gold, that I though that’s all I’d ever visualize. It got me thinking about the meaning behind each color, and why some people might have more of one than another. The answer might be found in reading about body chakras… especially the purple chakra.

Which is the Purple Chakra?

According to body chakra teaching, purple light correlates with either the 6th (Third Eye) or 7th (Crown) chakra at the top of the head or above the body. Both are about higher consciousness. Perhaps when I’m seeing purple, indigo, or violet, I’m tapping into the purple chakra, and thus the wider universe of human energy?

My guess is the color I’m seeing is more the 6th (purple chakra), because the 7th chakra is both violet and white, and one day when I was doing Reiki on someone, I distinctly saw his white sparkling light, which was very different than my purple. Another time I saw black, which might be connected with the Earth Star Chakra in the 12-Chakra system.

VIDEO: Seeing Colors During Meditation

What Do Yellow, Green, or Gold Light Mean?

Seeing purple light makes sense with chakra theory, but why would I also then also always see yellow-green? That color likely correlates with the 3rd (Solar Plexus) Chakra which has a yellow aura, and maybe slightly with the 4th (Heart) Chakra which has a green aura — both in the center of the body. The third chakra is about strength, confidence, and willpower, and the fourth about love and healing. It might also correlate with the 8th or Soul Star Chakra, which has a white and golden hue.

It’s interesting to me that my soul would select the colors purple and yellow, and always only these two — unless I’m doing Reiki meditation with someone else. The one time I was able to generate different colors within myself was during my first Kundalini Reiki training years ago, during a group meditation. At that point I distinctly saw green and several other colors I hadn’t seen before, perhaps because of the powerful energy of others present in the room, and the high level of training of the Reiki master teaching us. (If you’re near Massachusetts, I now run my own Boston Reiki practice, so feel free to connect.)

Seeing Colors During Meditation and YOU

I’m thankful to the wonders of digital art that I could finally draw and make tangible and visible what I see behind my eyes on a weekly basis, so perhaps I could find others who resonate with this experience that happens in the liminal space of energy work, so we might make sense of it together.

Do see my NEW article on chakra colors and healing, which grew from your messages from this post! If any of this rings true for you, feel free to reach out in the comments section, or by the social media contacts below.

Seeing Colors During Meditation

See all my articles about seeing colors during meditation, Reiki, acupuncture, massage, and healing. What's the meaning and purpose, and how does it connect with chakras? Learn here.

Amanda

Saturday 11th of November 2023

Hi, I found your article when googling about seeing purple and yellow when receiving reiki. I always only see these two colours, sometimes separately throughout the session, but sometimes the two colours swirling together . The patterns of the colours can be very different, sometimes as of someone has dropped a drop of paint into water and it expands and spreads, sometimes a large blob of colour will appear and then seem to disappear down a tiny hole, and sometimes both colours will move around like a kaleidoscope or will be big swirls mixing together. The yellow is sometimes verging on lime green. The purple is sometimes quite dark and other times very pale. So mesmerising and relaxing when it's happening.

Lillie Marshall

Saturday 11th of November 2023

Thanks for taking the time to share your experience! I agree that it's so mesmerizing and relaxing!

Rachel

Monday 23rd of October 2023

I stumbled onto a post you wrote about colors you see while in deep meditation. I’m reaching out, because I also see those exact color hues. At first I thought they were the auras of my spirit guards. Now I wonder if it’s actually the aura of our higher self, that we connect with in that meditative state. For me these aren’t the only colors I see. During reiki I’ve had many other colors come to me, usually reflective of my current aura state. I can also see other people’s auras. Except went I meditate, I always always see the same indigo/purple and gold/greenish yellow swirling. Another question? My numerology life path also seems to connect back to these colors. Maybe yours will to.

gwen

Saturday 30th of September 2023

OMG I am so excited to find you here! I have had purple/gold swirls for years during meditation. Sometimes other colors appear... often pink when my guides are talking to me or when I sense my Mother since she passed. Sometimes greens, royal blue and occasionally white sparkles. I've even had brightly colored outlines of geometric shapes/patterns flash through when I am relaxed enough to just let it all rip.

But what inspired me to finally search this is that I started receiving different colors when my NSA (Network Spinal Analysis) practitioners are working on me and moving my energy. It's such a trip! I get a beautiful pink with one of them which makes total sense to me because she embodies unconditional love; green with another gal there who is so full of life and energy, and when I told her she said "of course! Green is my color!"; then a salmon/rose color with another gal at the same place who worked on me just today. It's so amazing I had to check and see if others are experiencing this and now I have my answer.

Thanks so much for sharing this. I am eager to connect more with others who are also connecting in this way.

Lillie Marshall

Monday 2nd of October 2023

Gwen, thank you so much for sharing these wonderful experiences! Wow!

Suz

Wednesday 20th of September 2023

Thx for explaining! I have seen colors during meditation for years and this question has never been answered. I usually see purple, green, fushia in a flowing motion like a lava lamp or kaleidoscope. Sometimes I see little pix I can't ID. Once during acupuncture, I saw the eye in a pyramid like on a dollar bill. I just enjoy it, SRW

Lillie Marshall

Thursday 21st of September 2023

Thank you for sharing your experience! I agree that just enjoying it is the key to helping it open improved energy flow and insights.

Valerie

Saturday 19th of August 2023

My third message: I was pushed to take Reiki by my spirit guides. I didn't want to be a healer, but they insisted (I can give the full story if you like) The lady suggested I take a Reiki Taster before committing to taking the Reiki 1. During the session, I saw beautiful colours as each hand position was given. I also found myself striding along a corridor in a Chinese business establishment, after doing business in a back room. I wasn't asleep and wondered what the experience meant, as it was so real. The practitioner told me it was a past life experience. I told her about the colours, and she opened a cupboard door, and pinned to the door was a chart of the human body with the chakra colours on it. All the same colours and places that I had seen! I didn't know about chakras, or past lives - but now I am a Reiki Masker (since 1992) and also a Past Life Regressionist. Life is so full of wonderful mysteries and it is so good to get a peep at them now and again.

Lillie Marshall

Saturday 19th of August 2023

Thank you so much for taking the time to share your messages! Beautiful!