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... 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:
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!
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. Upon request, I now also offer remote distance Reiki sessions online, from the comfort of your own home!)
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.
Chakra Colors and Meanings
In this follow-up article to this first one about seeing purple and yellow during meditation, I dig deeper into the research, and also drew a diagram of each of the chakra colors and energy centers in the body.
More About Seeing a Purple Aura
Here is my most recent article with more information about what seeing a purple aura means, expanded upon with stories from my Reiki energy work sessions and meditation.
Seeing Red Chakra Energy
After opening my own Reiki practice, I have had the opportunity to see the colors of other people as I do sessions with them. Most recently, I've seen a lot of red in people, so this new article is an investigation of what seeing red might mean.
Seeing White Aura and Chakra Energy
What does it mean to see white light or a white aura during energy healing work like meditation or Reiki? See my exploration and illustrations here.
Seeing Black Aura Energy
Don't be alarmed if you see inky black during energy work! A black aura is actually really exciting and useful. Read this to see why.
Earth Star Chakra
My investigation into seeing the color black led me to research the 12 Chakra System which has other energy centers besides the traditional seven: Including the Earth Star Chakra below the body!
The author and artist, Lillie Marshall, is a National Board Certified Teacher of English who has been a public school educator since 2003, and an experienced Reiki practitioner since 2018. All art on this site is original and hand-drawn by Lillie. She launched DrawingsOf.com Educational Cartoons in 2020, building upon the success of her other sites, AroundTheWorldL.com (established 2009), TeachingTraveling.com (founded 2010), and ReikiColors.com. Subscribe to Lillie's monthly newsletter, and follow @WorldLillie on social media to stay connected!
I’ve been meditating for about 3 months now and recently I’m seeing these really vivid bursts of purple everywhere when I meditate. It’s basically purple with some indigo and white but mostly the purple.. then I read that it was a bad thing and I was devastated..I read it on the internet and my sister said anyone can write anything on there!! Doesn’t make it true! I’m hoping it’s positive because I really feel like somethings been leading me to all these positive things lately like breathing classes and meditation and tv documentaries and certain books with a lot of synchronicities thrown in… so it must be good, right?
Whoa! In what way could it be a bad thing? Judging from the experiences of all who've written here, and my own, it's a good, deep, positive thing!
@Lorraine Walters, I'm nobody, but I wholeheartedly agree with Lillie! Amen to the positive; Nix to the negative!
I was wondering the same thing I experience this as well.
You can see you're not alone!
Thank you for your article. I came across it while searching for similar answers. What I see is purple, but it's in a loosely shaped round form.There is a regular pulse to this. But they are not flowing down, they are flowing out. It's like I am sending out a pulsing signal. The timing of these pulses is always exactly the same, and they're not tied to the beat of my heart, they're slower. They appear large and as they flow out they shrink in size, like fading into the distance, one after another. I once saw a sketch of this on a Kabbalah site several years ago, but I have not been able to locate it again. I'm really curious as to whether anyone else experiences this and whether or not anyone knows exactly what this means.
Thank you,
Gary
I've definitely experienced exactly what you explain: the pulse moving outwards, slower than a heartbeat, but my shapes change, while it seems yours are the same. This is fascinating. As to meaning, do click through to my follow-up article. Let me know if you have trouble finding it.
@Gary, I experience EXACTLY what you do. Usually at meditation or when I sleep at night. Mine is always a rainbow of colors. And there is usually a dark center that grows into a pulse of rainbow colors, completely different from my heartbeat. It’s slower. Maybe 30 beats a minute if I would guess. You put it into words so well my friend.
You are not alone
Thank you for taking the time to reply to Gary, Brice!
I am a massage therapist and counsellor, several of my clients say they see colours when I massage them, can you tell me what this means please? Generally people say the colours are purple, green, blue and white.
I'm fascinated and curious to learn more.
Thank you
Angie
Ah! That's so cool that they've been sharing that experience with you and that you're able to evoke it! Here's my current thinking on the topic: https://drawingsof.com/chakra-colors-healing/ . Curious what others' theories are.
Those are the two colors that I see, every time. First Fushia then a goldish green! Your first photo is spot on. I've seen other colors, but you are right. Usually when I'm with others.
Wow!!! Thank you for sharing your experience, Jee! This is blowing my mind.
I just finished a Reiki 1 course this weekend. During the course while meditating (first time I have seriously deeply meditated), I started to see colours dancing. First purple, then other colours started to appear - green, indigo, blue, yellow, sometimes red orange and white. Also while practising reiki these colours sometimes appeared. The Purple colour seamed to be most prominent in big or small round moving blobs/circles. Then the other colours, mostly green and blue flashed or moved in a similar way to the northern lights dashing across the night sky. Sometimes it was a line of a colour that had another colour tailing behind it, mostly yellow. Also an eye appeared every now and then, like some of the other readers had experienced. I have never experienced this before, it was bizarre and amazing. The other people in my class didn't experience this. Tonight after coming home, I googled this to see if other people have experienced this too. By reading your article followed by reading the comments, I now know that this is a thing! It a amazing feeling to think I was seeing the energy at work and making a spiritual connection. Thank you for your article, It was inspiring, informative and now I will be on a mission to learn more.
Michelle, thank you so much for sharing your experience, and it warms my heart to see how this community of people who experience this beautiful phenomenon are finding each other! Your Northern Lights analogy is perfect. Best of luck and be in touch!
@Lillie Marshall, Hello again...I'm experiencing a Meditnative Mind Set reading on these comments (shared experiences) Thank you...
I've always wondered if seeing these colors was normal or not! Funny enough, we see the same colors, although I get a little white every now and then as well - mine usually undulate kind of like a bird flapping its wings or pulse from the center of my "vision"
I definitely get white, too! Fascinating about seeing wings -- I've never thought about that but will investigate. Pulsing I also see for sure. So interesting!
@Alyssa, Hopefully you will still this response. If the flapping happens quite frequently, maybe try focusing/ encouraging the energy to form. The reason I say this, is it may be a spirit guide (it might help to remind yourself that everyone and everything is made of energy). Quite often I see spirit animals when I meditate but in the early days they took a lot of coaxing and even now some can take time to show or are quite quick to disappear. It is likely they will only show if you are open and ready to accept it, so don't be disappointed if nothing happens. I hope this helps. x
I see purple when I’m in a deep stage of meditation and often wondered why
Thank you, I have been seeing purple, when I do reiki on myself. I always see a Violet color and a beautiful eye of that color. But today I could see the eye and purple violet , green, but today seem special I could see stars and space with the color dancing with the stars.
Fascinating! Several other people have mentioned seeing an eye shape. Wow! I wonder what elicited the new colors for you. Very curious.
@Meme, oh my, me exactly! I’ll see a large eye slowly blinking and shifting in my vision it will morph from purple to green to yellow to blue and then sometimes it opens up and it’s as if I’m seeing stars in space. As if I’m flying through space or maybe like the small dots of sediment when you see Light shining through deep ocean spaces, like on the National Geographic Channel.
@Meme, Do you think you possibly went to another realm? Try looking at Earth Angels. Doreen Virtue (unfortunately no longer spiritual) done a really helpful little book on earth angels and different realms - there may be one that rings true to you. Light and love x
I love how the universe sends me directly to what I need to read. Thank you to the author of this article.
So glad it was helpful! Here's the author and the universe giving you a supportive hug!
Thank you for this. I have begun to meditate more/take it more seriously and I have been having many colors. I’m glad to know it is normal. I have seen white, purple, blue, green, yellow and a brief wispy red once. The first time I saw a color was when I was meditating with a Tibetan singing bowl and the practitioner brought the bowl close to my ear and bam explosion of blue.
WOW! What a vivid example of how this phenomenon works! Interesting that a SINGING bowl would activate the color for the throat chakra which is about voice and communication (blue). Thank you for taking the time to share your experiences! If you have a moment, can you click over to my next article about this -- https://drawingsof.com/chakra-colors-healing/ -- and see if any other colors you've seen have matched the ideas behind their corresponding chakras?
Hi Lillie!
I'm so happy someone is talking about this! I too see mainly the violet/gold combo that you see. Sometimes the gold can become a little green as you described and sometimes the violet is varying shades some closer to blue, sometimes closer to magenta, but mostly I see a deep violet and with a yellow/gold/green. I am not sure when it started, but I definitely can recall it from at least most of my adult life. I actually can call on it at will and it will appear in my mind's eye with my eyes closed or with my eyes open, either way! When my eyes are open I can still see or be aware of my surroundings, it is more like an light overlay of color. It is lighter than when my eyes are closed. Your art depicts what I see nearly perfectly! And yes, there is a fading in and out and back and forth of the colors. I like to think it is healing and positive because it is very calming to me. Also, I wonder if those are the predominant colors in my aura or something like that, but I don't really know. It is interesting how different people see different colors.
Thank you!
Your description is so spot on, and I'm thrilled this article resonates. I'm also inspired and intrigued that you can call up the colors whenever you want. I'm not at that point yet -- it's a little hit or miss for when they show up, though acupuncture and Reiki are 100% effective. Makes me so curious what can be cultivated in this with practice, and also curious to research more about your aura question.
Hi there I've been doing some pretty intense meditations and have been seeing purple and gold. The purple looks like very...very elegant smoke while the gold/yellow seems to radiate like an aura and envelope me.
Chris, thank you for taking the time to share your experience! Your description really resonates: "elegant smoke" and radiating like an aura to envelop for sure!
@Camille, I wondered if the color was part of my aura too. Ik I do have purple in it almost every time I see it
Great article!!! I too have seen these dancing patterns and see a lot of purple especially when I am in need of gods help or really deep in prayer. The purple always forms in somewhat of a cloudy line down each of the corners of wherever I am and all around the top and bottom perimeter of the 4 walls. I mostly saw these dancing patterns when I was trying to sleep and I always bought they were SO ANNOYING because I’d be trying to sleep and it would literally keep me up at night because it never shut off. I’ve been experiencing with auras and trying to see energy and colors around my hands and now I have these dancing patterns that generate from my fingertips!! How cool to
Find someone else who had experienced these things. THANKS so much for sharing!
WOW! Thanks for sharing your experience with seeing colors! So interesting that it's moved from being perceived as "annoying" to important and spiritual! You bring up an important word with the term "aura." Makes me realize I need to do another post covering migraine auras of sparkly white (different from this kind of seeing colors) and the Instagram account @WeAreAuraAura who has a technique to photograph the colors of energy around people (I think somewhat related to what we're experiencing, but seems overall different.
I'm wondering if someone can tell me why I see colors all the time. Pinks, blues, green, yellow usually. I see them when I'm just watching tv or talking or anything. I'm not sure what it means or what to do with it. Is it to heal myself or does it mean something different? I look forward to seeing what it could be. Thank you!
Hi Katie,
It sounds like you're experiencing something different than this article is talking about because you're seeing colors all the time, not just during meditation. It's possible you may have a cool thing called synesthesia where your brain links visual hues to non-visual things like sounds or emotions. Here is more about this phenomenon: https://www.apa.org/monitor/mar01/synesthesia . Does this sound like what you experience?
Thanks so much for sharing!
I was researching the possible meaning for seeing purple and yellow during meditation and found someone who experiences the same as me. I see yellow and purple light moving and playing in the same way you’ve shown. They seem to be my default colours as well. I’m curious about what that really means.
Only a few times have I seen other colours like green and blue when I’ve set my intentions to meditate on my heart/compassion or on my throat/voice.
It’s very interesting to me that we each see different colours more effortlessly and what we can learn about ourselves from that. Could it be that the colours we see with more ease are the energies that are stronger or more present in us. I wonder if we can change that through meditating on and cultivating other energies.
Hi Izzy! I see you've found my second, follow-up article on this -- https://drawingsof.com/chakra-colors-healing/ -- and totally agree with you! I left an additional comment for you over there, but over here you add a very useful part to this puzzle by sharing that indeed you see green or blue (for example) when focusing on those chakras. It really makes me wonder what we can develop through consciously cultivating this practice. Thanks for taking the time to write!