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 seen dark purple that was all around then shrinking into the middle with sharp leafy corners in black. Then it became green and the same happened until it was gone.
All while connecting to the Akashic records.
Any explanation would be appreciated.
So interesting! Dark purple would be either 6th or 7th Chakra (intuition, healing, and connecting to universal energy), while black is the Earth Star Chakra (womb-like creation and growth). Green is the heart chakra, about compassionate love. Might any of these elements connect to you?
I just found this site looking for info on the colors I see behind my eyes. I never knew others see these. I’m a retired RN and saw the bright green first on a locker in the nurses station with my eyes open. I see colors all the time but since my daughter died a year ago I see bright purple with a yellow bright Centre the colors move and are circular. Sometimes they come when I think of my daughter and sometimes just spontaneously and I feel she is there.
Im so glad to read that others see this as none of my friends and family see them or have heard of this and likely think I’m nuts.
I’ve thought this a blessing and have See gorgeous galaxies and other patterns and most all colors but didn’t know they were representative of the chakras.
Thank you for writing about this!
I had experienced something similar today hence this led me to your blog. I had an acupuncture session (8th one) and I have not only noticed the physical changes from acupuncture benefits but I can see now that healing is happening on a deeper level too. Today for the first time in my session I could see (with my open eyes) purple and green colours forming the circle. It started with purple and then from the middle of that circle green came out and those colours were swapping this way for a while. I was just staring at the ceiling and watching it and it was very amusing.
My acupuncture sessions are for my problems with bowls but as we know everything connects. All our emotions sit in our stomachs and I know I have a lot of emotional healing to do so this makes sense now. Green represents the heart chakra which is for love and healing and that's what is changing now in my life. Purple is for the crown chakra most spiritual one and it brings wisdom and enlightenment. As I am going through a growing process this connects as well with the green.
How fascinating is our spiritual world 🙂
So fascinating! Thank you for taking the time to share. Acupuncture is so healing and powerful!
I do...all day long and especially with music. Purple. Gold. Chartreuse. Green...blue.... star bursts of gold. I've always wondered. Esp with chakra music and sitting in nature. Prayer and meditation... with people and their moods...colors change
My experience exactly. Thank you for posting the images. I have been experiencing this since 2018 and I love it. Always purple and greenish gold, but occasionally black, and with reiki I had red/orange. Anytime I truly relax/meditate. I have seen it with eyes open a couple times, but almost 100% eyes closed. First time was at a sound healing and ever since then it can happen almost spontaneously when I relax.
Amazing! Isn't it fascinating how bringing other people into the mix (ex: with Reiki) changes the colors?
Forgot to say I do reflexology and mostly I see blue around the left side of my clients. I sometimes tell them that. Some days later they text me to say they have never felt so good.
Thank you for sharing your fascinating experiences, Brenda! Sending the best to your son for healing, and to you for how you're helping your family and your reflexology clients.
So interesting. My son had cancer three years ago in his mouth and can only drink a special milk drink, no food at all. I decided to try to heal him each night and was amazed how I saw lilac mauve yellow and blue, out of the blue he told me he has been trying to eat food. I just thought this was amazing and tonight he popped into see me and said he was going to try Chinese food. I’m waiting to see how he gets on. I did reiki healing many years ago,best thing ever. I don’t know who is more excited him or me.
Also I failed to mention I’ve seen other colors as well but only occasionally. I started seeing auras in others around 2 years ago, my closest friends daughter, she and I were visiting and the daughter had the most beautiful rainbow aura… I burst into joyful laughter and my eyes teared at the sight…
I researched some into this, which made perfect sense as the young woman is a paramedic and a beautiful caring person.
The colors that represent myself are close to what you described, and patterns can be very different on separate occasions. Lately the colors seem to burst forth from the center of the previous color in the most vibrant hues imaginable.
Thank you again for delving into and helping to explain this, much love
Beautiful images! I love the vision of the rainbow aura. Agreed about the colors sometimes bursting forth from the center of the previous color.
I have always seen bright purple primarily, with gold and a bright chartreuse green since childhood. I never knew others did as well until reading your article. Your digital representation is SO much like mine it’s uncanny. Thank you for the information and explanation, I will be researching further much appreciated!
So glad to help show that you're not alone! "Chartreuse" is a perfect word for the greenish-yellow.
I decided to Google colors while you meditate not mentioning any color in particular (not wanting to give anything away ) it has blown my mind there are really other people out there that see the purple and green (Orbs I Call them dancing in the 3rd eye area) Its not my imagination other people can see them too I actually bought an eye mask to stop any outside lighting or shadows thinking that I - wasn't seeing what was in front of me
I NOW SEE THEM THROUGHOUT THE DAY
On other occasions whilst meditating not long after the orbs there may be vast darkness outer space and milky ways and a feeling of
no feeling ??? like floating or not knowing where I was fitting in almost a huming ???/ I can not really explain it but its not the sort of conversation one might have. Up until now I was a little worried but am so glad I have found these pages and no longer wonder if what I am seeing is REAL for this I am
Grateful Warmest Regards Gail
Thank you for sharing your experience, Gail -- you are not alone and don't need to be worried! I like your description of feeling like floating in outer space. To me it feels kind of like following a mystery path through the galaxy...
Today early morning while Iam meditating I saw purple color..
Ah! Was it the first time?
I don't know if the following was saved, so am repeating and adding to my post.
Ever since I started having acupuncture for various health conditions, I have been having what some call "closed eye hallucinations" of colors. Searching further, I found this website that matches my own experiences. The paintings are amazing! I don't get the curling twining shapes, just usually blobs of intense colors changing size and color combinations. I've been curious to see if anybody else has these colorful visions, so thank you Lillie Marshall! They don't happen to me only with acupuncture, they have happened whilst praying with eyes closed, and during any number of other situations. Because they were most pronounced when a certain intern worked on me with acupuncture, tuning forks and other methods at the Bastyr Clinic in Seattle, I would describe the colors and morphing blobs to her. "I see purple with red in the center. Now it's changing to a blue center", and so on. Later she told me that Chinese medicine had interpreted the meanings of the colors. For example, she said that purple, which I see more often than any other color, is related to forgiveness. Red is related to passion, etc. When I see purple with my eyes closed, I do think about wanting to be more forgiving of others, so I'm glad she identified this for me. Now if I could just see purple with my eyes open and when speaking or writing to others . . . !
This is so interesting, Heidi -- thank you for taking the time to share your experience! I'm interested that there was a specific person you saw the colors more with. It does seem that there's a set of people tuned into giving and receiving these vibrations.
Wow, I'm so happy to have found this, and that others are able to tune into the same thing a well.
The only way I've been able to explain this...is by calling it my "Sixth Sense Meditation".
It's not technically any of the 5 senses we normally experience...not traditionally visual (because my eyes are closed), it's not smell, taste, touch, sound...etc.
But, my brain interprets it as a visual experience nonetheless.
The way I achieve this, is by closing my eyes (usually in bed), and just looking off into the darkness and distance...and waiting. Any time a thought comes into my head, I release it with a breath and regain my focus...just looking around with my eyes closed.
Sometimes...not always...but sometimes, a shape...pattern...or color will appear. Sometimes it flows, sometimes it is fractals, sometimes it's vibrating wildly...sometimes inky black clouds...sometimes bright white and every other color too.
But, I am fully awake...and it dances and moves about on it's own. My only purpose at that time, is to observe.
The energy(s) I see, seem to prefer coming around when I'm in a state of mind that can only be described as unconditional love (or absence of fear).
Usually I can stay awake for about 30 minutes to an hour watching this, and then drift off into sleep...or get up and go back to doing whatever I was doing normally.
Here's the weird thing that's been happening since I've been practicing this "Sixth Sense Meditation"... I've started to have predictive feelings. It's like a "Spidey Sense" for lack of a better term.
*A free flowing thought would come to my mind. Then something will happen shortly after, which is directly related to that same thought. It began happening so frequently, that I started keeping a journal of the dates and times of each thought...and of the subsequent happenings (I called it a Synchronicity Log).
At one point, I even began trying to find any sort of pattern in the time frame between the thoughts and the actions...but, I became sidetracked and have yet to start the journal and study back up again.
However, I still practice this "Sixt Sense Meditation" technique frequently. It seems to help re-align my own energy (regardless of the situation surrounding me), and I've really been in the most joyful place in my life since I started practicing this in (2016)...
I have my theories as to what it is...but your guess is as good as mine...and I'd love to hear them all.
🙂
I LOVE this! How nice to have a clear method to access seeing these colors, and what beautiful benefits it has produced. Curious to hear more if you're willing to share. Thanks for connecting!
@Matt, what you are describing is Claircognizance, which is when a seemingly random though pops into your head, or just a sense of knowing. This thought will have the same internal dialogue voice as the rest of your thoughts that you form yourself, but you may notice that the “download” has a slightly different energy. Downloads (which some call this) happen when Spirit Guides or other spirits or energies are communicating with you.
I also relate to this article and see colors the way you and the OP describe. I have been told my main Clair is Claircognizance, and writing down the messages received is supposed to help strengthen the sense.
I am currently taking an intuition development class to develop my Clairs more (clairvoyance, clairsentience, clairaudience, claircognizance, etc.), but there are many resources on these topics if you are interested. It is possible through practice (meditation) to learn and develop these skills!
Thanks for sharing this, Emily!
I am SO glad that I found this article! I have just recently started meditating without any kind of guidance. Last night I was on my balcony meditating, with my eyes closed and I could see blue & indigo first, almost like a Kalidescope, but like moving front to back, after several minutes, it switched to white/off white in color. I could have sat there all night. It was AMAZING! I told my husband because I was in such amazement- very excited....he was kind of like, "hmmm, umm ok". Lol
I had to research it. Glad I found this, because the majority of information I found talks about migraines & auras with them, but I don't have migraines. So, thank you for this!
Much love,
Kay
Glad you found us, Kay, and that you had such an amazing experience! I actually also experience migraines with auras -- https://drawingsof.com/seeing-sparkles-in-vision-eyes-open/ -- but this article is about something totally different: seeing colors with eyes CLOSED during meditation or bodywork. It's clear there's a whole set of us who experience this, and it's also clear that it has great healing powers!
The past few months I have been trying to understand myself better and actually pay attention to my intuition. I am a believer in spiritual energy but only until recently, have I really been feeling it deeper than ever. It captures my attention in subtle ways. That’s why I am drawn to try to learn & understand. My intuition isn’t new and I believe we all have it. Sometimes we just don’t slow down or recognize it as we should.
About a month ago, I woke up during the night ( definitely AWAKE). As i sat up in bed, eyes wide open in total darkness, loving on my dog and talking to him- I realized my room was filled with different colors in different shapes. I sat there for a few minutes looking around my room in amazement. Shapes & bright colors everywhere. I looked down at my dog and with him was a white light shining. Almost as if he was lite up with a flashlight. I could see him looking up at me knowing I was awake. After a few moments, my dogs wanted outside. I turned on the lamp next to my bed and colors and shapes disappeared.
I’ve tried finding anything on the internet that might explain. Everything I have found is about people dreaming, or seeing a color or shape with their eyes closed or having hallucinations. I’ve never had any kind of hallucination in the past. I’m not on any kind of drugs
(script, street, and/or have alcohol abuse). Your blog is the closest I have found to what I experienced. Do you have any insight, thoughts, or ideas? I haven’t discussed this with anyone because no idea how it would be received. I’m open to any opinions, medical or spiritual. I’m seeking understanding. I’ve wanted it to happen again - I wasn’t fearful at all. I’m a 48 yr old female with 3 sons and married 30 years.
Interesting! I have also experienced that, but more with seeing objects than colors: I can clearly remember times when I've woken up, sat up with eyes open, and very vividly seen things in the air for several sustained minutes, despite being awake. I even remember grasping at them and seeing my hand go through them! This phenomenon is different from what I'm explaining in the article about seeing colors with eyes closed during meditation, but you bring up an important point that it's in the same realm of the mysteries of the brain and body. When that open-eyed visualizing happened to me, I took it more as a continuation of a dream that somehow was able to affect my vision, but I'm open to thinking through other meanings. Appreciate you taking the time to write!
@Lillie Marshall,
I appreciate you writing this post and responding back to me. I’m genuinely grateful to have a place to express the experience I had. Keeping it to myself and not finding anything that directly explains has been challenging. My curiosity about the experience hasn’t left me. Perhaps I was still asleep, but the interaction with my dogs and being totally aware of it all is what stumps me the most.
You're welcome and glad you could join the conversation! I think you were awake, but in a liminal space between dream and fully in the material world: https://drawingsof.com/liminal-space . Again open to other ideas though! Let's keep exploring.
@Lillie Marshall
I just read the link…WOW that helped me make the BEST sense out of my experience. Regardless if I was genuinely awake or asleep, I am definitely on a transitional path of learning more about myself. I’ve spent the past 30 years taking care of my husband & sons in addition to other extended family needs. I’ve been a caregiver for my grandparents, parents, and my mother in law whose all passed on. I know without a doubt I’m growing mentally, spiritually, and emotionally. We all grow as life brings new circumstances. I’m now in a place of taking better care of me and recognizing more of who I am and it’s definitely a form of Awakening/Arriving. I cannot thank you enough for sharing with me. Your writings are beautifully written. I will continue on my path and embrace it all every step of the way.
Whether it’s hindsight or foresight- It’s undoubtedly sight. It doesn’t matter whether your awake, asleep, or meditation. It’s a gift to see
Thank you so much for sharing your powerful experience, and sending you so much good energy!