Quick answer
The three classic exercises for seeing auras work for almost everyone within minutes, and the reason is well understood: staring at a fixed point for thirty seconds or more tires the retina’s colour receptors, so when your eyes shift even slightly, a pale glowing fringe and a complementary-colour halo appear around the edge of whatever you were looking at. It is an afterimage, the same effect as the spots after a camera flash. No instrument has ever detected an energy field around the body, and aura readers tested with people hidden behind screens could not locate them. That said, the exercises are relaxing, and the colour you “see” around someone often reflects your own read of their mood, which is worth noticing. The exercises are below, honestly labelled. For how to sharpen the real perception underneath, see the hub: Nine Tips to Increase Your Intuition.
The three exercises, and what happens in each
| Exercise | How | What you will see | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hand on white paper | Rest your hand on white paper in soft light, fingers slightly apart. Gaze at the middle of the hand without focusing for 30–60 seconds. | A pale, slightly bluish fringe along the fingers that follows them when you move. | Edge contrast between skin and bright paper fatigues the retina; the fringe is the recovering receptors. Blue-white is the complement of skin tones. |
| Yourself in a mirror | Dim room, soft gaze at the point between your eyebrows, one to two minutes. | A soft glow around the head and shoulders, sometimes tinted. | Same afterimage effect, plus Troxler fading: peripheral detail fades under a fixed gaze, and the brain fills the edge with a haze. |
| A partner against a plain wall | Partner stands in front of a cream wall; you sit eight feet back and soft-focus on their forehead for a minute or two, then shift your gaze to the wall. | A luminous outline of the person on the wall, often in a colour opposite to their clothing. | A negative afterimage projected onto the blank surface. A red jumper gives a green-tinged halo, reliably. |
The Britannica entry on afterimages explains the mechanism. You can prove it to yourself: have your partner change to a jumper of a different colour and watch the “aura” change to match its complement.
What aura colours are usually telling you
When a reader says someone’s aura is grey or red, the retina is contributing the halo and the reader’s judgement is contributing the colour. That judgement is often accurate about mood, because it is built from posture, face, voice and energy level. Translated back into plain words:
- Grey or murky: the person looks tired, withdrawn or unwell. Ask how they are sleeping.
- Red: tense, agitated, animated. Notice the jaw and shoulders.
- Yellow or gold: upbeat, engaged, talkative.
- Blue: calm, quiet, self-contained.
- Green: usually the complement of a red or pink garment; sometimes read as “healing” or “growth”.
- Bright or “sparkly”: the person is well rested and happy, and the light is good.
Used that way, aura-reading is an honest name for a real skill: noticing how people are. See How Sensitive Are You? for why some people do it faster than others.
On “improving your murky aura”: the old version of this article said aura knowledge can turn a murky aura vibrant. What makes a person look tired is tiredness. Sleep, daylight, movement and less time with draining people do the job; see How to Raise Your Vibration Quickly. If you see haloes, fringes or floating lights around objects without staring, or they come with headache or vision changes, see an optician or GP; that is not an aura either.
Sharpen the perception underneath
The hub explains how the fast, noticing part of the mind works, when to trust what it tells you about people, and nine habits that make it more accurate.
I find the idea of viewing auras fascinating. Even if there’s no solid scientific backing, it can still be an enriching exercise for self-awareness and relaxation.
The steps are well laid out and easy to follow. It would be interesting to know if these methods have been validated by more experienced individuals in the field.
While the concept of auras is intriguing, it would be nice to see a discussion on the potential psychological factors influencing our perception of auras.
Although the methods described to see auras are interesting, I would appreciate more detailed references or scientific studies backing these claims.
It’s possible that the article is more focused on practical advice than on theoretical explanations, but adding a few references could indeed be beneficial.
I agree, some scientific context would definitely enhance the credibility of the practices mentioned.
The article simplifies the process of seeing auras in a very practical manner. However, the scientific explanation behind the phenomenon remains unclear.