Seeing Lights in Meditation
Experiencing lights in meditation can happen when you achieve a relaxed state. When it happens to me, the most common occurrence is seeing subtle light throughout my field of vision, even though my eyes are closed. Other times, I see what appears to be something like a searchlight—a beam of light moves from one side to the other across my eyes. Although it doesn’t always move in straight lines, when the light beam crosses over the pupils of my eyes, I can feel its intensity. It isn’t as intense as someone pointing a flashlight in your eyes, but it feels similar, and it’s somewhat uncomfortable. Usually, the colour of the light beam is white.
Small White Lights or Dots
The tiny white dots of white light or ‘stars’ people see, during meditation, tend to be quite common. The phenomenon occurs as you get into a deeper, more relaxed state. They can be a helpful tool to focus your mind on. I often see a tiny white light aligned with the space between my eyebrows. It can be challenging to focus on as the eyes tend to keep shifting, but it gets easier over time.
Orbs of Light
Other lights in meditation may be in the shape of blobs, spheres or orbs of light. In my experience, the spheres and blobs are not usually stationary; they form in my vision and then move away from me until it fades out until it reforms again to repeat the process. Other times it moves towards me as if it eventually gets absorbed into my third eye, or perhaps it’s a trick of the mind as to whether it is coming or going.
Seeing Colours During Meditation
If you see colours in meditation—you’re not alone! While I usually see white lights, sometimes it’s a particular colour, such as yellow, green, red, orange, or purple. While your eyes are closed, the colour can fill your whole vision, or it may be a vividly coloured orb.
What do these colours mean? Many people confidently give answers to this question, but the answers have never been compelling to me. It’s probably something we should figure out for ourselves. In the meantime, continue to practice meditating, and when specific colours of light come up, observe the situation and see how you feel when it happens.
Visions While Meditating
Over time, you may eventually experience visions while meditating. These visions could be minor, such as seeing lights as I described above, or they could be images or scenes in rich detail. Realistic-looking visions usually only occur in deep meditative states; it usually takes me 20 minutes or longer before it happens—if it happens at all.
In one vision, I found myself in an upscale part of a city. I didn’t know where this city was, but I felt it was American. It was in the daytime, and I was crossing the street to the other side; After I crossed the road, a beautiful woman with blonde hair captured my attention. She was walking away from me down the sidewalk, and as I wondered who she might be, the vision soon ended. When this vision happened, I was sitting cross-legged on my bed and focusing on my breath.
Often, a vision that has happened to me is seeing flowing water, especially from the perspective of standing at a riverbank or small lake. The scenery, such as the trees and ground, is usually fuzzy-looking, but the water is gently flowing and sparkling.
Another time, I was sitting outside on my deck, with my face tilted up to the afternoon sun. As I meditated with my eyes closed, I could see through my eyelids after a short time, and the clouds started to twirl and form a whirlpool. As it became a perfect whirlpool, swirling in my vision, it became hard to tell if it was made of clouds or if it was water. The sun seems to enhance meditation visions.
Conclusion
Having visions is not the main focus of meditating, but it can be a motivating factor to keep the practice going. That said, when we go into meditation, we should have no expectations and accept whatever comes.
Have you had any visions during meditation? If so, please feel free to share it in the comment section below!