What Is an Aura?

The aura is an electromagnetic energy field that surrounds the body. On an energetic level, auras are said to correspond with our chakras and our overall state of consciousness.
 Each aura is made up of seven layers correlating to different aspects of your mental, physical, emotional and spiritual health.

Here is a breakdown of each aura layer:

1. Physical Aura Layer

This first layer of an aura is diminished during waking hours and rejuvenated when we sleep. It’s linked to our five senses and overall bodily health.

2. Astral Aura Layer

Connected to our emotions, this next aura layer stores emotional memories and experiences.

3. Lower Aura Layer

This layer is tied to logic and thinking patterns. This is where we spend most of our waking hours. The lower layer is engaged when we are working, studying or focusing on the task at hand.

4. Higher Aura Layer

Acting as a bridge between layers, the higher aura layer connects your well being to the well-being of others. It’s where we hold our beliefs such as self-compassion and selflessness.

5. Spiritual Aura Layer

At this layer, you connect with other people over spiritual matters. Your aura grows and shines brighter when you teach, share, and engage with others on a spiritual level.

6. Intuitional Aura Layer

This is also known as your third eye, which allows you to gain a deeper level of awareness. Your sensitivity and intuition is heightened at this layer.

7. Absolute Aura Layer

This layer balances the other aura layers. It stores all of your experiences and guides you on your life path.

The History and Background of Auras

Dating back to the Christian Mystics of the Middle Ages, painters and artists portray the aura as a light surrounding the human body.

Over the years, scientists and researchers have attempted to capture the aura through photography. One of the earliest photos was taken by engineer Nikola Tesla in 1891.
According to New Age philosophy, auras are a colored emanation said to enclose all living things. It is a manifestation of mental, physical and spiritual health.

Spiritual advisors and alternative medicine practitioners claim to be able to see the color and vibration of a person’s aura.

Aura Colors and Their Meanings

Each level of your aura is believed to be represented by a different color. The way these colors interact shows how mentally, physically and spiritually dynamic you are.

For instance, some levels may be brighter where you have vibrant energy whereas other levels may be dull if you’re feeling sad or sick. Also, your aura is said to vary, so depending on where you are in life, the colors may change.
 

   
Spiritual advisors and energy practitioners offer general interpretations of the aura color meanings:

• Turquoise: Dynamic personality, natural organizer
• Green: Healer, feels connected to nature
• Purple: Sensitive, spiritual
• Red: Passionate, vibrant
• Pink: Harmonious, peaceful
• Yellow: Joyful, intellectual
• Blue: Spiritual, intuitive
• White: Balanced, in harmony
• Murky: Mentally or physically ill

So, How Do You Read Someone’s Aura?

Learning how to read auras takes practice and it’s all about sensing energy fields around another person’s body.  Start by focusing on how you feel in their presence. While inhaling and exhaling deeply, pay attention to physical sensations in your body. How are you feeling? Calm? Irritated? Nervous?

Next, work on enhancing your peripheral vision. Since we primarily use our central vision, it may take time to develop. To heighten your sensitivity to light, one technique you can try is to focus on one spot for 30-60 seconds.
 

"Everything is energy, and we are all made up of energy. Auras are one way of knowing what our energetic state of being is."

 
To start seeing colors, have someone stand a few feet in front of a blank, white wall. While softening and slightly squinting your eyes, look at the wall behind the person. With practice, you should start to see a color outlining the body.

The key is not to focus too directly on the person in front of you. Using your peripheral vision, you can start to see color and light arise around them.

“The energy that surrounds our own bodies acts as the lens through which we view the world,” says Bridgette Miler, advisor at Psychic Source. “To truly read someone else’s aura, you have to be self-aware enough to know when your energy ends and someone else’s begins.”

In other words, it’s important to make sure your aura is clear so you can be receptive to the energy of others. If you’re feeling negative or emotionally overwhelmed, it will cloud your perception and judgment.

That leads us to how you can cleanse your own aura so it is clear. . .

Aura Cleansing: 3 Ways You Can Cleanse Your Aura

Feeling drained? Are your emotions all over the place lately? Since auras are connected to our energy, cleansing your aura is a form of self-care. If you feel like out of alignment, here’s how to cleanse your aura:
 

1. Meditation

To bring your mind, body and spirit back into balance, meditate for 10 minutes or more each day. It’s an excellent tool for emotional healing, and can be practiced anywhere, anytime. Meditation allows you to stay present and helps you cope with any obstacles that cross your path.

Meditation Guide for Beginners: How to Start a Daily Practice
 

2. Use Positive Affirmations

You know the feeling after a shower when you wash away the stress of the day? Not only does it feel great to have a clean body, but the water somehow feels like it cleansed your mental and emotional troubles.

Positive affirmations work in the same way to wash away negative energy and attract positivity into your life.
 

Since auras are connected to our energy, cleansing your aura is a form of self-care.

 
Affirmations weave into the conscious and subconscious mind, to help us rewire our limiting belief systems. Through repetition, positive beliefs will replace the negative ones and become part of who we are.

If you want to start using positive affirmations to change the way you think, try this step-by-step guide.
 

3. Visualize!

There are simple visualization exercises you can do to help balance the layers of your aura. One of the most simple yet effective techniques is to envision you are inhaling white, healing energy and exhaling black, negative energy out of your body.

The white represents light, love and wisdom and the black represents fear and the limiting beliefs that are holding you back.
 

The Takeaway On Auras and Aura Meanings

Everything is energy, and we are all made up of energy. Our energy is sensitive and affected by many factors. Auras are one way of knowing what our energetic state of being is.

There’s no denying the mind and body are closely linked, and the aura is believed to be one representation of this connection.

Learning about your own aura and reading the auras of others can take time. While auras are not an exact science, it’s helpful to become aware of your energy, how it affects you and those around you. Plus, it’s interesting and fun!