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The scientific basis for the ability to see a person's aura is presented
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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A neurophysiological interpretation of the phenomenon of the energy aura seen by people practicing alternative medicine is proposed.
Some people claim that they can see a person's aura - a colored outline surrounding the body that is not visible to the "simple eye." Some of the most popular "auracers" are healers and witch doctors who influence the aura and energy field. Their healing abilities can be treated differently, but, as psychologists from the Granada Institute (Spain) say, they definitely see the aura, and this phenomenon has a completely scientific neuropsychological explanation.
As scientists write in the journal Consciousness and Cognition, energy coloring invisible to normal people can manifest itself due to synesthesia. This neurophysiological phenomenon is characterized by excessive formation of connections between neurons in the brain. In this case, areas of the brain that usually do not do this begin to exchange signals. So it turns out that a person begins to see, for example, sound in color. Synesthesia often occurs in people who are involved in art and, perhaps, in those who practice traditional medicine.
The authors studied the "aura vision" capabilities of many representatives of alternative medicine and came to the conclusion that the majority of them have at least one of the variants of synesthesia, when the area of the brain responsible for identifying appearance gets a connection with the area recognizing colors. In addition, a person has reflective synesthesia, when in response to a touch or pain felt by another, you begin to feel the same in yourself. Empathy and accents of schizotypal manifestations in the psyche can help to see the aura well, if a person is not sick, but is occasionally able to hallucinate and is prone to mild paranoid attacks.
In short, energy healers are not lying when they say that they see your aura and feel your pain. Another matter is how much what they can see has a direct relation to objective reality. It should be noted that the authors of the article, as true scientists, have distributed various ideas about the phenomenon of the aura: according to them, they have absolutely not touched upon the aura, which is explained in sacred and esoteric texts describing the mechanism of divine spheres. This aura differs from what healers see, and it is hardly possible to explain it through synesthesia.