Bioluminescence: How You Glow, A Meditation On Light

An educational meditation around the science of bioluminescence, how we actually glow and glimmer. It includes the theory and science behind why we may see light in meditation. This meditation includes the use of visualisations of light as well.

Transcript

Welcome,

My name is Celia Roberts.

I'm the founder of the Biomedical Institute of Yoga and Meditation.

Today,

We're looking at bioluminescence,

The fascinating science of bioluminescence.

And we're particularly looking at human bioluminescence.

In fact,

Whilst you're listening to this,

You might actually not know that your human body literally is glowing.

It is emanating a visible light in extremely small quantities at levels that rise and fall throughout the day.

We are also going to look at why we see white light in meditation or have experiences of dissolving into intensely bright light or seeing light.

And this is definitely one of the stages that we might experience in Buddhist type mindfulness meditation.

You may experience it in others,

But it is well documented in that tradition as far as I know very well having been in that tradition myself.

Okay,

So let us begin.

Let's come to meditation and I'll describe the science for you around bioluminescence and seeing light.

Come into the breath and really focus on the present moment.

And do so by sinking your awareness fully into your breathing,

Allowing this to be your real point of focus.

Bring your attention to the third eye,

The point between the eyebrows.

And allow your attention to rest there.

Okay,

So when you come to rest your attention here,

I want you to just see if you can focus on light just at this region of the body,

Just the point between the eyes,

Slightly above the eyes and just focusing on light.

The research suggests that experience of light or lights during meditation is similar to that of sensory deprivation.

So when we see that someone has a meditation-induced light experience that perhaps is natural,

This is because they've restricted attention by deselecting sensory stimuli,

Sensory deprivation and perceptual isolation.

The arising of lights may signal a period of enhanced neuroplasticity and the potential for important and enduring shifts.

Allow the face to become full of light,

The whole face to become full of light.

As we meditate,

We increase our serotonin levels.

We'll see self-induced changes in mood which produce or can produce serotonin synthesis.

It increases after meditation and there are overall higher levels in meditators.

Now serotonin may create extraordinary visual experiences during meditation.

Continue to focus on the light emanating in your face.

Serotonin acts as a neuromodulator of our temporal lobes and this strongly influences the flow of visual associations and internally generated imagery.

Serotonin actually affects our dopamine system.

And this may enhance feelings of euphoria during meditation.

Bring your attention now into the heart space and let the heart from the front of your chest and the back of your chest emanate light.

Heart and now head and third eye emanating light.

A very popular explanation for the reasons that we may see light during meditation posits that the experience of light is linked to the meditation-based stimulation of the pineal gland which is situated deep in the brain at the level of the third eye.

Some suggest that the visions of light indicate that the third eye is opening.

And what we do know is that serotonin and melatonin which both increase during meditation or at least after for serotonin are linked to the pineal gland.

In fact,

The science actually shows us that they're linked to migraine attacks through the action of the pineal gland which is the primary source of serotonin and melatonin.

Visualizing light now only in the pineal region,

Only around the third eye.

And let this travel from the front to the back of your brain.

Okay,

Again,

Bring your attention into the whole face,

Letting light emanate through the whole face.

And we can't see it,

But humans do actually glow with our own form of bioluminescence.

A study conducted in 2009 by Japanese researchers really began to show us that human bioluminescence is visible,

Light exists.

It's just a little too dim for our eyes,

Our weak eyes to pick up on.

And so we know the human body literally glimmers.

The intensity of the light emitted from the body is 1,

000 times lower than the sensitivity of our naked eyes.

The team made this odd discovery.

They used super sensitive cameras.

And they monitored the volunteers for 20 minutes every three hours.

What we see is that humans glow throughout the day with the brightest spots appearing around the forehead,

The forehead,

The neck,

The cheeks,

And mostly in the late afternoon.

The dimmest bioluminescence was recorded late at night.

Bring your attention now fully to the forehead,

The neck,

And the cheeks.

These are the brightest spots of our own glowing bioluminescence.

These signals that we see in the imagery that was produced come from photons,

Visible light,

Light particles.

Again,

Focus on the neck,

The cheeks,

Your forehead,

Visualizing light piercing through these regions of the body.

It's a very interesting side effect of our metabolism,

In fact.

Human bioluminescence is a result of highly reactive free radicals produced through cell respiration,

Interacting with free floating lipids and proteins.

This time,

See if you can cover the whole head and torso with your attention.

Emanating light,

Piercing the body with light.

When the excited molecules in our body interact with fluorophores,

Which can emit a photon,

You begin glowing.

Now,

It's possible that your head glows the most because this is the part of the body that generally sees more sunlight.

And this affects the melanin in the skin and triggers the illuminating reaction,

Better than other areas.

If you're interested in this,

Refer to my meditations on meditating with full exposure to the body or as much exposure as possible to sunlight.

Again,

Come back to your body,

Focus it now fully on the third eye only,

Emanating light.

Concentrating on the pineal gland,

Increasing serotonin,

Melatonin balancing sleep and wake cycles through meditation,

Which is a proven fact.

So is being in sunlight.

And mid-morning is best for this.

Now,

Animal bioluminescence is attached to metabolic rates.

And so researchers do suggest in humans that the glow is linked to the body's biological clock.

So in late afternoon,

In fact around four,

When we're glowing the highest,

This is also when we're burning the most energy.

The future is interesting.

The researchers hope that in the future we can scan the body surface to check light levels,

Bioluminescence.

And this may indicate possible medical conditions that express themselves in the changes of metabolism within the body.

If you can see the glimmer from the body's surface,

You can see the whole body condition.

This is a quote from Masaki Kobayashi.

If you can see the glimmer from the body's surface,

You can see the whole body condition.

Bring your attention now to the whole body.

Let the whole body glow with this bioluminescence.

And whilst we see it mainly in the top regions of the body,

Particularly the face,

I want you to now use the Buddhist insight where the whole body becomes light.

Many experiences,

All kinds of light perception,

Incidents through meditation,

Are described.

Experiences such as I was just bursting with light.

I closed my eyes and it was just a brilliant,

Overwhelming light.

It was like I was radiating.

There were rays of light coming out of me.

It felt like it was just emanating from my body and my system.

Let the light emanate from your body and your system.

Let it emanate now.

And know that this is true.

It's a very fascinating side effect of our metabolism.

Remembering it's the result of highly reactive free radicals produced through cell respiration interacting with free floating lipids and proteins.

These excited molecules then interact with fluorophores,

Which emit a photon and then boom,

You're actually glowing.

Coming back into our brightest spots,

Allowing the light to emanate,

Pierce,

Or flow through the forehead,

The forehead,

The neck,

The cheeks.

Come now into the heart space and visualize a gentle light flowing from the heart or throughout your own body.

Let the breath be governed by light.

And here we're actually using a traditional practice which focuses on a rousing experience of light.

In this Buddhist visualization practice,

You will imagine light as an expression of loving kindness and wisdom that now touches all beings.

This will come from your heart space,

Metta bhavana.

And this light will relieve others of their suffering and endow them with lasting happiness.

Do know as we used these deliberate visualization methods,

They're not related necessarily to the experience of light that arises from the lack of sensory input connected to the deep states of meditation.

But what I'm suggesting here is that bioluminescence,

The function of serotonin through meditation,

And the pineal gland,

As well as that sensory deprivation may and only may be linked.

However,

Now let's use the Buddhist visualization practice to allow the light to be expression and expression of our loving kindness and wisdom that touches all beings,

Relieving them of their suffering,

Endowing them with lasting happiness.

Send this meditation,

This light from the heart space outwards,

Let the light emanate through your own body and beyond.

Let the body glow with this light,

Remembering that the purpose of regular mindfulness practice is to develop love and compassion for all.

And being rooted in the present moment allows us to experience the beauty of the here and now in our own bodies,

In our own bioluminescence state,

And be able to gift this presence,

This peace and calm and tranquility,

Compassion to others.

If you do have white light experiences in your mindfulness and awareness practice,

Embrace it as part of your normal everyday practice.

Just see the light or the colors as another mental event,

Like a thought.

Just acknowledge it and go back to your practice.

If you practice this awareness meditation,

The white light experience and color can just be integrated into the investigation of your mind.

In meditation,

Try not to seek out experience,

Just allow experiences to be.

May you be happy and may you be healthy.

May you be filled with light.

May you be filled with compassion and may you be at peace.

Thank you.

Explore bioluminescence for yourself and enjoy your practice.

Deep states of meditation may bring about these light experiences for you,

But don't chase them.

Some people will never receive them and they might all be linked to their brain and the differences that we all experiences within our own inner pharmacy,

Our own brain,

Our own neurobiology and neurophysiology.

I wish you well.

I wish you the deepest health and thank you.

Reviews

Wow ✨✨✨
(Also love the occasional call of cockatoos in the background)

Brilliantly explained and guided throughout. Thank you

Very enlightening and important information as we are moving from carbon based to chrystaline based beings.

Beautiful 🧚‍♀️
Effective.
Thank you.
🌀
Orly

Great practice. I would love to read the Japanese study you referenced. Was the quote you used by Kobayashi from that study? Is there a citation available for further research? I have long reminded others that we are made of stardust - it would be fantastic to be able to also point out that we glow as well, backed by research. Thank you for sharing this with us here. I see you and the light within you. Be well. 🤲🏻❤🤲🏻

Fascinating! Appreciated the science combined with a calming meditation. Thank you!

Thoroughly enjoyable and informative meditative experience. My brain appreciates the knowledge, my heart appreciates the immersive experience, and the cadence of delivery enabled me to be fully present and engaged in both simultaneously for a fully immersive practice. Profoundly grateful.

That was wonderful! The light was so beautiful and I feel full of energy. Thank you, so fascinating! 🙏❤️

Brilliant!! So interesting to get an insight into the science of the meditation state. Thank you 🙏

That. Was. Awesome!!!

Fantastic talk + meditation. Thank you

I enjoyed the light visualization!

One of the most comforting talks and contemplations I’ve heard in months, thank you

Extremely interesting! Thank you!

This meditation was awesome! I usually see purple light while meditating and occasionally other chakra colors. I appreciated hearing the science behind it.

Amazing! I want to listen again. Thank you so much😊💕🙏🏻

Thank you so much for sharing this inspiring practice. I feel illuminated in body, mind and spirit 🙏🏼

Thank you 🙏 Great and informative. Well received, sending blessings and gratitude 🙏