By imagining that each cell in your body is illuminated with radiant light, you will be calling forth a particularly vital healing energy. Many spiritual traditions see light as associated with purity, freedom, holiness, or divinity. But you need not be a religious person to sense the powerful potential of light. Light makes the plants of the earth grow, and a sunny morning can make you feel good simply by its glorious radiance.

In Buddhism, meditations using light are considered an especially effective means of releasing the grasping qualities of tight minds, and this is the basis of all healing.

Tibetans know about the healing energy of light firsthand, because visualizing light has been used effectively for many centuries to ease mental problems and suffering as well as physical sickness.

You can visualize light in three alternative ways, according to your needs and preferences:

1. See light without being restricted to visualizing a particular color; in other words, the light could be clear or white.
2. See light as multiple colors, like a rainbow.
3. See light as a particular color, such as red for warmth, blue for openness, or yellow for strength.

–Adapted from Boundless Healing, by Tulku Thondup (Shambhala, 2001).