Colors

I'm wondering if anyone has any thoughts about an unexpected occurrence, maybe a side effect of meditation and inner exploration; that being the seeing of various colors when coming out of, or even during meditation.

I first noticed this at a very young age when I would see patterns after closing my eyes to sleep at night. I wasn't just seeing blackness, but cloudy shapes that would slowly shift. They might be reds or blues, greens. As I got older and began to pay attention to mind states, i noticed a kind of dull ugly shade of olive green, especially if I was in a bad mood, or under some kind of upsetting stressful circumstance.

Once, after a session of yoga, I closed my eyes and saw a bright violet. It was so bright, I at first wondered if I was facing a very bright light source, but no, whenever I closed my eyes, there it was. This lasted for a few minutes, and it felt very good. Like some kind of door had opened during my practice.

Lately, during my current enthusiastic foray into improvement and exploration of the self, I have been coming out of some meditations or trances and have been seeing 'gold flecks' for a few moments after opening my eyes. I'm intrigued by it all...I think the colors must have some meaning, but what they mean, I haven't a clue. A friend who teaches yoga once told me that he too experiences colors, but he doesn't usually talk about it. I find it fascinating, even as I don't even begin to understand any of the meanings.