I found this website once but I'll be damned if I can find it again. It taught you that auras can be seen with your peripheral vision and it also explained some anatomy stuff such as how your retina is less used on its edges and stuff like that. Dunno how accurate that is, although I suppose it would make sense in a very simplistic sort of way. It also had visual exercises that would help you train your peripheral vision up to the point where you could distinguish auras. In the end, it explained that auras exist around pretty much everything but that they're most visible around a person's head. Also bright yellow is the most awesomesauce color for an aura and it indicates that the person is healthy and enlightened. Which would explain the halos around the saints' heads. Also, peripheral vision would mean that you don't have to stare directly at the area around the head, yet the best place to look is in the middle of the forehead. It also implied that the Hindu "bindi" decoration is, among other things, an invitation to look at a person's aura.

Despite all of this info and exercises, I still can't see them. I think I got something once, like a bubble sort of haze around my fingers, but my eyes were so tired from trying that I'm not too convinced.

i found a pretty similar guide..
Seeing the Aura

This exercise is designed to see Aura for the first time and/or practice seeing Auras. Choosing good conditions is important: not only you see the Aura better, but also to gain a confidence about what you see.

1. Situate the person in front of a very softly illuminated PLAIN WHITE background. A color background will change Aura colors, so you need additional knowledge about combining colors. Some combinations of background and Aura colors may cause misinterpretation problems.
2. Choose ONE SPOT to look at. The middle of the forehead is VERY GOOD. This is a location of so called Brow Chakra or the Third Eye. In some cultures (India) they put a mark on a forehead. Such a mark in ancient times could mean the invitation to look and see the Aura.
3. Look at this spot for 30 to 60 seconds or longer
4. After 30 seconds analyze surroundings with your peripheral vision, while still looking at the same spot. Continuing the concentration is most important. Resist temptation to look around. You should see that the background nearby the person is brighter and has a DIFFERENT color than the background further away. This is your own perception of the Aura. The longer you concentrate, the better you will see it. Remember, concentration on one spot increases your sensitivity by accumulating the effect of the Aura vibration reaching your eyes.

Taking a SNAPSHOT of an Aura.

After concentrating long enough to see the aura, close your eyes. For a second or two you will see the Aura ONLY. Be prepared. You have only one second or two until your photosensitive cells will stop vibrating and sending visual sensations to the brain. And if you miss is, you have to start concentrating again. Try to experiment how fast or slow you should close your eyes.
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sounds like retinal residue actually xP

give it three shots anyway, in a mirror. all three had the same result..
in the center of my body i had green. its wasnt much, but there.
around that, a larger part was covered by yellow.
the rest - somewhere between the size of yellow and green - was red.
no idea what they mean, but felt like sharing anyway

When I saw auras, I usually focused on the hands, sometimes including the wrists. It was easier (?) somehow than trying with any other part of the body. I did it with myself most often, only occasionally with other people.

Melanie wrote:It might take a while, or multiple attempts, but you should be able to see colors around them in an uneven bubble sort of shape. It's very faint at first, hence the white background.

EpicLunatic wrote:4. [...] You should see that the background nearby the person is brighter and has a DIFFERENT color than the background further away.

When I was in my teens, I could see auras surrounding objects. It did indeed work best against a white background and what Epic describes about the aura-background being lighter was also the case.

I've been trying to regain that ability (which is what prompted my question in the first place) and am hoping to see them around living creatures too some day.

Ha this is one of my favorite subjects. I taught people to see aura's before. The descriptions about the white background (preferably) is fully ok. Do use a moderate lighing! Do not stare, look in the distancebeyound the person. Whenever your eyes focus on the person, that is the moment where you loose the sight again. Stay looking in the distance. I suggest when you learn not to look at the person itself but at about 30 cm above his/her head.
Colors have different meanings according to the places where they are. Yellow beams from the head are very different to the same yellow emenating from the kidneys for example. There are a few good books on it and it is fairly easy to learn to see them. Learning what it all means and could mean is something else, that takes years.
By the way, before you learn to see them you should first learn to become more sensitive and then learn to feel them with your palm, upper arms, face, spine. Then seeing them will go easier generally.