Some fun things to try
I also reccommend meditation, especially with visualizations. Grounding is part of that catagory, as well as learning to do a protective sphere, drawing in positive energy and pushing out negativity. I am also reading "Divine Guidance" and have found some rather helpful things.
I never see auras "around" people, and I don't see them "visually?" I get it as a feeling inside my mind, like when you close your eyes to try to picture something in your head. The color is a cloud inhabiting the area of the person's torso. Sometimes it is a good clear vivid color, sometimes it's cloudy and dark, and they are all different shades of different colors. I don't see them with most people, but I can usually see my son's if I just concentrate for a second. Sometimes I will see a stranger's aura without even thinking about it, but that doesn't happen often.
I have an exercise I practice with my S/O, since he is nice enough to devote his time and energy to my studies...
He thinks of a two digit number and holds the thought of it in his head, and I will concentrate on his thoughts and try to feel the number. Sometimes it is easy, and sometimes I have to make him picture it very clearly for a long time. I think I am more visual in this kind of perception, because I usually pick up whether the number is straight or curvy first, and 0s are pretty easy. It's very good exercise for the psychic part of your brain... When I was younger, I was even better at it, and I used to have fun at college, doing it for the other kids in the dorms. Sometimes it would freak them out!
Another exercise that I sometimes do in my free time is to sit down with a deck of regular cards in a pile face down. I concentrate on the top card and hold my hand over it. I almost always pick up some energy from the card, the color, the suit, whether theres an illustration (a royal card) and occasionally the exact number of the card.
(that should help explain to everyone why I love Las Vegas so much. )