An Introduction: Color Therapy and Healing

An Introduction: Color Therapy and Healing

Colour is there everywhere you look, and also everywhere you do not look. You delight in its marvels consciously plus subconsciously. The point has been you see colour all the time, but how often do you think about its origins and effects?

What is Colour?

Colour is light and energy. Colour is visible to us as it reflects, bends, and refracts through all kinds of particles, molecules and objects. There are a variety of wavelengths that light can be categorized, producing different types of light. For instance: One example of the way light can affect us is a mild form of depression known as Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), which is caused when many people suffer during winters.

A Brief History of Colour Therapy

It is no mystery that the sun and its source of light (or lack thereof), can have a profound effect on us. Thousands of years ago, some countries began exploring colour and its healing capabilities. Egypt, Greece and China are known for their forays into colour healing and therapy. 

A few examples in the current times to be included:

We can paint rooms with different colours with the hopes of treating certain conditions

Utilizing colours in nature that is in the surroundings (blue from skies, green from grass, etc.)

Healing rooms that do utilize crystals to break up the sunlight that shines through

There is enough evidence of people attempting to use colour towards healing plus therapy from as far back as say 2000 years.  It has gained wide popularity throughout the years, with numerous books being written about it, including Johann Wolfgang Goethe who has studied the physiological effects of colour.

As you have already known, many people are sceptical about using colour and even light for healing or therapy.

An Introduction to Colour Therapy

Colour therapy and healing (also known as chromotherapy or light therapy) is a type of holistic healing that uses the visible spectrum of light and colour to affect a person’s mood and physical or mental health. 

Please note that each colour falls into a specific frequency and vibration, which many believe contributes towards specific properties that can be used to affect the energy and also frequencies within our bodies.

While it is common knowledge that light enters through our eyes, it is important to note that light can also enter through our skin. Given the unique frequencies and vibrations of various colours, people believe that certain colours entering the body can activate hormones causing the chemical reactions within the body, then influencing emotion and finally enabling the body to heal.

It is pivotal to note that colours are known to have an effect on people with brain disorders or people with emotional troubles. For instance, the colour blue can have a calming effect which can then result in lower blood pressure, whereas the colour red might have a totally opposite effect. 

Green is another colour that may be used to relax people who are somewhat emotionally unbalanced. The colour Yellow can invigorate people who might be suffering from depression. 

How to get started with colour therapy? 

There are as many colours in the colour therapy sessions as there are colours in the rainbow. As you start with your colour therapy session, your therapist will give you an analysis of all the colours and ask you about the aspects of life in which you think these colours can possibly improve your way of life.

Different colours treating different ailments

This is an essential note to be made: 

The shades of colours used in the colour therapy session will vary depending upon the type of ailment you are trying to possibly correct. 

For example, Blue or purple lights are known to be anti-inflammatory and calming.

Green colour helps you to purify and cleanse

White and yellow colour light does stimulate the lymphatic system. 

Red light is invigorating but it may cause agitation if you are already tense.

Colour therapy can be shown to help on a physical level, which is perhaps is easier to quantify, however, there are some deeper issues around quantifying the effects of the colours on the psychological and spiritual levels too. Despite this many more practitioners, both orthodox and complementary, are now treating patients in a holistic manner.

In fact, today’s spas use colour therapy in holistic treatments such as chronotherapy baths, chakra healing or LED facials, but have also started introducing therapeutic coloured light into saunas and relaxation spaces.

It is pivotal to note that certain colours rebalance or do stimulate the specific chakras. 

There are seven main chakras/energy centres: including heart chakra, crown chakra, brow chakra, throat chakra and solar plexus chakras. 

Chakras in Traditional Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine are seen as the wheels or cogs that do move energy around the human body. When these do get stuck, we become unwell. Each particular colour corresponds towards a specific chakra. For instance: let us look at the third eye chakra which is located between the eyebrows and is associated with the pituitary gland and pineal gland. In a colour therapy session, the therapists can deduce what colour you need to complement and rebalance your energy levels. 

How is it used in spa treatments?

Colour is absorbed by the eyes, skin and more so skull. Colour therapy uses a variety of methods, the most common being LED light boxes or lamps with colour filters. In ‘Colour puncture’, it is the practitioners that shine the appropriate colour lights onto specific acupressure points.

Please note that simply looking at certain colours can produce an effect: we can think of ‘forest bathing’, where you simply look at the greenery, or say ‘blue gym therapy’, which does believe a natural environment that can enhance your wellbeing.

Therapists may ask you to select a colour, as this can guide them in diagnosing what colour or colours you need to balance your energy levels.

How is it used in facials?

LED colour light therapy is said to balance the skin using the coloured wavelengths that do penetrate the skin at varying depths which is blue to be good for congested skin, red for anti-ageing. In such a situation you either wear an LED mask or have a lamp pointing at your face. In fact, therapists claim the light can energise skin cells to produce more collagen, increase blood and oxygen flow. 

Why have a LED Facial?

Colour therapists claim the healing power of colour can be used towards aiding sleep, anxiety and depression, as well as help people find the clarity and peace. It is quite harmless, except, that is, when certain doctors mislead the seriously ill by claiming that it can cure immune deficiencies and even cancer. In fact, when it is used as part of a spa treatment, the coloured light can enhance your feelings of wellbeing, it can have a lovely calming effect, and is a lovely way to express how you feel.

This can be called as been a Spiritual Healing treatment that focuses on several potent colours, of these the most important are green, yellow, orange, red, blue and violet.

Now we will explore a colour vibration so that one knows about the better well-being and harmony within themselves. Always do apply colour vibrations on the bare skin after you have received any other treatments necessary. 

Important colours for use in the Colour Therapy (in LED Facial)

Green

This is the most basic colour of all in healing. It is the colour which you always use first and last. No matter what you are ailing, start off and finish with an application of green. It is the safest colour of all to use. It is a colour which can be applied all over yourself or it can be concentrated on to any one part of the body. 

Green is the great colour of balance, which harmonizes the flow of prana or universal life force, throughout the psychic centres. It operates, as do all other colours, firstly on the aura, the reflection of which reacts upon the physical body.

Yellow

Yellow is the colour which signifies wisdom. Any mental deficiency, no matter how it shows itself, will be relieved by the use of yellow if concentrated on to small areas of the body where the mental blockages do show up. 

 The mental blockage may be brought on by bad circulation which causes the brain cells to be starved of lymph and blood. It may be caused by incorrect breathing, which brings about mental deterioration more quickly than anything else or it may be the result of a nervous breakdown or severe mental strain. In the latter case it can no longer be considered a mental blockage, but rather mental tiredness. 

Orange

This is a stimulating colour which can be given to the spleen, liver, kidneys, heart and indeed to any organ which helps to promote good circulation.  All the internal organs such as liver, kidneys, bowels can be stimulated by this colour. The more concentrated it is the more effective it will be. This colour will help to stimulate the heart if concentrated over this place or indeed any other organ which needs stimulation. Orange is the great vitaliser and if given in conjunction with Spiritual Healing and other forms of natural treatments it can often supplement them and act as a trigger.

Red

Bright crimson red is even a more potent stimulator than orange. This should not be given to anyone on the head. However, if really concentrated on to rheumatic joints it will be beneficial. As the light frequencies of red are slow and very long, they have high penetrating properties, therefore can be used to stimulate the aura (and physical body) to such an extent that circulatory blockages can be cleared.

The colour red can be given over the liver, kidneys or bladder without any harm whatsoever. It must not be given to anyone on the verge of a nervous breakdown. 

Blue

The effective shade is a deep full-bodied primary blue and this can be applied from the top of the head to the feet of most sufferers Blue does cause most people to relax. An application of blue colour vibrations helps people to sleep who suffer with mild insomnia. For more severe cases a low wattage dark blue light in the bedroom has, before now, proved beneficial.

Violet

Violet can be used all over the body, but to apply it lower than the hips would be a waste of these wonderful vibrations, which are of high spiritual content.  Violet tends to bring great relaxation and also like blue, can often be felt as waves of coldness. It does not stimulate basic circulation, but it does stimulate the flow of the more subtle energies throughout the psychic centres and the nervous system. Because of this it is especially beneficial when used on the forehead and neck.

The therapeutic action of colours is related to the chakra they do represent:

First (root; or base of spine): red

Second (sacral; or pelvis/groin area): orange

Third (solar plexus) chakra: yellow

Fourth (heart) chakra: green

Fifth (throat) chakra: blue

Sixth (brow) chakra: indigo

Seventh (crown) chakra: violet

Exposure to different colours is used to improve wellbeing and treat all kinds of conditions. Every colour has its own unique properties and corresponds to different parts of the body. Below is a quick chromotherapy summary:

Green: Calming and restorative, it encourages harmony and balances the spirit. Green light is said to regenerate the respiratory system, soothe the joints and alleviate headaches.

White: Clear and pure, it rebalances the senses. It is associated with regeneration and helps to reset the body’s internal rhythms. White light stimulates the production of serotonin, which helps to regulate sleep and the nervous system. 

Yellow: Symbolizes hope and inspires happiness. Yellow light is said to evoke feelings of security and general wellbeing. In terms of physical healing, yellow boosts the digestive system. It has a cleansing effect, combating imbalances and expelling impurities.

Red: No surprise that red represents vitality and strength. It is energizing, invigorating and encourages courage and optimism. Red light is used to increase blood flow and heart rate in short, it gives the body real get-up-and-go!

Blue: It is the colour of rest and relaxation. It reduces stress, insomnia and general agitation. Blue also lowers blood pressure as well as pulse rate. Turquoise is said to be a particularly serene and soothing shade.

Orange: Fresh and invigorating, it has revitalizing properties and promotes optimism.

Magenta: It does lower anxiety and also raises creativity.

The Way Forward:

In certain cases, colour healing has been found to act quickly, but not in all cases. As a general rule the more spiritually attuned the user is, the more effect colour vibrations will have, but even an ordinary, relatively insensitive person, will eventually react to this Chromotherapy treatment. So go on with it even though it appears, as it will in some cases, to be slow in its reaction.

Please note that the holistic healthcare providers do practice colour therapy often relate the seven colours of the colour spectrum to specific areas of the body known as the chakras. In yoga, the chakras are specific spiritual energy centres of the body. So, it is this holistic conglomeration of colours, chakras and energies which bring about a wholesome, peaceful and holistic treatment.

**** Written for Meridian Counseling by Trishna Patnaik, a BSc (in Life Sciences) and MBA (in Marketing) by qualification but an artist by choice. A self-taught artist based in Mumbai, Trishna has been practicing art for over 14 years. After she had a professional stint in various reputed corporates, she realized that she wanted to do something more meaningful. She found her true calling in her passion that is painting. Trishna is now a full-time professional painter pursuing her passion to create and explore to the fullest. She says, “It’s a road less traveled but a journey that I look forward to every day.” Trishna also conducts painting workshops across Mumbai and other metropolitan cities of India. Trishna is an art therapist and healer. She works with clients on a one on one basis in Mumbai. Trishna fancies the art of creative writing and is dappling her hands in that too, to soak in the experience and have an engagement with readers, wanderers, and thinkers.