Healing with colour

Colour dominates our world, from the food we eat to sayings and expressions, when we talk about love it is often associated with the colour red, anger is also under the spectrum of this colour, other expressions of colour are green with envy, yellow belly (coward), Scarlett woman and blue Monday. All of these sayings stimulate a feeling or response in the mind, for example some shades of blue make us feel cold or down, whereas yellow can lift the spirit and gives us a feeling of warmth. It is not surprising that colour can evoke such strong emotional responses in people.

Colour therapy was used by the Egyptians and Chinese as a way of promoting good health in mind and body, the ancient Egyptians used what was available to them to produce the most vivid colours that can still be seen today; they would use cobalt and copper for blue and malachite for green.

The use of colour in modern society has been implemented in some states of America, prison cells are painted Pink to relieve anxiety and aggression in prisoners and it has proved to be successful. Some researchers have suggested that Mexican and Indian men lead happier, healthier lives than Western men because of the abundant colours they wear, this may be quite near to the truth as the bright colours may activate the chakras.

Isaac Newton passed a beam of light through a prism the colours came out red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet he called these the spectrum. Colour is a vibration and each of the frequencies can have an effect on our mind and health, black can represent power, wealth, fear, death in western cultures and mystery. If colour has such a profound effect on our psyche then healing through this medium is not so difficult to understand.

Chromatherapy or colour therapy is a complimentary way of healing the emotional, mental and spiritual self, therapists use a variety of different methods to lift the energy within the mind and body. Crystals, Colour energised oils, silk scarfs are all used to energise the chakra system. It can be used alongside other methods of healing. It can be used on animals and children as it is a non-evasive treatment, many ailments have been successfully treated using this type of healing.

When the colour spectrum enters the eye it stimulates the hypothalamus which in turn affects the pituitary gland all these regulate the hormones and endocrine system, when we are deprived of light it throws out our body’s ability to function properly and in turn this affects our mental and emotional health.

One interesting part of colour healing is the belief that eating a wide range of natural coloured food can activate and stimulate the chakra system and keep us healthy. It is always more pleasing to see a table full of fruit and vegetables than the dull grey foods like takeaways and processed food. Healing can take place on many levels through seeing, digesting and sensing colour, it is part of our everyday existence and without realising we make many decisions based on colour.

© Paula Wratten 2011
www.paulawratten.com