Colour Therapy

 Colour therapy is a complementary therapy which uses the wave lengths of the visible spectrum to treat perceived imbalances in the body. Many colour therapists believe that the seven colours of the rainbow relate to the body's seven main chakras.


There is evidence of the therapeutic use of colour dating back thousands of years to the ancient cultures of Egypt, China and India. Papyrus scrolls dating back to 1550BC suggest that the ancient Egyptians used colour to cure ailments. Ancient Chinese texts also record colour therapies. Avicenna (980–1037), seeing colour as of vital importance both in diagnosis and in treatment, discussed chromotherapy in ‘The Canon of Medicine’. He wrote that "colour is an observable symptom of disease" and also developed a chart that related colour to the temperature and physical condition of the body. His view was that red moved the blood, blue or white cooled it and yellow reduced muscular pain and inflammation.

Main principles

Colour is simply light of varying wavelengths and consequently each colour has its own particular wavelength and provides a range of vibrational energy to which human beings are most attuned. Colour therapy seeks to apply our receptivity to the effects of differing wavelengths to harmonise our energy in order to promote psychological and physical wellbeing.

The energy relating to the seven colours of the spectrum can be related to the seven main chakras, or energy centres, of the body.

Colours and related Chakras:

Colour                 Chakra

Violet                    Crown

Indigo                   Brow (the third eye)

Blue                      Throat

Green                    Heart

Yellow                    Solar Plexus

Orange                  Sacral

Red                        Base

Colour therapy is administered in several ways. In many treatments coloured lights are shone on the body or coloured silks are worn. Other practitioners use different coloured liquids in bottles or small torches with coloured beams that are pointed at the relevant acupressure (also known as colour puncture) points. Other ways of giving colour include, solarized water, light boxes/lamps with colour filters and hands on healing using colour.

The wavelength of the colour is absorbed by receptors such as the eyes, skin, skull (our magnetic energy field) or aura and the energy of the colour affects us on all levels physical, spiritual and emotional. Every cell in the body needs light energy - thus colour energy has widespread effects on the whole body.

Uses

There is some evidence that colour affects our mood and general wellbeing. In 1958, US scientist Robert Gerard conducted a study that claimed red stimulates and makes us anxious, while blue promotes calm. He also showed that colour could affect appetite, blood pressure and aggression. Colour therapy became more widely used during the 20th century, when Swiss psychologist Dr Max Lüscher developed the Lüscher-Colour-Diagnostic test. During the test, the recipient is asked to select eight coloured bottles in order of preference. The results are said to reveal your worries and provide their solution.

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

Association

International Colour Association
https://aic-color.org

 

 

Light moves in waves of varying lengths and, as each colour has a different wavelength, we sense them all individually.