Color Power: Color Healing

We are all drawn more toward certain colours than others, usually as a result of personal experiences associated with the relevant hue. Consciously or sub consciously - colour affects us and those around us in many ways. Being drawn to a certain shade on a particular day – be it the food we eat or the clothes we wear – usually means that our being is in need of this particular colour. It is no accident that phrases like seeing red or feeling blue and blues music have become common in our language. Colour and sound vibrations affect our daily lives and can also be used to heal us.

The world may well appear a more colourful place to women. According to a new study many women perceive a greater range of colors - particularly shades of red - than men are able to see. Red, orange and yellow are denoted as active and warm colours while blue and purple as cool and passive. Green is the one hue that is neither. It is the balancing and healing shade forming the mid point of the full colour spectrum.

A Short Background of Colour Healing

Most of what we know today is credited to the scientific research of Sir Isaac Newton. However, the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans all used colour in healing. Painting rooms and using coloured ointments formed a part of this process.

In fact, physician Aulus Cornelius Celsus wrote about using colour as a therapy as early as the 1^st century in Rome. In the 9^th century, the Arab physician Avicenna wrote about the relationship of colour to both diseases and their treatments.

Colour therapy has been successfully used in hospitals and mental institutions since the 1930s. Exposure to different hues has an affect on our emotions and psychology. Although quite gentle when used in healing, it can have powerful results.

Different Ways of Healing with Colours

Different colours are associated and resonate with different parts of the body. These are known as the seven energy centres of the physical being known as chakras. The chakras themselves are interconnected through energy meridians throughout the body. If those energy centres or meridians are out of balance the body often reacts with physical symptoms resulting in a person feeling ill. A variety of applied techniques are generally used to bring the body back into balance.

Colour Healing Using Candles

One of those methods is the use of coloured candles. As a general rule, people are drawn to a certain shade if they are deficient of this particular hue and need to re energise a certain chakra. Simply light a candle of the relevant colour and remain in close proximity to it, hence recharging your out of balance energy field.

Colour candles can also be used for a specific requirement. If you need to concentrate to read or study, light a yellow candle. Different colours have distinct effects on the human psyche and through it on the physical well being, but more on that later.

Colour Healing Using Lamp Radiation

The use of a lamp with shaded light bulbs is another way of using colour to re balance body, mind and spirit. It can be used to illuminate the room in general or focused on specific body parts as needed. Again, different colours cause different reactions – a warm colour such as red, orange or yellow will stimulate body and mind while a cool shade of blue or purple will have a calming effect.

Colour Water Healing with Sun Energies

Place a colour gel into a clear bowl of water, cover the bowl and place it in the sun – generally on a window sill. Alternatively, use a clear glass or bowl of water with coloured panes of glass or filters and expose both to the sunlight.

The sun will then energise the water over time in accordance with the shade of gel, filter or pane of glass used. If placed in the window in the morning, the water should be ready for consumption by sundown.

The sun’s rays are said to have magical healing qualities. The coloured and subsequently energised water will assume and accumulate the relevant healing qualities and thus enable healing certain illnesses and injuries by drinking the liquid.

Colour Breathing

Concentrate on a certain colour you feel deficient of and breathe in deeply. This can be combined with colour candles or a lamp with a shaded bulb or even a coloured fabric (preferably made from natural materials such as silk or cotton) either placed in front of you or simply close by.

Colour Visualisation

Similar to Colour Breathing, visualise a certain colour in your mind with your eyes closed. Imagine yourself immersed in this hue and see yourself resonate with it, healing and balancing you. Again, this practice can be combined with candles, lights and/or fabrics as above.

Now a little insight into the effects the different colours have on our every day life.

First the seven colours connected to our body’s energy fields – the chakras:-

RED – Root Chakra (base of spine)

Red stands for energy, vitality and power. If you feel tired in the morning, wear or eat something in this shade to give you the extra energy you need for the day. It stimulates the physical body and nervous system as well as emphasises independence and individuality. This hue also counteracts physical exhaustion, worry as well as fear and helps raise blood pressure and circulation, warding off colds and chills in the process. However, people suffering from anxiety and/or high blood pressure should avoid this hue as it may increase anxiety and aggression.

Contrary to popular belief, colours are not only used in alternative healing but also in modern medicine. Red is used to burn out cancer as well as drying up weeping sores or wounds.

It is also a good colour for business, especially if you are a sales person. The colour red stands out and attracts people. A red carpet or wall in a place of business will draw money.

ORANGE – Sacral/Sexual Chakra (below naval)

Orange is used to increase immunity and physical energy, sexual potency and also has a positive effect on digestive problems, muscle spasms and cramps, chest (bronchitis and asthma) and kidney disease as well as emotional stress. This hue has a gentle warming effect and creates a cheerful and conscientious image.

Just slightly less powerful than the red hue, orange should only be used in small doses and is not a good colour for nervous or easily agitated people. Too much exposure to this shade can also cause placid and timid characteristics.

YELLOW – Solar Plexus Chakra – Energy Centre (just above naval)

Yellow is the hue of the intellect. If you need mental stimulation or clear a foggy head this is the colour to help you achieve that. It also activates charm, joy and optimism, and counteracts depression, anxiety, stomach trouble as well as constipation. It is also generally beneficial for skin and liver.

Being another warm and active colour it again stimulates the nervous system and can cause exhaustion and depression if exposed to too often.

GREEN – Heart Chakra (centre/left chest)

This uplifting, peaceful and serene ‘in between’ colour – neither warm and active nor cool and passive - is the healer and balancer of emotions, but also enhances creativity and focus. Green stimulates growth – be it mending broken bones or rejuvenating tissue – lowers blood pressure, alleviates sleeplessness and counteracts nervous disorders and muscle tension.

Green produces the image of stability and efficiency. We appear calm, controlled and at peace with the world. Green is also the colour of Mother Nature.

BLUE – Throat Chakra - Communication (throat)

Truth, serenity and harmony are evoked with this colour. It is the soother of the mind and emotions – reducing both mental and nervous tension - and counteracts the stimulator yellow. It is no coincidence that blue and yellow combined result in the colour green, the neutral balancing shade of the spectrum. Versatile and tranquil it creates the image of patience and understanding.

It is the cooling, calming, reconstructing and protecting hue. It soothes burns, helps with fever attacks and nervous irritations, and even stops bleeding by counteracting the colour red. It also pacifies sore eyes, earaches, nausea, a sore throat and laryngitis.

However, too much of the colour blue can leave you cold, depressed and feeling sorry for yourself.

PURPLE – Third Eye Chakra (mid forehead)

Purple is the connector to the spiritual realm and self, promoting the tendency not to accept anything at face value and create a sense of peace. Mental and nervous problems are soothed by this hue, increasing concentration and focus. It also helps alleviate rheumatism, epilepsy and pain in general – deep tissue work and healing of the bones – and pacify the central nervous system.

This colour unifies impulsive red with gentle blue, creating an almost mystical shade representing intuitive and sensitive understanding of the unreal. Almost 75% of pre adolescent children as well as pregnant women and people suffering from hyper thyroidism have a preference for this colour – deemed to be based on a desire for mystic intimacy or understanding.

WHITE – Crown Chakra (top of head)

White is a generally neutral colour yet incorporates all shades of the spectrum. It connects our central being to the universe through the Crown Chakra. It is considered to be the highest charging field for bringing peace and comfort, but also for the immune system to heal itself.

The frequency of white light has been construed as sacred, pure, perfect, innocent, of chastity and redemption, and generally triumphant of spirit over flesh. It is also connected to clean or cleanliness in conjunction with the phrase ‘pure white’ and is the reason for most brides wearing a white wedding gown.

Other popular colours:-

LAVENDER

While purple connects directly to our psychic self, this softer shade assists with spiritual healing. Lavender is a soothing and calming colour – apparently used to burn off karma from other/previous lifetimes.

TURQUOISE

A mixture of the great balancer and healer green and the calmer and soother blue – this colour incorporates both elements. If you are in dire need of healing and calming, this is the perfect colour to wear, eat or simply look at.

BLACK

This is the cloaking hue – the colour chosen when a person tries to become invisible and feels the need to retreat and/or regroup. Wearing black can shroud us in an aura of mystery. However, wearing all black over a long period of time can result in the desire to cut ourselves off completely from society and communication.

SILVER

Peace and persistence are incorporated into this shade. It is a major purging colour and helps in removing unwanted disease and troubles from the body including cancer of tissue and blood.

GOLD

While gold is seen as the wearer being materialistic, it also portrays the person as being open and approachable. It is said to be the strongest colour to help cure all illnesses and strengthen both body and spirit. However, many people are unable to tolerate this colour for any length of time.

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About the author

This article was written and copyrighted by Doris E Rufli, who can be reached at LadySam13@msn.com or via her site www.LadySam13.spaces.live.com.