Colour therapy has been shown to be ‘effective’ on the physical plane — because, colour impacts all of us. The therapy also has the ability to affect our deeper planes — at the psychological and spiritual levels. Since our well-being is not merely a physical concern, it is now not uncommon for practitioners, in either stream of medicine, conventional and complementary, to treat patients holistically.
In other words, treating individuals not on a compartmentalised format — composed of body parts and organs — but, as body, mind and spirit as one whole — is what medicine is all about today. This makes sense, because none of our different body areas function entirely alone; they complement each other. This is also one big reason why colour therapy can be quite useful — more so, because it takes into consideration all the levels of our being and addresses them as one unit, and not in isolation.
Remember the time when we, as infants, first experienced colour — most precisely, when the pink form enveloped us in an extremely nurturing and comforting womb. We related to pink, unconsciously, as part of our first step in learning. The colour contributed much to our consciousness. However, as we grow, or get, older, we do not attach as much importance to our first colour ‘choice’ [though we may to a certain extent], as much as we do to our many different feelings, memories and meanings vis-à-vis certain colours. This perception gets entrenched in our mind and memory — and, relates itself as a part of our subconscious. This may lead to our own colour choice — colours of different hues, denoting different connotations, such as happiness, boredom, melancholy, and so on.
It all filters to just one thing — every life experience makes an impression on our psyche. They have positive and negative sides. It is obvious that negative experiences, in the long-term, often manifest themselves as physical aspects of the disease state. You’d think of the time, over the years, for instance, where you have not been willing, for one reason or another, to speak your mind, express your needs, or feelings. The result is — you may have developed a problem in the throat chakra, which connects to the spiritual aspect of self-expression. You are ever since on the defensive, even guarded. Your energy levels, therefore, in this particular aspect of your being is rigid, and not indicative of being energetic.
It is precisely in a situation such as this that appropriate colour, or colours can help you put to fight negative feelings, and remove certain mental and physical distresses, or roadblocks, and restore balance to the body.
Colour Therapy For All
A holistic, and an extremely useful, safe, and non-invasive form of treatment, colour therapy may be practised by just about anyone — everyday. And, with good results.
Making colour therapy a part of everyday living is quite easy — because, there is colour all around us. Also, colours do not come with a price tag. Colour is all around us — everywhere. Everything on our planet has a purpose just as well — so does colour.
What you need to experience when you use colour therapy is the ability to elevate your awareness of the energy of colour, and how it can change your life. With time, you can learn how to heighten your own awareness about the colours around you, because the capacity for health and well-being is within us all. Besides, you can always seek the help of a professional therapist who would be happy to initiate you into the world of colour healing — this is because a therapist would well-versed with a wide variety of techniques used for the application of the therapy.
With The Therapist
Before embarking upon a colour therapy plan, the therapist will make you sit comfortably and analyse the problem. A written statement is made to monitor and plan the nature of future treatments. In a normal setting, the therapist takes time to ask questions about your medical history — hereditary, or genetic problems and personal, past history and/or problems — current physical health, state of mind, exercise, work pressure etc.,
Once this is done, the therapist evaluates the nature of the complaints, or symptom-picture, and so on, before identifying the colour frequencies that you would need. As you know, the first seven colours relate to the seven chakras of the body; there is also an eighth which adds to the therapy as a complementary colour. In ‘light’ colour therapy the appropriate colour is usually used in conjunction with its complementary colour. One example is violet with yellow. The therapist arrives at the complementary colours by dividing a circle into eight segments, like cutting a birthday cake. They also mark one of the colours in each segment, starting with red, and using the order and moving around the circle in a clockwise manner.
NB: Neither violet nor purple, or magenta should be used in colour therapy on children. Therapists suggest that these colours may ‘block’ a child’s natural development.
A Self-Help Colour Treatment Plan
You can practice colour therapy in the comfort of your home too. There are several ways of doing it — one great way is choosing the colour that makes you feel cheerful, and relaxed. The simplest form of colour healing is colour breathing. This is a form of meditation, or visualisation, in which you imagine yourself inhaling and exhaling colours. The best time to practice the therapy is in bed before going to sleep, or first thing in the morning before waking up.
Step 1. Sit comfortably, or lie down, and relax
Step 2. Keep your breathing deep, regular, and calm — not forced, or noisy
Step 3. Visualise, or imagine, yourself surrounded by intense light of the colour you choose. You need to, however, think, or contemplate on the healing properties of light, or colour
Step 4. As you breathe in, imagine that you are inhaling ‘this’ colour. Just follow it as it spreads from your lungs to your solar plexus and then throughout the body
Step 5. As you exhale, or breathe out slowly, imagine you are exhaling the complementary colour.
There are a few other simple modes of self-help colour therapy. One is diet — the idea of introducing your chosen colour into your food. If you think of yellow, eat bananas, or yellow-fleshed fruits, corn, saffron rice etc.,
In addition, you may wear clothes that reflect your moods. Remember — the colour of your clothes changes the way you feel. You can wear bright-coloured clothes to counteract depression, lack of confidence, or low self-esteem. You can, likewise, sport calm, tranquil colours to reduce stress, or bad temper. The idea applies to your home décor too.
[This is the concluding part of the article. Part-1 was published, ThinkWellness360, January 16, 2022]
