Colour can heal

Many of us have a fascination with colour from artists and interior designers to the man (or woman) on the street. It is fairly well agreed that certain colours evoke certain responses, such as black for mourning (in this country), red for danger, green for calm. Red is also hot whereas blue is cold.

But what about using colour as a healer? That is perhaps a more controversial subject. However, there is evidence of colour therapy going back thousands of years to the ancient cultures of Egypt, China and India.

During the early twentieth century, investigations into the therapeutic uses of colour in Europe were carried out, notably, by Rudolph Steiner who related colour to form, shape and sound. He suggested that some forms amplify the vibrational quality of certain colours, and that certain combinations of colour and shape have either destructive or regenerative effects on living organisms. In the schools inspired by Steiner’s work, classrooms are painted and textured to correspond to the ‘mood’ of children at various stages of their development.

Coloured light has been used in healing throughout history. It can be projected on to parts of the body using various devices, including lamps and filters. In many instances the light provided is defined in shapes believed to enhance the colour’s energic effect. Contemporary colour therapists use full-spectrum lamps fitted with special quartz filters that can produce colours of all wavelengths and frequencies.

Each colour has its own particular wavelength and energy. The energy relating to each of the seven spectrum colours of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet, resonates with the energy of each of the seven main chakras/energy centres of the body and good health and wellbeing is achieved by a balance of all these energies. Colour therapy can help to re-balance and/or stimulate these energies by applying the appropriate colour to the body.

Red relates to the base chakra, orange the sacral chakra, yellow the solar plexus chakra, green the heart chakra, blue the throat chakra, indigo the brow chakra (sometimes referred to as the third eye) and violet relates to the crown chakra.
Every cell in the body needs light energy - thus colour energy has widespread effects on the whole body.

Other ways of giving colour include solarised water, light boxes/lamps with colour filters, colour silks and hands on healing using colour.

It can be used to treat a wide range of ailments. Bright white, full-spectrum, light is now being used in the treatment of cancers, seasonal affective disorder (so-called ‘winter depression’), eating disorders, insomnia, jet lag, shift-working, alcohol and drug dependency and to reduce overall levels of medication.

There has also been reported success using blue light in the treatment of a wide variety of psychological problems, including addictions, eating disorders, impotence and depression. At the other end of the colour spectrum, red light has been shown to be effective in the treatment of migraine headaches and cancer. As a result, colour is becoming widely accepted as a therapeutic tool with various medical applications.

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