What is Colour Therapy

Colour, in its many forms, has been used for thousands of years for many different purposes. It was used by many civilizations, including the ancient Egyptians and Greeks. Colour has a profound effect on us on many levels – physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. Let’s examine the science behind colour and colour therapy.

Colour is energy. Energy is light. This light energy surrounds EVERYTHING in everyday life. The source of this light (energy) is the SUN. The sun shines even during rain and cloudy days. The sun is above these elements (rain, clouds) and continues to shine even though we may not physically see it.

It has been proven that if one allows the sun’s ray (white light) to pass through a glass prism, you would end up with seven different colours. These colours all travel at the same speed, but at slightly different wavelengths. The visible light spectrum is 700 – 400 nanometers (NM). There are other, wavelengths of light such as x-ray, gamma ray, etc., but we do not see those wavelengths because our eyes see only the visible light.

The colors represented by these wavelengths are – Red (700 NM), Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet (400 NM). As you can see, Red is the longer wavelength. Violet is the shorter. Because each colour travels at different wavelengths, each has its own particular energy.

History of Colour

Avicenna (980 – 1037) seeing colour as of vital importance both in diagnosis and in treatment, discussed chromotherapy (Colour Therapy) in “The Canon of Medicine”. He wrote that “colour is an observable symptom of dis-ease” and developed a chart that related colour to the temperature and physical condition of the body.

American Civil War General Augustus Pleasonton (1801 – 1894) conducted his own experiments and in 1876 published his book “The Influence of the Blue Ray of the Sunlight and of the Blue Color of the Sky” about how the colour blue can improve the growth of crops and livestock and can help heal diseases in humans.

This led to modern chromotherapy influencing scientist Dr. Seth Pancoast (1823 – 1889) and Edwin Dwight Babbitt (1828 -1905) to conduct experiments and to publish, respectively, “Blue and Red Light, or Light and Its Rays as Medicine (1877) and “The Principles of Light and Color”

In 1933, Indian born American citizen scientist Dinshah P. Ghadiali (1873 – 1966) published “The Spectro Chromemetry Encyclopedia”, a work on colour therapy. Ghadiali believed that colors represent chemical potencies in higher octaves of vibration and for each organism and system of the body there is a particular colour that stimulates and another that inhibits the work of that organ or system.

Ghadiali also thought that by knowing the action of the different colours upon the different organs and systems of the body, one can apply the correct colour that will tend to balance the action of any organ or system that has become abnormal in its functioning or condition. Dinshah P. Ghadiali”s son Darius Dinshah continues to provide information about colour therapy via his “Dinshah Health Society”, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing non-pharmaceutical home colour therapy and his book “Let There Be Light”.

Throughout the 19th century, colour healers claimed colored glass filters could treat many diseases. References: Chromotherapy – Wikipedia

Colour is absorbed by the eyes, skin, skull, our aura (magnetic energy field). Every cell in the body needs light energy. There are many different ways of giving or getting colour. They include solarized water, foods of different color, clothing, syntonics, aromatherapy, harmonics, crystals, colour bathing, color breathing, hands on healing using colour, artificial light to mention a few.

Colour therapy is a totally holistic and non-invasive therapy. Colour therapy is safe to use alone or alongside any other therapy whether orthodox, medical, or complementary and is safe and helpful for adults, children and animals too.

Please be aware that NO complementary therapy should be considered an alternative to professional medical advice where necessary. If you are taking medication you should consult your doctor before making any changes related to your medication or your health.

When doing colour therapy, a practitioner’s goal is to balance the energy centers of the body. These centers are also known as CHAKRAS. The seven energy centers (chakras) are associated with the seven colors of the rainbow. The following chakras and colours are interrelated:

Crown Chakra – Violet; Brow (Third Eye) Chakra – Indigo; Throat Chakra – Blue; Heart Chakra - Green; Solar Plexus Chakra – Yellow; Sacral Chakra – Orange; Root Chakra – Red.

The seven chakras and their relation to colour therapy will be discussed In future articles. Colour Therapy is gradually being recognized as an alternative to achieving a balanced, healthy life.

#CarolynFreeman #HealthandHealing #SelfHelp