Published : 11/05/2021

Chromotherapy and the benefits of colours

- Categories : Feng Shui & Zen decoration

Chromotherapy was the theme of my very first article in January 2019.

I thought I'd dust it off a bit and add to it :-)

What is chromatherapy?

Chromatherapy, chromotherapy, or chromatotherapy is a concept born in the 20th century thanks to Dr. Max Luscher. However, in reality, the principle of chromotherapy goes back much further: ancient China already used it, not to mention ancient India, which associated traditional colours with the chakras (energy centres located in the human body).

This very ancient alternative medicine offers each colour properties and therapeutic virtues that have a great influence on our health.

The principle of chromotherapy is to bring the body, by using the energy of colors, to react in a way to stimulate its capacities of self-healing, to look after a physical or psychological disorder.

A word of history on chromotherapy

From Wikipedia:

Avicienne (Persian medieval philosopher and physician, 980-1037) mentions chromotherapy in Qanûn (an encyclopedic work of medieval medicine written in Arabic). He sees colour as an important element in medical diagnosis and treatment. He writes that "color is an observable symptom of disease" and he develops a chart that links color to temperature and the physical condition of the patient's body. His view is: red agitates the blood, blue or white cools it and yellow reduces muscle pain and inflammation.

Augustus Pleasonton (1801-1894), a general during the Civil War, published in 1876, The Influence Of The Blue Ray Of The Sunlight And Of The Blue Color Of The Sky, about the effects of the color blue on the cultivation of plants, the breeding of animals and the health of people.

In 1933, Dinshah P. Ghadiali (1873-1966), a pilot and later a colonel in the American army, published a theosophical book on colortherapy.

In the 1970's, Jean-Michel Weiss patented a generator with rapid color permutations produced by the Sagem Company: the "creation W color" in the form of a generator of colored impulses allowing to change color up to 100 times per second on a palette of 256 variants. His pupil was Gilles Diederichs, born on January 18, 1958 in Paris, a French relaxologist, sophrologist and composer of relaxation music for children and adults.

What are the benefits of chromotherapy?

Coloured light therapy can for example have beneficial effects on stress, depression, fatigue, sleep problems, migraine,anxiety..

Chromotherapy generally uses an ocular treatment, via light beams sent to the eyes. It can also complete the treatment of certain traumatological or rheumatological problems such as osteoarthritis, tendonitis and arthritis. Chromotherapy would also be useful on dermatological problems such as herpes, scars, skin aging, scars, or burns. The colored light is then directly diffused on the area to be treated.

But we forget that colors are everywhere. So be careful with the colours you wear or bring into your living or working space (when you can choose them of course).

We also often forget that light is essential for the well-being of living beings. The wavelengths emitted by the "colors" emit vibrations that influence our living cells. Each colour is not felt in the same way by different people. Liking or disliking a colour can reveal our problems.

The language of colours

Colors are the language of Light.

They fill the world because everything is color, in us and around us. Although they are the result of a physical phenomenon, electromagnetic waves of different lengths, the true nature of colors is primarily spiritual. Each of them is a manifestation of the Spirit and has a capacity to influence our daily lives.

The colors of our clothes, of the decoration of our house are not neutral, they act for our well-being...

Just as there are colours on the outside, we can also put colours on the inside and light up all the internal suns that the initiatic tradition calls "chakras".

Putting colours in your life is not only to favour positive colours in your clothes, in your house, in your work place, it is also to learn to think, to love, to live in colours.

Meaning of colours

Each colour is linked to a whole, to an intelligent order and to a universal cohesion.

Each ray of color is linked to a day of the week and to a star:

- Violet ray: Monday, Moon

- Red ray: Tuesday, Mars

- Yellow ray: Wednesday, Mercury

- Blue ray: Thursday, Jupiter

- Green ray: Friday, Venus

- Indigo ray: Saturday, Saturn

- Orange ray: Sunday, Sun

The diamond light is present every day since it is the hidden source behind all the colors.

Each color has a strength, a quality, an intelligence that, when united with you, can bring perfection.

- The color red energizes.

- Orange brings interiority.

- Yellow radiates and brings subtlety.

- Green increases energy, develops things, brings growth.

- Blue pacifies, widens, opens the doors to infinity.

- Indigostructures, organizes, brings order and strength that comes from stability.

- Violet cleanses, brings out the essential, what is pure and true, and destroys and consumes everything else.

Find the color or colors you need.

Fill your interior with thought through visualization and meditation. Put also concretely, in your place of life or work, colors which are in harmony with your aspirations, your wishes, what you need to harmonize, to invigorate, to balance, to welcome and to reinforce in you.

How to use colours for your well-being?

Colours in the choice of your clothes

Colour rhymes with mood: each colour is associated with a specific type of emotion. Every day we use expressions that reflect the link between a colour and an emotion: laughing yellow, brooding, seeing red, being green with rage, seeing life in pink, being blue with fear, green with hope..

Each colour has its own field of action within our emotional palette. Like a painter, we choose more or less consciously the colors that correspond to us psychologically both in our living space but also in the daily choice of clothes we wear. We all have clothes, colors that we like to wear simply because we feel good, we feel better dressed so.

If you listen to yourself in the morning before you get dressed, you will naturally feel what colors suit you for this new day.

Color is like food for the emotional body.

If you feel tired, consciously put on red. You will find that your clothes will give you vitality... and if you don't like red, choose an orange one, it will give you energy and a joyful, spontaneous side.

This little daily exercise is great for developing your self-awareness. Just ask yourself the question: "What colour do I need or want to wear today? Over time, you will become more and more sensitive to the influence of color.

The great thing about colours is that they teach us about our psychic and spiritual life.

Colours in your interior design

There are, in my opinion, 2 ways to approach the subject of colors in interior design.

1) The method which seems to me the simplest but also the most effective is to let yourself be inspired by the colours and symbols. Because by choosing with your feeling, you will choose, by the law of correspondence or affinity, what you need

I always make the parallel with the choice of stones in lithotherapy because it is exactly the same thing! Each stone, each symbol, emits a vibration, a wave of form, which will come to speak directly to your heart and your unconscious.

2) Ask yourself the question of what energy, what vibration you wish to instill in your home or in a particular space.

A touch of red in the kitchen to bring dynamism, ardour and initiative, blue in your bedroom to promote calm and relaxation, and yellow in your office to combat mental fatigue (yellow encourages reflection, study and activates thought)

The colors for meditation

I invite you to read my article "meditation on the 7 chakras" and "how to meditate: 5 basic rules" (links at the bottom of the page)

You will find some thoughts and an exercise to put into practice.

The mandala, or symbols of sacred geometry in general, can be used as a visual support for meditation. But a photo that makes sense to you, a statue, a stone ... can also replace the mandala to guide you in your meditation. You focus your attention exclusively on this object, observe its line, its material, and associate ideas that this object suggests to you.

The simplest and most accessible way to focus your attention is to observe without judgment.

There are many possibilities. In a general way, we can say that :

- red stimulates, energizes, strengthens;

- orange internalizes, brings joy, health, inner energy, pleasure, soul;

- yellow encourages reflection, study, activates thought, moderates, attracts wisdom, intelligence, communication;

- green makes fertile, fruitful, gathers wealth, opens a path, smoothes out difficulties, brings out the soul, the hidden beauty, the positive, optimism;

- blue soothes, calms, relaxes, unifies, harmonizes, elevates, improves;

- indigo structures, brings order, discipline, method, strength, confidence, stability;

- Violet cleanses, repels dark, harmful energies, destroys everything that is false, misleading, illusory;

- white opens the mind, reinforces tolerance, vigilance, consciousness, candor, freshness, mastery;

- Black contrasts, brings a touch of freedom, choice, depth; it must be used sparingly because in a way it is the negation of Light and represents unconsciousness and death, although it is also the great revealer of Light, the one who makes it spring forth and unveil it.

For one or two months, place yourself in front of a Mandala or a Fleur de Vie painting for example, and perceive your state of mind

It is important that the atmosphere is quiet, Zen, conducive to meditation. It is not necessary that it is always the same symbol or Mandala. Each one is unique and corresponds to a specific state of mind.

You can place yourself in front of your painting, just before going to bed. You must try to perceive in yourself the virtue that is awakening. You must be serene and receptive.

The next day, when you wake up, pay attention to your inner sensations. The vibratory Mandalas in particular conduct positive influences into the body through the psychic centers

This energy is intended to awaken positive virtues and moods. Therefore, after each meditation session or contemplation in front of a Mandala, it is good to focus on your soul throughout the day

One can be very upset on the surface, while in the depths the serene calm remains absolutely unperturbed.

It is fundamental to nurture deep states of mind that connect us to a higher consciousness.

To conclude

The effectiveness of colours remains something very personal. How you feel about the different shades is above all a matter of taste and sensitivity.

And if you are colour blind?

If you perceive blue instead of red for example, it is your perception that is important. And as a result, red, which has a stimulating effect for most of us, can create a completely different vibration in a colour-blind person.

So listen to your feelings and try to perceive the effects of each color according to your own inner vibration.

Each color, each symbol, is an experience to be lived. I invite you to follow your inspiration and select the one that attracts you the most. It is the same when you have to give a gift to someone.

I hope you enjoyed this article

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