COLOURS : THE FRAGRANCE OF LIFE

Tip tip tap…what colour do you want? Remember this game that we all have played at some point or the other.
Though a simple children’s game, yet goes a long way talking about personalities, thoughts, attitudes, behaviours,
moods, emotional state etc. And what could be better if we understand the play and magic of colours right from
childhood.

Light consists of the seven colours rather seven energies, namely, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and
Violet. Each of the colours is deeply related to various areas of our body and will affect us emotionally, physically
and mentally. By learning how each colour influences us, we can effectively use colours to lift up our spirits, pep-up
our emotions and give a shot of that extra energy much needed after a long exhaustive day.

Colour Therapy works when we match the frequency wavelength of a colour with the frequency wavelength of a
particular disease, virus or infection. To understand it better, imagine you are listening a radio. Your mind wants to
listen to a particular radio station and your hand therefore tunes into that particular radio frequency. Similarly with
colour therapy, we match the frequency of the colour used with the frequency of the disease.

Colour therapy uses colour to re-balance the chakras (our energy centres) that have become depleted of energy.
Colour has a profound effect on us on all levels, physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. If our energy centres
become blocked or depleted, then our body cannot function properly and this, in turn, can lead to a variety of
problems on any level.

Advance Pranic healer and tarot card reader Nandita Pandey says, “Pranic Healing uses the technique of healing
through colours and is effective in healing wounds, burns, clots, kidney stones, fractures and chronic arthritis.

One must be very careful when doing one’s house. Colours play a major role in governing the temperament and
psyche of a person who is using it.

That is why hospitals are advised to have green curtains and carpets as green is considered to be a healing colour.
For those with a hectic schedule should incorporate the colour blue in their life, this will help them tranquilize.”

Each of the spectrum colours is simply light of varying wavelengths, thus each colour has its own particular energy.
The energy relating to each of these spectrum colours resonates with the energy of each of the seven main chakras
of the body.

Good health and well-being is achieved by a balance of all these energies. Colour therapy can help to re-balance
chakras by applying the appropriate colour to the body. Listed below is each of the spectrum colours and the chakra
it relates to. Violet has the shortest wavelength and red the longest wavelength.

There are seven main energy centres (chakras) of the body which resonate with the seven rainbow colours.

Anyone who is familiar with Acupuncture will realise that there are, however, a large number of minor chakras
throughout the body totalling something in excess of 300.

Chakras are like spirals of energy, each one relating to the others. Chakra (pronounced sha-kra) is the Sanskrit
word for ' wheel'.

If you can imagine the main chakras / energy centres as a set of cogs/wheels, they are rather like the workings of a
clock or an engine; each cog /wheel needs to move smoothly and at a similar speed for the clock / engine to work
properly.
Thus good health and well being is achieved by a balance of all these energies (or the smooth running of the
cogs/wheels).

The animation is purely an impression of the Chakras.

Violet Crown Chakra: Associated with cerebral cortex and the central nervous system. Violet is a powerful aid
to spiritual enhancement. It cuts through illusion and inspires healing and divine love.

Indigo Brow Chakra: Associated with the pituitary gland, nose, ears, and left eye. Clarity and truth are
achieved by the alleviation of fear. Indigo calms and clears the mind and strengthens the metabolism.

Blue Throat Chakra: Associated with the thyroid, throat and mouth. Blue is calming and bringing peace,
reducing fear and dispersing anger. It reduces inflammation and fevers. Use it for self-purification.

Green Heart Chakra: Associated with the heart, circulatory system, arms and lungs. Green stimulates muscle
tissue while strengthening the blood. Centres you while encouraging well-being.

Yellow Solar Plexus Chakra: Associated with adrenal, stomach, liver and muscles. Yellow assists in raising
self-esteem. Gives hope, warmth and energy. Good for the kidneys, colon, liver, gall bladder and digestive organs.

Orange Sacral Chakra: Associated with the ovaries, testicles, genitals, womb and bladder. Orange is beneficial
for the whole of the digestive system. Inspires you to be brave.

Red Base Chakra: Associated with the spinal column, adrenals colon, legs and bones. Red regenerates and
purifies the blood. It balances passion and sex drive, bringing love and compassion.

Now go for this simple exercise

The best way to get the most benefit from colour is to meditate upon it. Focus on the colour and
try to be one with it. But before that, you must clear your mind of all thoughts and try not
having any emotions swinging up your heart.

When the mind is in such a stance, it will definitely benefit not just from colours but from mere
silence as well. Take a few deep breathes from your stomach and stare at your chosen colour.
Feel as if you are breathing the colour and feel it sink into your skin through the pores.

Keep your breaths deep and slow and concentrate on your breathing. Stare at the colour for
approximately 15 minutes in the beginning, increase the time duration each session. And for
those who find it hard to meditate, remember that practice alone will make you perfect at this
art.

Enjoy listening to your breath; perhaps have some soothing music to tranquil you initially.
Using the seven colours of the spectrum, Colour Therapy aims to balance and enhance our
body’s energy centres / Chakras and also to help stimulate our body’s own healing process.

Look around your home. Is there a dominant colour featuring all over. Now peek into your
wardrobe, do you find one or two particular shades repeating themselves. Well, this is your
chance to analyse the colour of your life and also to bring in more of them to usher in growth
and positive attitude.

The following chart will help you in analysing your colour sensitivity and will also help in improving on your
personality type:

Red: Red is a powerful colour that has always been associated with vitality and ambition. It can help
overcome negative thoughts. However, it is also associated with anger; if we have too much red in our
system, or around us, we may feel irritable, impatient, and uncomfortable.

Pink: Pink is emotionally soothing and calming, and gives a feeling of gentle warmth and nurturing. It
lessons feelings of irritation and aggression, surrounding us with a sense of love and protection. It also
alleviates loneliness, despondency, over sensitivity, and vulnerability. While red relates to sexuality, pink is
associated with unselfish love.

Orange: Orange is a joyous colour. It frees and releases emotions and alleviates feelings of self-pity, lack of
self worth, and unwillingness to forgive. It stimulates the mind, renewing interest in life; it is a wonderful anti-
depressant and lifts the spirits. Apricot and Peach is good for nervous exhaustion.

Green: Green has a strong affinity with nature, helping us connect with empathy to others and the natural
world. We instinctively seek it out when under stress or experiencing emotional trauma. It creates a feeling
of comfort, laziness and relaxation, calmness, and space, lessening stress, balancing and soothing the
emotions. Dark green represents the onset of death and is non-descript, unassertive, a negation of love and
joy. Lime green and olive green can have a detrimental effect on both physical and emotional health since
sickly yellow and green are associated with the emotions of envy, resentment, and possessiveness.

Yellow: Yellow is also a happy, bright, and uplifting colour, a celebration of sunny days. It is associated with
the intellectual side of the mind, and the expression of thoughts. It therefore aids the powers of discernment
and discrimination, memory and clear thinking, decision- making and good judgment.

It also helps good organisation, assimilation of new ideas, and the ability to see different points of view. It
builds self-confidence and encourages an optimistic attitude. Conversely, dull yellow can be the colour of
fear.

Turquoise: We associate blue greens with the refreshing and cool ocean. It is therefore invigorating,
cooling, and calming. Like green, turquoise is good for mental strain and tiredness or feeling washed out. It
is an elevating colour that encourages us to make a sparkling fresh start.

Turquoise is also helpful for feelings of loneliness, since it heightens communication, sensitivity, and
creativity.

Colour therapy is the use of colour in a variety of ways to promote health and healing. The different
colours we see in the world around us are the result of the eye perceiving light vibrating at different
frequencies.
Sunlight, or full-spectrum light, holds all the wavelengths of colour in the visible spectrum (red, orange,
yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, and magenta) as well as infrared and ultraviolet light, which cannot be
seen.

Used to treat both physical and emotional problems, colour therapy may involve exposure to coloured lights,
massages using colour-saturated oils, contemplating and visualizing colours, even wearing coloured clothing
and eating coloured foods.

Not surprisingly, colour has played a role in healing for centuries. At the temple of Heliopolis in ancient
Egypt, patients were treated in rooms specifically designed to break up the sun's rays into the colours of the
spectrum. People also made regular pilgrimages to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the seven
wonders of the world, to take advantage of the healing colours of the exotic plants and flowers found there.

In India, practitioners of Ayurveda (now the oldest health-care system in the world), taught that specific
colours corresponded with each of the seven chakras, the energy centers that represent organs, emotions,
and aspects of the spirit. (Today Ayurvedic medicine continues to use colour to treat a wide range of mental
and physical imbalances.)

It wasn't until the late 17th century, however, that modern-day colour theory was born, when English
philosopher and mathematician Sir Isaac Newton conducted his prism experiments and showed that light is
truly a mixture of colours from the visible spectrum.

Although doctors used colour to treat everything from psychological problems to smallpox over the next
hundred years, interest in colour's effects on healing didn't really pick up until 1878, when Dr. Edwin D.
Babbitt published his book Principles of Light and Colour. Here he described his work in chromato- therapy
(healing with coloured lights), suggesting it as a treatment for a variety of ailments, including burns, nervous
excitability, and cold in the extremities.

Probably the most extensive and detailed work on coloured light therapy, however, was done by Dr. Dinshah
P. Ghadiali (1873-1966), a naturalized American from India, who had studied Babbitt's work. The doctor
spent many years researching the effects of colour on disease and developing coloured filters.

In 1920, he introduced a system of coloured lights, which he sold under the name "Spectro-Chrome"
lamps.

Touted as a treatment for such diseases as diabetes, tuberculosis, and chronic gonorrhea, the healing
lamps were considered preposterous by many M.D.s and miraculous by others who claimed success with
them.

Although controversial (Dinshah spent much time in court defending his product), his work continues to
inspire many colour therapists today.

In 1947, Swiss psychologist Dr. Max Lüscher introduced the Lüscher Colour Test, a form of colour
therapy still widely used by many psychologists. The test consists of choosing 43 colours from a total of 73
possibilities, although there are simpler variations.

By observing the colours a person chooses or rejects, the therapist can learn a good deal about a subject's
psychological state. For example, if a person selects darker colors, it suggests a need for rest and stress
reduction.

At about the same time, Russian researcher S.V. Krakov was conducting a series of experiments in which
he separated the different wavelengths in the light spectrum to show how colour can affect the nervous
system.

He observed that red light stimulated the adrenal glands, raising blood pressure and pulse rate, and that
blue and white light had a calming effect. Although there are still no rigorous studies supporting Krakov's
work, many practitioners today commonly recommend colour therapy for stress and for stress-related pain.

In recent years interest in colour therapy has grown as studies have shown the positive effects of full-
spectrum light on seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and other forms of depression. Mainstream researchers
are looking into its use for a variety of other ailments as well, from sleep disorders to hormonal problems.

More unusual colour therapies also continue to be utilized. Over the past decade Aura-Soma (an Eastern-
influenced therapy that uses coloured bottles of essential oils and extracts to shed light on a person's "true
inner self") has gained a following. And Esogetic Colourpunc- ture Therapy (ECT), which focuses coloured
light on acupuncture points, is being studied as a treatment for a variety of health problems, including
migraines, bronchitis, and uterine fibroids.