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Colour therapy (chromotherapy)

From the Resene decorating blog

From the restful feeling we get when surrounded by calming blue colours to the motivation and stimulation we receive from reds and oranges, it’s no secret that colour has the power to transform our emotions.

We all know how great we feel after sitting or taking a walk in the sun. At its very basic level, you’re undergoing a spot of colour therapy.

Colour therapy (chromotherapy)

To view more of this project see "Colour therapy."

“Light is the closest thing to pure energy that we can identify, so it follows we have the ability to modify our energetic composition with its use,” says Daniel E. Patterson of Stellar Research Corporation, pioneers in energy-based therapies. “Colour as pure vibrational energy is the rational therapy for maintaining health and overcoming disease.”

When we refer to colour, we really mean energy waves. Colours are simply waves vibrating at different frequencies, and thus different energy levels. The entire universe is comprised of energy and vibration. Even bugs and diseases have their own unique vibrational frequency. To target those bugs and diseases, colour therapists expose them to colours and their different vibrations.

“Everything in life has a vibration, like the opera singer when she matches the frequency of a crystal glass that shatters,” says Jim Longmuir of Colour Therapy Manukau. “That’s what we do to the viruses and parasites in your blood with a frequency. We have a machine that produces a frequency, and the colour actually fine-tunes that frequency to match the frequency of a disease.”

With the correct frequency, colour therapists believe that bacteria, viruses, parasites, fungi and diseases are neutralised.

“We have a book with over 1000 different tabulations,” says Jim, “so different colours or specific cottons or wools of specific lengths are put together to match the frequency of the different diseases.”

Conventional medicine also recognises and uses colour to promote healing. Bright white full-spectrum light is used in the treatment of SAD (seasonal affective disorder). Blue light is employed in the treatment of neonatal jaundice.

Blue also has a calming effect. By comparison red stimulates. Both colours have been used to improve the performance of athletes. Red light provides short, quick bursts of energy; blue light appears to help athletes who require a steadier energy output.

Pink has a calming effect too, reducing hostile, anxious and aggressive behaviour. Consequently it’s used in holding cells to suppress violence.

Even in our home environments, the atmosphere of a room can be changed by our colour choices of paint and soft furnishings.

A blue bedroom with hints of saphire

Mustard yellow wallpaper

To view more of these projects see "Psyched about colour."

There are a number of other ways in which colour and light can be used in the practice of colour therapy. During meditation, practitioners may ask their clients to focus on specific colours. Or they may use solar elixirs, or sun-charged water. Water is placed in a coloured bottle and exposed to the sun’s rays for a specific amount of time. The rays pass through the coloured glass into the water, to ‘energise’ the water with the particular colour.

A similar method using sunlight and glass was practised in Ancient Egypt. Solarium-type rooms with different coloured panes of glass were built. As the sun’s rays shone through the coloured glass, those inside were surrounded by coloured light.

Another variation of colour therapy is Aura-Soma, a system that aims to help people become more aware of their selves and recognise their needs and potential. Described as consciousness through colour, adherents of Aura-Soma believe it can help release old energy blocks and emotional patterns and start a process of transformation, or shift in consciousness.

“We have a range of 111 dual-coloured bottles, called Equilibrium bottles, from which the client actually chooses themselves,” says Brenda Stanford, Managing Director of Aura-Soma NZ Ltd. “They look at those bottles and they choose four. What it is they are drawn to helps them to open up more to who they truly are.”

An Aura-Soma therapist then identifies issues at work in the bottles chosen. For example, a person who chooses a bottle with blue and orange has probably had a shock in their life, says Brenda.

“Orange is about shock to the auric field, the energy field around the body, so that could have occurred through a car accident, a grief situation, or it could have occurred during their birth. So for them because of the blue top fraction they are really looking for peacefulness in helping them to resolve whatever shocks of the past that they are still carrying with them. Once they work through that, the orange can become uplifting. It’s a very uplifting and joyful colour as well. It’s probably not a colour you’d use a lot of because it’s quite stimulating.”

The philosophy behind Aura-Soma is ‘you are the colours you choose, these reflect your being’s needs’. So, for example, if a person is nurturing and caring, they often choose to wear pink because that’s what they need to top themselves back up, says Brenda.

“Equally, the businessman who might be in deep blue suits all the time, and where it’s all go, go, mental, mental – because blue relates to the head – he might actually enjoy being around a softer blue. Or even the colour opposite. He might enjoy being around something a bit more uplifting, being orange.”

The Equilibrium bottles, which contain essential oils, extracts and crystal energies, are applied to the body in relation to the chakras, or energy centres, after shaking them to emulsify the oil and water.

“There are two fractions,” says Brenda. “The top fraction is oil, the bottom fraction is water. The dyes are all plant-extracted dyes. In the top fraction, in the oil fraction, we’ve got essential oil. In the bottom fraction we’ve got herbal-based plant extracts and the whole lot has crystal energies in them as well. So it’s pulling together the aromatherapy aspect, the herbal aspect, the crystal healing aspect and the vibration of colour. The whole lot is put through an energising process to bring it all together so it’s all in harmony.”

“We all know a bright beautiful sunny day is much more uplifting than a dull grey day”. Aura-Soma doesn’t make medical claims, says Brenda, but they do believe in the power of colour.

This article is provided for interest and is not intended as medical advice. For diagnosis and treatment of medical conditions always see your medical professional.

November 18, 2013

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