Body Mind Healing: An Introduction to Color Therapy
Posted by admin on Mar 24, 2009
There are numerous therapies found under the body mind healing scope. What’s truly exciting in the world of medicine today is the fact that people of all types, (especially where it’s needed in the West), are increasingly becoming more educated and aware of these healing traditions. No longer do we see the “Healing Arts” as something left to hippies and eccentric folk. This method used for treatment and prevention of illness and disease is a respected, viable science, and quickly becoming more wide spread in its use with patients and practiced more by traditional doctors.
One of the most underestimated forms of treatment in the Holistic field is Color Therapy. Also called Chromo therapy, it uses the seven colors of the rainbow to promote balance and healing in the body and mind. This is based on the fact that each color is infused with healing energies.
Classified as a vibration healing modality, color is simply a form of light, having varying wavelengths / frequencies. Because of its electromagnetic energy, color resonates with the energies from the various parts of the body and can be used on the body in a number of different ways. The color is absorbed not only through the eyes but also the skin.
Some of the methods being used by a color therapist would be the placement of colored silks and the directing of colored light on the body, solarized water, (the most important color and light source to man is the sun itself, for without it, there would be no life, and not having enough, a person can develop severe depression as in S.A.D), meditation on color and color breathing. While practicing these methods, various tools such as gemstones, candles and lamps, lasers, crystals and glass, colored eye lenses and colored bath treatments are implemented. Treatments do not stop there either.
For instance, a Color Therapist can tell a lot about a person just by knowing what their color preferences are. Choices in color can help the therapist predict and prevent imbalances that may cause a host of potential problems, especially where personality issues need addressing.
Gaining a better understanding of one’s self by using color is not only fascinating, but more importantly, it’s an effective tool for a person to put some balance into place for their lives, from both within and without. It’s important to note that aside physical health, your environment plays a huge role when considering how it affects mood on emotional, mental, and spiritual levels.
Many will prefer certain colors over others due to past negative emotional experiences, making one prone to avoid said color(s). The same is true for those geared towards surrounding themselves with colors they find to be favorites. They become drawn to these colors due to having the memory of positive feelings and exposure involving the color(s).
In one psychological study, Andrew Elliot, professor of psychology, and Daniela Niesta, post-doctoral researcher, find that the color red made their male test subjects feel more amorous toward women, and interestingly, the men were completely unaware of the roll that the red color played in their attraction. Professor Elliot comments on this saying, “It’s only recently that psychologists and researchers in other disciplines have been looking closely and systematically at the relationship between color and behavior. Much is known about color physics and color physiology, but very little about color psychology. It’s fascinating to find that something as ubiquitous as color can be having an effect on our behavior without our awareness.” Though heavy reading, you can get an in depth look at these findings in this journal of psychology and sociology. Click here for a closer look at the subject.
Even after studies done like the one Professor Elliot had put together, people still either can’t understand nor grasp just how much color really does affect one’s body and mind. The facts are that is does, whether an individual is aware of it or not.
An article I found on the website, infoplease.com, briefly describes the affects that each color can have. This information is based on what is called “color psychology”. Few people are acquainted with it, and even fewer doctors’ practice, let alone understand it. Take the time and read “Color Psychology” by David Johnson.
To end this brief introduction, one should never leave out nor underestimate the capacity for the human being to renew and heal themselves on all levels. Our bodies and minds were designed in this fashion. We must always consider wholeness when attempting techniques and treatments that are set out to accomplish full body, mind healing.
