Healing with colour
A s summer fades into Autumn and the hours of daylight become ever shorter, our bodies begin a chemical transition to initiate semi-hibernation. Plants react in a similar manner. They stop growing, drop their leaves, and become dormant.
Light is the element that triggers this is phenomenon. As any gardener can tell you, light is as critical to almost all living thing as oxgygen.
Why do we need light?
I n humans, light stimulates the release of neuro-peptides. These tiny chemicals are the catalysts for all functions and physiological responses within the body.
Neuro-peptides dictate our autonomic body functions such as heartbeat, blinking and respiration. They cause all reflex and instinctive reactions such as muscle tension, salivating or sexual arousal. They trigger the release of various hormones from our endocrine glands. They also induce all deliberate movement and physiological actions.
When we experience an emotion, electrical impulses travel along the nervous system and trigger the release of specific neuro-peptides to respond to the emotion. For instance, in the case of fear or anger, adrenalin is released. This initiates sweating, elevated body temperature and increased heart rate—what is known as our "fight or flight" response.
This is why emotions, attitudes, beliefs, and our psychological state have such critical bearing on health. Negative emotions and psychological trauma will eventually result in a physical ailment because of repeated release and subsequent build-up of certain neuro-peptides. Anyone who has ever experienced pain and tension in the neck and shoulders has felt a build-up of adrenalin.
By the same token, prayer, emotional support, affirmations, hope, and a positive attitude have been proven to powerfully enhance recovery from illness, as these emotions trigger the release of beneficial peptides. Placebos work on the same principle. We believe the substance will help. Therefore it does.
Disease is the inevitable result of prolonged neuro-peptide imbalance. While the mission of all neuro-peptides is to ensure the body’s survival, prolonged or substantial release of any chemical can upset the body’s delicate balance and place stress, congestion or overload on affected organs and tissues. An example is the discomfort experienced following strenuous exercise. Pain and stiffness results from lactic acid build-up in tissues.
This explains, in part, why energy therapies are so effective in facilitiating rapid, complete healing. The skill is in learning how to induce beneficial peptides that will command the body to correct and repair itself or counteract the effects of negative peptides. Energy therapies also manipulate the speed and orbital direction of electrons around atoms. Therefore, they can significantly reduce free radicals. Through magnetic attraction, energy therapies draw oxygen-rich hemoglobin to affected areas. Oxygen is the body’s natural disinfectant and rejuvenator.
What is light?
Light is pure energy. It is a blending of electromagnetic waves of three different lengths. When light is passed through a prism, we can observe these waves separately. They appear as colours—red, blue and yellow. All other colours are combinations of these three.
We can see the effects of this blending in a rainbow. Waves of red and yellow beside each other blend into orange. Blue and yellow blend into green. Red and blue blend into purple.
Colour is our mind’s interpretation of the vibratory signature these individual electromagnetic waves. When light hits an object, some of its waves are aborbed and some are reflected back. What you sense as colour is actually the waves of light that have been reflected. When all waves are refracted, the colour appears as white. When all waves are absorbed or no light is present, black results.
Because of the extremely high speed at which they travel as they oscillate, light waves are interpreted as subtle vibrations. Each colour has its own unique wavelength that can be measured by the number of oscillations or waves within a distance.
Our eyes detect the vibration that is reflected, transmits this sensory input to the brain, which interprets it as a colour. Many blind people can actually tell a colour by how it "feels". Even if you cannot consciously feel a colour by its vibration, your body can, and responds physiologically or emotionally. Sound also vibrates at the same frequencies and causes a similar physiological reaction.
Red or infrared has the longest wavelength, and therefore slowest frequency of vibration. Similar to a base tone in music, it has the highest amplitude. Red vibrates at the same frequency as the musical note A and the root chakra. This slower vibration is intuitively perceived as warm. A masculine or yang energy, it resonates within the 3 dimensional focus of the physical plane. Red affects emotions faster than any other colour.
Conversely, violet or ultraviolet light has the shortest wavelength. This results in the highest vibrational frequency with the lowest amplitude. Therefore, it fades quickly. Perceived as a cool colour, violet resonates at the same frequency as the third eye chakra. A feminine vibration, it enhances the intangible realms of emotion, intuition, and spiritual.
The science of colour...
The human body reacts to the vibration of colour emotionally, psychologically and physically. The vast array of colour and light entering the eyes affects your body’s muscular, mental and nervous activity.
For instance, some prisons use a particular shade of pink in "sedation cells" to calm violent prisoners. Even if a person tries to be aggressive or angry in the presence of pink, he can’t. Pink causes the release of norepinephrine in the body, which has a tranquilizing effect. The heart muscles cannot race fast. Even the colour-blind react to it!
Diminished light over time can cause depression or cognitive problems. Many people suffer from Seasonally Affective Disorder in the winter. This is caused by a reduced ability to absorb light through the retina of the eye. Eyeglasses and contact lenses can contribute to this problem.
As with aromas, colour can trigger positive or negative memories, perceptions or beliefs. This will, in turn, elicit a physiological response. For instance, people generally associate the colour black with death or evil. As a result, black can cause depression or suicide. London’s Blackfriar bridge was frequently used for suicides until the colour was changed from black to green. The suicide rate dropped by 34%!
Organs and endocrine glands react to the vibration of colour. This occurs in three ways. Within each cell are photons, or light waves. This is how cells communicate with one another.
When colour or sound vibration reaches a cell, the electrons within the cell re-organize. Some absorb photons and jump into higher frequency orbits. Others release photons causing the electrons to settle back into less excited states.
In both cases, photon-electron communication sets up energy and information impulses that travel instantly throughout the body. These impulses trigger the release of neuro-peptides and regulatory peptides that command the endocrine glands to release hormones.
In addition, the vibration of light or sound along neural pathways sets up sympathetic resonance within those organs and glands vibrating at a similar frequency. For example, if a tuning fork vibrates, the exact same note on a piano across the room will begin to vibrate as well. However, no other note on the piano will make a sound.
Physical or emotional shock or injury creates lesions or blockages along the body’s neural pathways. Scar tissue or blockages inhibit the body’s normal electrical impulses and the vibratory rate. Energy is depleted as cells and neural pathways lose their bio-communication. The body loses harmony with itself. Disease eventually results.
Therapies which utilize light, colour or sound restore inter-cellular communications and bring vital energy to every atom of your being. They help to alleviate the intangible pathogens in our lives, such as stress, weakness or imbalance. Treatments are comforting, relaxing and entirely painless. They tend to inspire and uplift.
Psychology of colour...
Throughout modern history, trends in the economy and the consciousness of society have been reflected in the fads of colours in fashion and decor. Psychedelic colours of the free-spirited hippie era gave way to the earthy tones of environmental consciousness in the ‘70’s. Cool greyed tones became popular in the ‘80’s with conservative, class-conscious yuppies .
Understanding the psychologyand physiology of colour can enhance your awareness of yourself and the world around you. What we think and how we think determines our perspective of reality. It is our individual view of the world. Colour is an integral part of that world. However, we are not conscious of how powerfully colour affects us on a subliminal level.
Society has come to associate certain characteristics or attributes to colour. This originated through our intuitive sense of how colour’s vibration resonates and how it affects us. We "see red" when angry...are "yellow-bellied" when afraid...become "green with envy" or have "the blues".
From a physiological perspective, these emotions make sense. The root chakra is red. It is our primal energy. The solar plexus chakra is yellow. When we experience anxiety or fear, this area of the body tenses. Green is the colour resonating from the heart chakra. The throat chakra is blue. When we feel sad, emotions congest here, like a "lump in the throat".
The use of colour to subtly affect our moods, attitudes, actions and health is a very complex science. Advertising relies on our emotional and physiological connection to colours in order to create an image or sell a product. Colour is used in schools, hospitals, prisons and institutions to affect our psyches.
The choice of colour in schools will affect learning and team spirit. In business, colour affects how your clients perceive you. Navy blue is considered a "power" colour. It denotes authority and success. That is why bankers, lawyers and business execs wear it, and why IBM chose it for their logo. Fast food restaurants use red, orange and yellow to stimulate appetite. However, these colours speed up the metabolism and agitate, so they induce you to eat quickly and leave.
The most successful restaurants employ the use of red as accents, such as with red checkered table cloths, and use lots of green, as it sends the subliminal message of freshness.
What colour are you?
Colour preferences say a lot about our personality and behavior. We are naturally attracted to certain colours and repelled by others. These choices result from heredity, memories, training, beliefs, and personality.
Colours we love or enjoy wearing tend to be present in our aura. Since we "wear" these colours all the time in our energy field, we naturally have an affinity for them. We are comfortable with their vibration.
Why is an aura coloured? We are comprised of billions of atoms—pure energy. An aura is an electro-magnetic field—the unpaired electrons circling these atoms.
Auras are coloured, in part, because electrons vibrating at the same frequency as any of the spectrum of light, will be perceived as colour. But, an aura is also a mild reflection of our direct light body.
When rays of light bounce off our body they come in contact with particles of moisture the body has released These particles, in turn, absorb and refract rays of light. The colour is much more faint because there is space between particles, and because light is reflected two times, diminishing its strength. You can see an aura by looking through cobalt blue glass.
Throughout your life your aura will change as your experiences, personality and consciousness evolve. Everything you experience, think and feel is recorded in the unpaired electrons orbiting your atoms. This will naturally affect the vibration of the electrons. As the vibratary rate changes so too will the colour patterns. Illness, or disease shows up in the auric field long before it manifests physically.
Creative people tend to have some orange and red in their aura. Spiritual people reflect violet. Those who are fully integrated will reflect white, or their aura will look like a prism. Healers and nurturers tend to have a lot of blue in their auric field. Because they often absorb the problems and energy of others, they are prone to putting on weight.
A negative emotional reaction to colour can indicate a blocked chakra or reveal psychological or emotional issues we need to confront. For instance, someone who rejects orange is blocking their natural creative or pro-creative urges. Very likely the second chakra will be blocked.
Even vision can be improved by working out issues that cause the eye to reject certain areas of the light spectrum.
Using colour...
Would bread taste as good if it came in a green wrapper? Would you feel comfortable being cared for by a nurse in a black uniform? Marketers and advertising agencies understand the psychological associations and subliminal effect of colour. They routinely use this understanding to influence you to buy products or use specific services.
A study revealed that when consumers tested the same laundry soap from different boxes, their perceptions of the product radically changed. Soap in a blue and white box was perceived as weak and ineffective. However, in an orange and dark blue box, the same soap was rated as highly concentrated and superior.
Designers, decorators and Feng Shui experts also understand the energetic and sibliminal effects of colour in our home and work areas. Colours surrounding you for long periods will have an effect on your moods, thoughts, perceptions, appetite, interactions with others, and health. If you or members of your family are experiencing emotional problems, attention difficulties, or health issues, perhaps you need to look beyond just the physical causes...literally!
Enhancing concentration and consistancy at the office or improving your child’s grades could be as simple as facing the desk toward the door, changing the drapes or chair from burgundy to green, and adding a yellow accent on the desk.
Yellow is the first colour our eyes register. It tends to stimulate intellect. However, it also raises blood pressure within 30 seconds! Yellow painted rooms aggravate allergies and will make children cry more often. However, it increases comprehension in those with learning disabilities.
If you hate to cook, don’t paint your kitchen blue! It reduces the appetite. However, if you are dieting blue might be a good choice for your dishes.
Have a sweet tooth you are trying to quell? Green, especially in food, is an antidote to sweets. Pink, on the other hand, entices you to eat delectibles. The emotional pull of pink can make you fat!
For depression and SADS reduce the amount of blue in your surroundings as it has a tranquilizing effect. Employ colour light therapy. It is as effective as melatonin in stimulating the pineal gland. Keep lights turned on during the day so that rooms are bright.
Changing the colour of your surrounding to create positive results is a very select art. Knowing how colour can influence us allows us to create an environment of comfort, productivity and growth. Done without thoughtful deliberation it can actually create more probems.
For instance, those who are extroverted feel more comfortable in an actively coloured environment. It matches their spirits and therefore sets them at ease. These people could become depressed or lethargic in neutral colours. However, those who are introverted prefer a more sedate environment. The same is true of the colours you wear.
Wearing specific colours will affect your auric field and organs. Bathing in colour is particularly effective. For instance, sluggish circulation can benefit from the stimulating effect of red. If your feet are always cold, try wearing red socks. To boost your libido, wear red underwear. Avoid red when in pain or feeling angry. It will aggravate rather than soothe.
Why is it that we are unaware of the vibrations and energies around us? Why don’t we feel their effect? The answer is simple. You are pure energy. The energies surrounding you are identical to your core essence. You can’t feel something that is no different than you. You can only recognize and feel something that is different, or separate from you. You are conscious and aware of your physicality, and feel your body only because it is different from who you really are.
Doesn’t it make sense that using energy and light is the best way to restore you to your essence of wholeness?~~
Lori D'Ascenzo
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