How Color Can Help Us Heal
By Kirsten Antony, R.N. ~
This time of year, as the days get shorter and the nights get colder, we can find ourselves longing for longer and lighter days. Every season should be a celebration of life, and for these dark, winter days and nights, light and color have come to symbolize hope, love and brighter days ahead. Through the light of luminaries, candles, yule logs and colored lights that decorate our homes and trees, we can literally light up with happiness and warmth from light and color. These different types of light and color can be symbolic and have religious context but can also be completely practical as we need to light our path through the darkness. Light and color can also have an effect holistically as it can bring about psychological, physical, and spiritual changes when used in a therapeutic manner as a method of healing.
The use of color and light for healing purposes is also known as chromotherapy or vibrational healing. To understand how light and color can have an impact of healing, we must first understand that on a quantum level, we are all light beings. The bodies that we see are simply light vibrating at a lower electromagnetic frequency that is visible to the human eye and we consider matter. Light is pure energy and color is the interaction of light energy and matter. The colors that we can see on the visible light spectrum are expressed through wavelengths. The specific color we view depends on the set electromagnetic frequency. For example, red has the longest wavelength on one end of the spectrum and violet is on the other end of the spectrum and has the shortest wavelength and highest vibratory rate. Outside of the visible light spectrum would be ultraviolet and infrared light. Chromotherapy uses light and color to balance the energies that run throughout the body.
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Light and color are being used to treat a variety of medical conditions. Full-spectrum white light is used to treat Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), addictions and behavioral disorders. These artificial lights are used to mimic sunlight and helps balance brain chemistry. Blue light is used in hospitals to treat neonatal jaundice. Blue light is also being used to treat skin conditions like acne. Red light has been used for years in healing the skin and has become popular lately in the beauty industry in assisting with cosmetic skin issues.
There are many products on the market that offer light or color therapy. Some of my favorite products integrate more than one modality. Aromatherapy diffusers that also use color therapy are available as well as infrared saunas that offer detox through heat as well as the use of color therapy. Alarm clocks that use light that brightens as you arise eases you into the start of the day.
Westminster, Colorado is home to Life Center and a unique healing experience in what is known as The Harmonic Egg. Gail Lynn, PhD, is creator of The Harmonic Egg and owner of Life Center. The Harmonic Egg is a healing chamber in the shape of a large dodecagon egg. This innovative technology offers healing through light, frequency, vibration and sound in a sacred geometric shape. The client relaxes back in a zero gravity chair while being surrounded and embraced by soothing light, sound and vibration. My experience in the Harmonic Egg was one of complete peacefulness and a level of deep stillness and relaxation that I had never experienced before.
Beyond physical healing, color can bring beauty into our lives through art, interior design and fashion. Analyzing the colors we are drawn to and look into the meaning behind the colors can be playful and fun!
A sampling of a typical color chart and the meanings the energies express may look like this:
Red: Excitement, love and energy
Orange: Stimulating, happy and warmth
Yellow: Laughter, hunger and intelligence
Green: Nature, money and harmony
Blue: Communication, serenity and truth
Purple: Wisdom, royalty and spirituality
Pink: Romance, calmness and gentleness
The colors we choose to wear can be an indication of the need to balance a certain energy in the body. When angry, wearing red would be a color that could provoke more of the same type of energy in the body. To balance the energy, wearing a color of the opposite nature, such as blue, would be good to bring the body back into balance. Not “feeling blue”, but not wanting to be “seeing red” anymore? Laugh it off and wear something yellow.
The psychology of color is also fascinating. The colors of red, orange and yellow are used in many logos and interior design in fast food establishments in hopes to stimulate the appetite of the patrons and get us in and out of the “fast” food restaurants. Red, orange and yellow are warm colors can be very stimulating and cool colors such as blue and purple can be used to bring about relaxation.
The Christmas season is often associated with the colors red and green. The history of these color choices and what they represent could possibly be traced all the way back to pagan celebrations and the use of holly (green) and berries (red) in celebration of the winter solstice. Bringing the color green indoors during a time when most of nature is hibernating is symbolic of celebrating life during the season of slumber.
This holiday season, I hope you take time to reflect on the love, light, hope and beauty that surrounds us all. Happy Holidays!
Kirsten Antony is a Registered Nurse and holistic health care practitioner. Kirsten is certified in many healing modalities and offers her services in the Metro Denver area at a variety of facilities as well as making house calls. For more information please visit: www.kirstenantony.com or call 303-668-8992.