Color Therapy – The Basics

Each color is applied to the canvas in relation to the colors next to it. The painting becomes a living thing and calls out for the color it wants. ~Neil Patterson

There are many systems of color healing. Color is of itself vital for healing the aura, the physical body and for deepening meditation and to promote specific effects in the energy field. Here is a brief description of a variety of color healing healing methods in general.

Frequent exposure to the whole spectrum of pure colors is recommended for health, happiness and inner balance. Meditation on the rainbow and rainbow colors is of itself a potentially valuable experience. Keep an eye out for rainbows. Rainbow included quartz crystals are a great way to experience a rainbow of color no matter where you are or what you are doing.

Selecting the Colors:

For specific needs one can select a particular hue or a family of colors to work with using some of the information from the individual colors pages. For balance, or when you are unsure what to begin with, a rainbow of colors can be helpful. Complimentary colors – opposite each other on the color wheel – can be used to shake up blocks. They can be hard on the eyes too, so be careful. Sets of colors, such as the colors of the elements, or colors significant to a specific culture or tradition can be useful as well.

Color in your environment:

Color can be gazed at, you can get a swatch of a color to look at it or use objects of that color. Just walking in nature and looking at flowers is one way to bring in color.
Colored glass can be lit from behind or the side in a way that intensifies the color.
Use a tool like a prism or an old compact disk to see the color and focus on it.
You can place a tile of a color as wallpaper on your computer or phone or use a mandala of all the colors or where the one you want to work with predominates.
You can wrap yourself in a color using cloth yardage, cotton and silk seem to be the preferred fabrics. You can wrap a specific area or your entire body.
Choose clothing in the colors that will alleviate a condition or affect your mood and mind in accordance with your needs.
Cloth draped over a sunny window can also provide a color treatment as the light shines on you.

Visualizing color:

You can visualize or imagine the color you need.
Imagine yourself bathed in the color or colors you choose.
Imagine a radiant colored light that surrounds and permeates your body.

Colored Light:

Colored gels or filters in front of a lamp or colored light bulbs can be used to beam your chosen hue onto your body and into the surrounding area.
Another method is the use of a photographic slide projector. From a photographic supply firm one can obtain empty cardboard slide mouths onto which can be placed small rectanbles of colored plastic or acetate so as to have a set of slides of the seven primary colors.
Colored light can be beamed through crystals using a light box or a light can be visualized and sent by intention amplified by crystals.

Note: Some systems of chroma therapy teach that you should not shine violet light on the face.

Colored Stones and Crystals:

When working with colored stones you may hold them, gaze upon them, lay them on a chakra or other place of need, meditate with them, make gem elixirs and use any method of working with the crystals that feels appropriate to you.

Pay attention to the colors that attract you and take notice of any colors that you strongly dislike as well. If it is a muddy color you dislke then it’s probably just that you dislike an inharmonious shade. Sometimes the colors you dislike can indicate areas where you are rejecting aspects of your personality or when there are blockages.

Color Baths:

Food coloring can be used in bath water to give yourself a luxurious color bath. You can color salt or sugar to make an easily disperesed colored bath salt. Perhaps you’d enjoy a color bath combined with some favorite colored gemstones, perhaps some herbs or scented oils. Rose colored and aqua colored baths are especially fun. Purple and dark blue should only be used for a short time – ten to twenty minutes at most, as they can be depressing if overused. Orange is very invigorating and deep clear greens are very restful.

Art:

Art can be used in color healing. Painting or drawing with the colors you feel are needed is a valuable and expressive way to integrate color healing into your life. Study the artwork of the artist you enjoy and explore the effects that the artists color choices have on your emotions and sense of well being.

There are many different systems of mandala work. Some use specific colors and symbolic forms such as the tattwa and yantra of India and the Tibetan Mandala or Navaho sand painting, or have traditional sets of color and symbols from a particular cultural tradition. Other mandala creation uses more intuitive color and selection of forms. You might enjoy creating your own mandala for color meditation.

Colored Candles:

Light candles in colors that match the purpose you want to work on. Choose the colors according to any of the color healing systems you like, or use the information provided in the individual color pages. Candles with colored flames are also available on the internet and at party supply stores.

Color Elixirs:

Color elixirs are made by placing pure water in colored glass or in glass wrapped in a transparent or translucent gel or wrapper and placing them in direct sunlight for several hours in order to have the color energy transferred to the water. After the water is charged you can keep the water in a dark place until it is used.

Note: This post was compiled by Shirley Twofeathers for Color Therapy, you may repost and share without karmic repercussions, but only if you give me credit and a link back to this website. Blessed be.