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Chromotherapy Works! Or Are you Colour Blind? By Eric Cho

Healing Power of Colours By Grata Young

Chromotherapy Works! Or Are you Colour Blind? By Eric Cho

Chromotherapy or color therapy is said to have its roots in ancient Egypt where patients were kept in specially built solarium rooms with tinted glass. The use of colored gels, colored cloth filters and colored water was also prevalent in ancient Egypt. Down the centuries, color therapy has conquered a lot of skepticism and is now being used as an alternative method of healing.

This holistic healing approach seeks to correct the imbalance in the body through colors. In this context it is important to realize that all holistic or alternative healing sciences believe that ‘dis-ease’ occurs when there is some disturbance in the balance of the body. Once this imbalance is set right, wellness and health is restored.

In color therapy, a trained therapist uses the different colors of the spectrum to balance and enhance the body’s energy centers (also known as ‘Chakras’).

Does color therapy have the backing of science? To a big extent, yes. Scientists, who have extensively researched color and light, agree that color brings out unexpectedly acute emotional reactions in man, be it physical, emotional, spiritual or mental. It shines upon us from the sun and is emitted by every single cell in the human body. What is even more interesting is that each person reacts differently to the same color. So, while the color red may make you angry, it might make another person feel romantic!

Throughout our lives we are continuously associating meanings and feelings with colors. Thus, we easily build up prejudices towards colors and attach happy and sad connotations with colors.

What cause this attraction or aversion to colors in individuals? It is believed that just as the body signals vitamin deficiency by causing food cravings, so also an individual is attracted to a particular color when the energy flow in a particular area is blocked. Color is absorbed by the skull, skin and the eyes and thus affects every single cell in the body. The healing journey starts when we understand why certain colors affect us favorably while others bring out the worst in us.

According to color therapy, each of the seven colors in the spectrum (VIBGYOR – Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange and Red) finds an equivalent in one of the seven main chakras of the body.

Man’s well being is not a purely physical issue. Color therapy helps to re-balance the imbalance in our chakras by applying the appropriate color to the body. So color therapy is effective because practitioners believe that a healthy human is the combination of body, mind and spirit working together.

Color therapy is a catalyst to the healing process and when used in combination with orthodox medical treatment, is found to be very effective. For instance, a recent announcement made by CNN discusses the application of blue light to the back of the knees to help people overcome jet lag.

A qualified therapist is able to decide what colors need to be supplied to the individual to make him better. The methodology of treatment varies from doctor to doctor. The most commonly used method is a light box. Other methods include meditation with color, color breathing, solarized water, using colored silks and directing colored light to the body.

Over the years, researchers have managed to identify the colors associated with certain ailments. Thus color therapy is coping very well with different illnesses. Although scoffed at by medical experts in the beginning, color therapy is slowly being recognized as a legitimate healing method.

Healing Power of Colours By Grata Young

Chromotherapy is a method of treatment of diseases by colour. It is best used as a supportive therapy along with other natural methods of preserving health such as correct diet, adequate rest and relaxation, exercise, yogic asanas and so on.

According to practitioners of chromotherapy, the cause of any disease can be traced to the lack of a particular colour in the human system. Colour therapy is a technique of restoring imbalance by means of applying coloured light to the body. It was a popular method of cure even in ancient times. Some 2,500 years ago, Pythagoras applied colour light therapeutically and ‘colour halls’ were used for healing in ancient Egypt, China and India.

The pioneer of modern colour therapy was Niels Finsen of Denmark. Following the discovery, in 1877, of the bactericidal action of solar ultra-violet energy,Finsen studied the possibility of assisting the healing of wounds with visible light. He subse- quently used red light to inhibit the formation of smallpox scars and, in 1896, founded a Light Institute ( now the Finsen Institute of Copenhagen) for the phototreatment of tuberculosis. In 1932, Gerrard and Hessay, two Californian psychologists, scientifically established that blue light had a calming effect and red a stimulating power on human beings.

Blue and red colours are considered at the two extremes with yellow representing the midpoint. These are also the three principal colours in a rainbow. A patient is first subjected to an examination to ascertain which colour he lacks. The deficiency is determined by observing the colour of the eyeballs, nails, urine and excrement. In cases of the lack of red the eyes and nails will be bluish, and the urine and excrement white or bluish. If there is a deficiency of the blue colour, the eyes and nails will be reddish and urine and excrement yellowish or red.

Every substance on earth contains colour. Even the rays cast on earth by celestial bodies contain colour in the form of white light. The rays of the sun contain seven different colours - violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange and red. These are natural colours which are highly beneficial to the maintenance of health and for healing diseases. According to Dr. Babbit, a well-known authority on chromotherapy, "sunlight is the principal curative agent in nature’s laboratory and where light cannot enter, disease does. Chlorosis, anaemia, leukaemia, emaciation, muscular debility, degeneration of heart and liver, dropsical effusion, softening of bones,nervous excitability, physical deformity, stunted growth and consumption are the result of excluding oneself from the beneficial effects of sunlight."

Sunlight plays an important role in the recovery from chronic diseases. Judicious use of sunlight can be part of the curing process in almost every affliction. The rays of the sun improve digestion and nutrition, quicken blood and lymph circulation and increase the elimination of impurities through the skin.

The action and effect of various colours on the body and their healing qualities are as follows:

Red:
Symbolic of heat, fire and anger. It is a stimulating and energising colour. It stimulates arterial blood and brings warmth to cool extremities. Used as a general tonic, it is very valuable in the treatment of diseases like low blood pressure, rheumatism, paralysis, anaemia and advanced cases of tuber- culosis.

Orange:
Symbolic of prosperity and pride, orange is useful for stimulating blood supply and energising the nerves. It is beneficial in the treatment of kidney and gall stones, hernia and appendicitis. It is also used to stimulate the milk producing action of breasts after childbirth.

Violet:
Violet is beneficial in the treatment of nervous and emotional disturbances, arthritis, acute cases

Yellow:
Associated with joy and happiness, yellow is laxative and diuretic. It is a stimulant to the brain, the liver and the spleen. It is also effective in the treatment of diabetes, indigestion, kidney and liver disorders, constipation, eye and throat infections, syphillis and impotence.

Purple:
Purple or indigo combines the blood-warming red and the cooling antiseptic blue. It is an excellent stimulant without being an irritant. It is beneficial in the treatment of advanced stages of constipation, hydrocle, leucorrhoea, many disorders of the stomach and womb, cataract, migraine and skin disorders. It exerts a soothing effect on the eyes, ears and the nervous system.

Green:
Made up of the blue and yellow, green is regarded as a colour of harmony. It is a mild sedative. It is useful in the treatment of nervous conditions, hay fever, ulcers, influenza, malaria, colds, sexual disorders and cancer. It preserves and strengthens eyesight. Being highly medicinal and depressive, it is of great help in the treatment of inflammatory conditions.

Blue:
Cool, soothing and sedative, blue alleviates pain, reducing bleeding and heals burns. It is beneficial in the treatment of dysentery, colic, asthma, respiratory disorders, high blood pressure and skin aberrations. IN a study at the New England State Hospital in the United States, 25 members of staff with normal blood pressure were bathed in blue light for half an hour. It resulted in universal fall in blood pressure. The blood pressure rose when red light was applied.

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