The colours you surround yourself with have an impact on your mood. Find out which you can use and how.
Leading a ‘colourful’ life isn’t just about seducing your gardener; it’s about harnessing the power of different colour energies.
Colour is basically light of different wavelengths and frequencies that are filtered through our eyes to make things look the colour they do. We really only see the three primary colours — red, blue and green — and our brains mix up variations of these three to create the other colours. There are seven colours in the spectrum and they all have different wavelengths and frequencies.
We can use the knowledge of how each of these colours affects us to use colour in healing and to affect us positively. Apart from the obvious trick of dressing in a particular colour, you can also take colour baths, gaze at colour screens and even change your lightbulbs to create colour rooms.
In the Indian Vedic system of healing, the human body has seven chakras (centres of energy), each of which corresponds to a particular colour:
Crown — violet
Third eye — indigo
Throat — blue
Heart — green
Solar plexus — yellow
Sacral — orange
Base — red
Wearing the colour of a chakra that is blocked in you can have an amazing effect on your life. My solar plexus (located in your middle, just under your ribs) was blocked and cleared through wearing lots of yellow. You can discover the state of your own chakras through this exercise. Sit comfortably cross-legged with your hands in your lap and your bum bones solidly into the floor. Close your eyes and take three deep breaths, in and out through the nose. Then imagine a silvery white light entering from somewhere up in the ceiling into your crown chakra (the top of your head). Imagine it going down into your third eye chakra (in the middle of your forehead) and then down to your throat chakra, then your heart, then your solar plexus, then your sacral (mid-way between your belly button and your genitals) and the base (the underside of yourgenitals). As you imagine this light going down through your chakras, feel for any blockages or the impression of shapes and colours. This should flow quite easily if you’re not blocked anywhere but a blocked chakra will feel sluggish and may give you the impression of the colour brown or grey. You should then wear the corresponding colour to try and clear that particular chakra.
If you find all this talk of chakras a bit too weirdy-beardy then just know thatcolours have different effects on us. The impression ‘red rag to a bull’ is a good way of thinking of it. Studies have shown that if you paint school walls a bright red, the degree of disruption and discipline problems go up whereas a calming colour like pale blue works very well. Here are some colour associations with the main seven colours of the spectrum:
Violet — spirituality, link to divinity
Indigo — intuition, higher knowledge
Blue — communication, calming
Green — balance, harmony
Yellow — intelligence, cheerfulness
Orange — healing, creativity
Red — courage, strength, high energy
You can use this information to work creatively with colours. Try and find some indigo-coloured pillow cases and see how this colour of intuition affects your dreams. Wear red when you’re feeling fatigued and see if that gives you the requisite oomph. Have fun with it and see what discoveries you can make.
You can also use your knowledge in the way that you decorate your home. It may be good to have a calming colour like blue in the bedroom. They say that red stimulates the appetite so perhaps avoid it in the dining room if you’re trying to stick to a diet. The colour green has also been associated with money so it is a good choice for a home office.
Here’s an idea for you…
Tie a blue ribbon around your phone handset or have a blue ribbon mobile charm. If you have an important business meeting or interview, wear a blue necktie or a blue necklace. Blue is the colour of the throat chakra, facilitating easy communication and the ability to persuade others. It doesn’t matter if you believe it or not, even the thought of ‘what if it works’ will give you a little extra confidence.
Defining idea…
‘The purest and most thoughtful minds are those which love colour the most.’
JOHN RUSKIN, art critic and author
How did it go?
Q Aren’t I too old to wear bright colours?
A Na-ah. How could you think that? You’re never too old for colours. Colour doesn’t have an age limit. I was also once told by someone that fat people shouldn’t wear bright colours. I soon put them straight. While black may be slimming, bright colours make you look vibrant and alive so don’t forsake them irrespective of your age or shape.
Q How can just wearing a colour affect my mood?
A You’re responding to light and a frequency when you see colour so your perception is what is making the colour you see. As such you can change your perception with the colour you see. Rather than try and find some fancy scientific explanation for you, I would recommend that you experiment and find out which colours cheer you up the most and then start using them liberally.
Q My boyfriend has painted our bathroom a sickly mint green. Any arguments against mint green?
A I met a phenomenal healer once (who doesn’t want to be named) who told me that green is terrible for cancer as it promotes growth and what you want is an orange to burn up and halt the cancerous growth. However, that is a very specific case and I’m afraid I don’t have much against green for you otherwise. Jealousy? You could say the bathroom is making you more jealous of his friends but that’s a bit of a long shot. Just be honest and ask him to change it.