Chromotherapy or Colour Therapy, a Brief History and Some Inspiration to Get Started

Mindset Matters! Bright, cheerful colours will make you happy! Wearing colour and surrounding yourself with it is a celebration, an announcement of life, positivity, and optimism. Bringing colour into your life, however you choose to do it, will improve your thoughts and it will influence everyone who encounters you too! Chromotherapy as part of a system of healing can benefit everyone, because of its harmony with nature.

“We shall do well, then, to consider this potential and beautiful principle of light and its component colours, for the more deeply we penetrate into its inner laws, the more will it present itself as a marvellous storehouse of power to vitalize, heal, refine and delight mankind.”

Babbitt

My love of colour started as a very young child. My earliest memory of wanting more colour in my life was protesting the painting of white walls in our house at around age 5, by colouring a gigantic rainbow above my bed in crayons, directly on the wall! For me colour was an essential part of my universe. My mother did not share the same feelings about a rainbow on the wall in crayon and so I was sent to the rumpus room to wait for dad to come home from work to receive my punishment. Dad understanding what I was trying to achieve decided that it was best we listen to Pink Floyds Dark Side of the Moon, on the HMV record player and ponder how I could have gone about the rainbow on the wall differently! I should note that another essential part of my universe is music! 

As I got older, I started to appreciate how colours could influence your environment and mood and this is why I studied interior design. Through my studies, I began the journey of discovery about colours and their meaning and colour therapy or chromotherapy.

Colour therapy or chromotherapy is a well-documented practice and is a centuries-old concept. It was practiced particularly in ancient Egypt (believed to be discovered by the god Thoth), Greece, India (In Indian culture, colours are linked to your chakras [more on that at another time!]) and China. Colour has been investigated as medicine since 2000 BC and the ancient Egyptians and Greeks used colored minerals, stones, crystals, balms, and dyes as remedies. The Egyptians are believed to have built whole temples for healing and used crystals, in the walls for the sun to shine through for healing. They are said to have had within the temple’s different rooms for different colours and treatments.

In more modern times the understanding of colour developed most during the seventeenth century, when Sir Isaac Newton discovered the color spectrum and explored how each color is defined by a different wavelength of light (Pink Floyd’s album cover is not lost on me here!). In Newtons famous work ‘Opticks’ he theorizes that, “if the Sun’s Light consisted of but one sort of Rays, there would be but one colour in the whole World.” Thank goodness that is not the case, as our world every day is dominated by colour, and we use it for visual pleasure and survival alike.

Colour in the world is our visual interpretation of surfaces, meaning that colour is that portion of the visible spectrum of light that is reflected back from a surface. The amount of light that a surface reflects or absorbs determines its color and our eyes can see different colors because our retina is sensitive to different wavelengths of light.

Following Newton, Goethe argued that color was not simply a scientific measurement, but a subjective experience perceived differently by each viewer. Through his work ‘Theory of Colors’ he challenged that “colour are light’s suffering and joy”. I love this explanation and is probably how most of us associate colour in everyday life, yellow is happy and bright, black is sad and dark for example.  

Of all colour theorists, and there are many, not just the ones mentioned here, it is Edwin Dwight Babbitt who is the real custodian and the physician that established the science of chromotherapy (colour and light therapy) and who was instrumental in bringing light and colour into the quantifiable scientific realm. His work on colour healing, for the first time in history, created a comprehensive look at both the physiological and a psychological concept of colour therapy.

In Babbitts historic book on chromotherapy, ‘The Principles of Light and Colour’ he presents to the world a philosophy of ‘light and colour’ that he believed formed and affected fundamental principles of life. I have procured this text, and it is magnificent! In the first chapter, Light, he states ‘Light reveals the glories of the external world and yet is the most glorious of them all. It gives beauty, reveals beauty and is itself most beautiful.’

The Principles of Light and Colour included Babbitts research into the harmonic laws of the universe, the etherio-atomic philosophy of force, chromo chemistry, chromo therapeutics, and the general philosophy of the fine forces (magnetism), together with numerous discoveries and practical applications; for example he identified the colour red as a stimulant, notably of blood and to a lesser extent the nerves and so he prescribed red for paralysis and physical exhaustion. He defined yellow and orange as nerve stimulants, so he used yellow as a laxative and for bronchial difficulties. Blue and violet were identified as soothing to all systems and as having anti-inflammatory properties, so this was used to sooth inflammatory conditions, sciatica, meningitis, nervous instability, headache, irritability, and sunstroke.

Babbit was not only about applying colour to someone he noted that ‘pure sunlight is the best for the general use of man and nature, is vitalizing to the general system, especially to the skin, and in warm seasons is particularly stimulating and healing. The Lack of Sunlight induces a long catalogue of diseases.’ The Egyptians utilized sunlight as well as colour for healing and the ancient Ayurvedic physician Charaka, who lived in the sixth century BC, recommended sunlight to treat a variety of diseases as well. The reason the suns light is so powerful, and healing is because sunshine contains the full spectrum of wavelengths and colours!

Babbitt developed devices, one of which was the Chromolume, this was an instrument of coloured glass, enclosed in a walnut frame with metallic framework inside for the different colours.  The colours were arranged on the law of harmonic contrast, as well as according to the principles of chemical affinity. Not only a tool for vitalizing, healing, and toning up the human system, but he noted, being hung in a window, ‘a beautiful ornament for the room’!  

Another instrument that Babbitt devised was the Chromo-Disc, and in his own words, ‘it didn’t possess the resplendent array of colours of the Chromolume, and not, like that instrument, having the power to cover the whole system at a time’, all the same, the Chromo-Disc concentrated light at any portion of the body with several times its ordinary intensity and worked quite effectively for healing wounds and stopping bleeding, headaches, etc, as well as being easy to move around.  

Babbitt covers in detail the effects of the reflection, absorption, transmission, and polarization of light. Throughout his career different patients were treated using colour healing devices created by him. He goes on to establish a relationship between colour and minerals, which he used as an addition to treatment with coloured light, and he developed elixirs by irradiating water with sunlight filtered through coloured lenses.

So where does all this history of chromotherapy bring us to you may ask? It’s simple, bring more colour into your life!

As best said by another believer in the power of colour, Morton Walker, in his 1990 book, The Power of Colour,

You realize you are part of the hologram of life, surrounded by an aura or energy field that radiates distinct colour and vibrations. The aura fingertips your soul and reflects your goodness, wellness, mental stability, maturity, emotional/inner turmoil, or peaceful fulfilment. More of each of these qualities, peace, wellness, stability, maturity, and fulfilment may become your ever-present precious possession by the application of colour’s power in our daily living”.

Ending on a rainbow, the way we started, here are some common meanings and feelings of those colours and how using them might assist you as you navigate your Meno journey.   

Red:

Energy, Love, Passion, Power, Happiness, Marriage, Prosperity!

Use red when you need an energy boost and to get your blood flowing or to stimulate your metabolism. Use it when you want to feel more confident or if you want to move faster. Use it on your lips if you want to be heard with gravitas, remembered or to call your lover to seduction. Red at its very core is associated with blood and fire, and these are life sustaining and life threatening in equal measure, so this is why most of us have such a strong reaction to it. Red is a fabulous stabiliser and it can help to bring our energetic body “down to earth.” With its charismatic energy and defiant spirit, the colour red will influence all who touch it!

Yellow:

Happiness, Optimism, Positivity, Intellect, Protection against evil, Blessed, Laughter!

Use yellow as a natural dose of vitamin C. It is a natural antidepressant, so use it to retune and reconnect your mind and bring on those positive thoughts if you are feeling depressed. Stand in the sun for a moment and feel its warmth and you will start to feel more optimistic. Use it when you are feeling the brain fog set in, because yellow stimulates the left side of our brain, it will help you to be more logical and bring some clarity if you need to make decisions, it is said to improve memory as well and make learning easier. Add some yellow to your outfit when catching up with your mates and you will all feel vibrant and jolly!  

Pink

Femineity, Compassion, Love, Playfulness, Marriage, Trust, Barbie!

Use pink when you want to feel self-love, warmth, and comfort. It is calming and soothing so if you are feeling a bit anxious, pink can help. If you have a special occasion to plan, surround yourself with pink to help you bring that special occasion together. If you have the tempest raging inside and out, try using it to reduce the rage and stress levels and bring your blood pressure and heart rate down.

Green

Harmony, Safety, Growth, Health, Mother Nature, Eternity, Family, Peace, Abundance, Calm!

Use green when you are looking for growth, regeneration or simply restoration. Use it to calm your mind and take fuller deeper breaths. Because green incorporates some of the energy of yellow, it is a particularly good colour for balancing and harmonizing and will bring you back to a sense of stability. Green improves your overall health, so make sure you eat lots of it as well as surround yourself with it. Green will alleviate stress and worry every time, so if this is how you are feeling, take a walk-in nature, if you can, a forest, and bathe yourself in its healing power to sooth any commotion!

Purple

Creativity, Wisdom, Sensitivity, Dignity, Complexity, Spirituality, Wealth, Royality, Luxury, Humility!

If you are feeling disconnected and out of touch with your personal intuition, try surrounding yourself with Purple. If you feel stuck and need to get in touch with your inner flow, then try a meditation with purple, to quiet your logical mind and let your dreams activate and fill yourself with possibilities. If you have a work event to attend, but your body feels out of shape, try wearing a deep purple or aubergine and you will feel toned and sophisticated, and send out luxurious vibrations. Purple is a blend of a high-energy red and a calming blue, so it can be both stimulating and soothing depending on how it is used. It is fabulous as an anti-inflammatory.

Orange

Emotion, Youth, Optimism, Enthusiasm, Earth, Change, Movement, Creativity, Health, Vitality!

If you are not feeling like talking or generally just want to isolate yourself from the world, try injecting orange into your day, a blend of the energy of red and the sunny disposition of yellow it will spark good social interaction and help you in the art of co-existing with others around you. Because it is an arousing colour, without being in your face, it is a great colour to spark conversation and remove your inhibitions and stimulate your emotions, so if you are having a hard time expressing your feelings, let orange help you with that. Orange is very good at helping with those pesky Meno cramps and can help to calm your body as well.

Blue

Emotion, Youth, Optimism, Enthusiasm, Earth, Change, Movement, Creativity, Health, Vitality!

Blue is that all round calming tonic. It is a colour of security, the reassurance of the blue sky on another day or the lapping waves of the blue ocean. So, when you are feeling stressed, worried, nervous, or toxic, find some blue.

Blue is a great colour to have in stressful situations. It will calm you and improve your speech and communication. If you are feeling discombobulated and generally confused, try adding some blue to your space, it will sooth your mind and help you and others to concentrate. If you need to prepare for a difficult situation, add some blue, it will connect you with your creative mind and provide inspiration.

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