Have you ever felt blue, seen red, or been green with envy? Maybe you should try looking at the world through rose-colored glasses. Color therapy, while still unaccepted by the medical community, dates as far back as the ancient Egyptians and has strong roots in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Feng Shui and Ayurvedic medicine. Even in modern-day society it is common to use color to describe one’s mood or get an emotional point across.

What Is Color Therapy?

Color therapy, also recognized as chromotherapy or colorology, is the technique of using color to uplift one’s mood, direct positive emotions, and treat physical ailments. When you visit a color therapist, they will ask about your medical history, family medical history, and present physical and mental state. After determining the colors that you need, each therapist will draw from her own toolbox. This might include crystals, fabrics, laser light boxes, colored glasses, solarized water, or any number of other tools. Upon leaving a consultation for color therapy, she may give advice on certain colored foods to eat, clothes to wear, and colors to include in your home decorations.

Light Therapy

Although color therapy has not yet been accepted by the medical community, light therapy, or phototherapy, is gaining notoriety. Directing ultraviolet or colored light through the use of lasers, LED lights and dichroic light filters has been proven effective in treating acne, psoriasis, SAD (seasonal affective disorder), insomnia, bipolar disorder and non-seasonal depression. Colored light has also appeared in the news when major news sources reported a study finding that blue light directed to the back of the knees helps combat jet lag.

Complimentary Color Therapy

Color therapy, while effective alone, has many different applications and is often combined with aromatherapy, hydrotherapy, and other alternative healing methods, such as Reiki and massage. Colorpuncture, a cross between color therapy and acupuncture by applying colored light to acupuncture points on the body, is also gaining recognition.

Color Therapy and Chakras

Most color therapists use the Ayurvedic spiritual centers, also known as chakras, to determine what colors are needed for treatment and what organs and emotional issues correspond to each color. There are seven main chakra colors, each relating to a particular spot on the body. It is thought that these centers, when unbalanced, are the cause of disease and emotional blockages. Color therapy, among other alternative healing therapies, can be used to balance these energy centers and nourish emotional, mental, physical and spiritual wellbeing.

How Does It Work?

We absorb light from the color spectrum. Each color has a frequency, energy, and wavelength related to it. When we absorb these frequencies, they have an effect on our bodies, whether upon our nervous system, our hormones or our endocrine system. In turn, these wavelengths and frequencies influence our states of health, from our emotional and mental states, to our physical and psychological states. In this way, color therapy can boost one’s mood, speed up healing, stimulate creativity and add color to the organs and cells of the body to facilitate healing. If you are feeling a little blue, a little green, or a little red, try a little color therapy and start seeing the world through rose colored glasses!