DO WE ALREADY KNOW WHAT COLORS HELP US HEAL?
By
Lisa M. Miller
A thesis submitted pertaining to the requirements for the degree of
Masters of Metaphysical Sciences, M. Sc.
From the University of Metaphysical Sciences
_____________________________________
Date
University of Metaphysical Sciences
CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL
Masters of Metaphysical Sciences, M. Sc. THESIS
This is to certify that the M. Sc. Thesis of
Lisa M. Miller
Has been approved by the Examining Committee for the thesis requirement for the
Master of Metaphysical Sciences, M. Sc.
From the University of Metaphysical Sciences
Thesis Committee: _________________________
Thesis Supervisor
_________________________
Member
_________________________
Member
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1: Introduction
Page # 1
Chapter 2: Review of Literature
Page # 3
Chapter 3: Methods
Page # 8
Chapter 4: Findings
Page # 9
* History of Color
Page # 9
* The Power of Color Energy
Page # 12
* The Healing Properties of Color
Page # 12
* Healing Imbalances in the Chakras
Page # 16
* Intuitive Healing
Page # 17
Chapter 5: Discussion
Page # 20
Chapter 6: Conclusion
Page # 24
Bibliography
Page # 27
ii
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Do We Already Know What Colors Help Us Heal?
Written by Lisa M. Miller
Introduction
Color has been used in many ways throughout history to express, to heal, and
to illuminate. Healing begins with the individual and as we are all intuitive, we
instinctively know which colors are needed in our energy fields. Perhaps that is why
we are we drawn to a favorite color, for we need it to bring optimal health to our
lives. It reasons that over time, our favorite color will change as we strengthen our
weak areas, and we seek to bring balance to new areas of concern. A majority of
young girls surround themselves in pink; a color often associated with love. Their
world is filled with learning about and experiencing the unconditional love of their
parents, siblings and pets. As she approaches her teens, she may become more
attracted to blue, which offers a calming influence at a time that is often wrought
with angst against the unfairness of the grown up world she is coming into. As an
adult, she may gravitate toward green, having a greater need for compassion and
healing after a broken heart due to separation or loss. The attraction to color
heightens our senses, and we find ourselves visually decorating our homes with
painted walls or accents in our favorite color, clothing ourselves in fashions that
allow us to “feel” the healing color on our skin, and eating the colors of the rainbow
in foods that will nourish our soul. Color is a life force!
There is an energy to color that creates movement in subtle ways. As a young
child, my mother would tuck me into bed, leaving the door open slightly so that if I
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was scared, I would see the night light in the hall. Playtime then turned into sleepy
time with a little help from my “color dot” friends. My night vision filled with four
rows of colors: green and yellow dots and on my left with blue dots and red dots on
my right. To help me go to sleep, the dots formed long strings of color, swirling
around my head in a way that had me twisting under the covers to follow them. I
understood how to influence their movement, form and shape. Thinking I was
asleep when my eyes were mostly closed, I watched them leave through the crack of
the door, their mission accomplished. It never failed that the dots would retreat
back to me once I opened my eyes again. There was never an understanding of this
phenomenon until many years later when another metaphysician explained that the
color dots are a form of energy. This exciting news helped me understand how I
could use color as a form of healing energy as I continued to ask spirit to reveal what
I needed to know, through personal experience. “It” happened one night; I received
the message to embrace color healing, intuitively knowing that my color dot friends
had been teaching me all along. Reflecting on my own color preferences since
childhood, I began to see a correlation of how my choices in color affected me on
physical, emotional, mental and spiritual levels.
Although color has been used for centuries in face paint, textiles, building
materials and art, its subtle energies mostly remained unacknowledged in main
stream medicine, despite the recognition of their healing qualities documented in the
last century. In the last twenty-five years, many healers, metaphysicians, decorators
and psychologists have touched upon the power of color and how it can be used to
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heal the mind, body and spirit. There is a general consensus among the
metaphysical community regarding the healing properties of colors, although each
person who works with color may interpret them in their own way. Everyone who
uses color for healing determines the colors necessary with intuitive methods,
several which are explored through my own experiments. Once a client is diagnosed,
one or more color treatment options may be used. Color therapy works!
In this paper, I will showcase how the healing properties of colors may be
used to diagnosis and treat individuals on physical, emotional and spiritual levels
through various subtle methods, and on a deeper level, explore how we intuitively
know which colors will help us heal our energy imbalances. When I set out to
research this topic over two years ago, there was little interest or information on
color therapy in the United States, making it difficult to find credible sources that
would stand up to scientific scrutiny. This lack of information fueled my passion to
take an intuitive approach for further exploration in color therapy: one that would
prove or disprove that our favorite color is not a random selection, but that our
choice is full of purpose.
Review of Literature
“Can colors be used to alter our physical, emotional, mental and spiritual
conditions?” This is one of many questions Ted Andrews asks in How to Heal with
Color (2005). This is the premise for his exploration on how colors affect us for
healing and balancing, as well as on deeper levels of consciousness. Andrews details
the meaning of fourteen colors, how they apply to over 50 medical conditions, offers
developmental exercises to determine which colors you need, how to sense color, and
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how to project and absorb the healing properties of color. An entire chapter is
devoted to a basic explanation of the seven major chakra energy centers, their related
organs and systems, and how the body will respond to specific colors used in healing
imbalances in the chakras. This is one of the most informative, easy-to-read, and
readily available books written on color healing from a student’s perspective.
Kundalini and the Chakras (2006) was created out of the author’s personal
quest to find literature explaining her own kundalini upsurge in the 1960’s.
Genevieve Lewis Paulson, author and president of a spiritual development center in
the Ozark Mountains, reveals the symptoms of involuntary kundalini release,
techniques for cleansing, balancing and developing your chakras, and methods for
voluntary kundalini release so that the new energy can be used to attain
enlightenment. Where as Ted Andrews gives a basic overview of the seven major
chakras and their related organs, Paulson sites each chakra with a healing color,
element, power, and personality (both positive and negative). She also provides a
deeper study into opening and developing the chakras of the Seven Bodies that
consist of the physical, emotional, mental, intuitional/compassionate, will/spirit,
soul and divine bodies, recognizing that energy going in or out of the chakras affects
our entire system of muscles, nervous systems and glands. This book is an excellent
resource for the beginner or advanced student in energy medicine.
How to See and Read the Aura (1998) is a small book, packed with thoughtprovoking questions requiring your participation in experiential exercises designed
to assist your understanding of the subtle energy fields generated within the body as
well as those received from outside the body. Ted Andrews teaches students how to
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sense the aura through feelings as well as through seeing the colors that surround
the physical body. The ‘rainbow colors’ of the aura indicate different things about a
person’s physical, emotional, mental and spiritual well-being. Learning to see aura
colors as well as understanding the colors and functions of the chakras will lead to a
well-rounded approach to healing the inner and outer body. Andrews conducts
lectures, seminars and workshops throughout the country as a teacher in
metaphysics. He is certified in spiritual mediumship, basic hypnosis and
acupressure. As well as being an author, he is a contributor to various metaphysical
magazines.
Cindi Dales’ self proclaimed “essential reference manual for energetic healing”
The Subtle Body: An Encyclopedia of Your Energetic Anatomy (2009) is the first
comprehensive encyclopedia of the human energetic anatomy, covering an in-depth,
color illustrated guide to the invisible energies that influence our health. Dale
provides readers with an added bonus beyond most books on chakras by detailing
the chakra systems from around the world, some of which include the Tibetan sixchakra system, the Tsalagi (Cherokee) system, the Incan energy system, The
Kabbalah and the contemporary Twelve Chakra System, developed by Cyndi Dale.
She offers additional color techniques using the Twelve-Chakra System, listing not
only the positive color meaning, but also the harmful colorations discovered as tones
or shades in the chakras. For the crystal healer, Dale showcases how the healing
qualities of colorful gemstones have been used to help clear, infuse and balance
chakras for thousands of years. A gorgeous book that may be a bit overwhelming for
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those new to metaphysics, it is a must have for those seeking to deepen their
energetic healing practice.
Betty Balcome wrote her book as a way to remove the fear associated with
being a psychic and healer. In Everyone’s Guide for Using Psychic Ability (1995),
she admits to seeing colors and energies as a young child, realizing these abilities
were not common to all. A majority of the book offers developmental exercises,
based on her experiences as a psychic/healer/teacher for psychic abilities, psychic
protection, how to see and understand the healing colors of the aura and how to clear
the aura. Of interest was a technique called ‘Laser Healing’, in which beams of
multiple colored light can be directed to the person in need of healing.
This is a well-rounded book that encourages everyone to explore hands-on healing as
well as distance healing using your own psychic abilities to achieve your own results.
Let There Be Light (2007) was written by Darius Dinshah, based on the work
of his father, Dinshah P. Ghadiali, who passed away in 1966. This book is a practical
manual for Spectro-Chrome Therapy, likely the most successful form of color light
therapy in existence. Although complicated if read out of context, the basic
procedure to achieve miraculous results comes from selecting a color, checking for
the recommended tonation time, removing clothing from area to be treated, applying
color light to an area and relaxing. More fascinating than the applications of color
therapy is the story of a man’s struggle to continue treating patients while the
government continued to discredit his work, eventually destroying all journals and
books on the subject and sentencing him to prison.
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Doreen Virtue is the guru of angels as a forth generation metaphysician and
author of numerous books and programs. In Angel Medicine: How to Heal the Body
and Mind with the Help of the Angels (2004), she weaves a spiritual adventure story
with angel medicine healing methods. One method reveals that each archangel has a
different color associated with its aura, so calling upon these colors can invoke the
archangel associated with that color. Other uses for color healing include shielding
as a psychic protection, angel color readings, white light chakra clearing, colored
candle healing and crystal healing. Doreen provides an enlightening book that
delves into the story of the lost temples of Atlantis and their healing methods.
Body of Health: The New Science of Intuition Medicine for Energy and
Balance (2005) helps the reader learn more about their awareness as well as assess
their own abilities for application in intuitive medicine. Francesca McCartney, PHD,
is founder of the Academy of Intuition Medicine, where she teaches her techniques
to health care providers, physical therapists and counselors. McCartney raises the
question “How much are you influenced by color in your life”? She provides the
reader with various meditations to understand its direct influence, recommendations
for reflections on your health color needs, and affirmations that solidify your color
healing based upon your own intuitive awareness.
Step-by-step techniques for Color Zone Therapy and an A-Z list for more than
one hundred ailments are provided in Healing with Color Zone Therapy (1998) by
Joseph Corvo and Lilian Verner-Bonds. Together they explain the combination of
zone therapies and color therapies, how each ailment has an underlying negative
mental and emotional attitude and how to use multiple colors for treatment. By
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using color as stimulation, combined with positive thinking, you will receive an
ability to combat pain and illnesses on all levels. Each color has a positive, negative
and polarity trait. Easily organized by illnesses, anyone can quickly comprehend the
simplistic approach to applying color with positive affirmations to an injury or
sickness and receive healing on one or more levels.
Healing with the Rainbow Rays: The Art of Color Energy Therapy (1995) by
Alijandra offers information not often found in other sources; advanced chakra
techniques. For those comfortable working with the seven major chakras, Alijandra
teaches how to connect your chakras to the Earth, Sun and Moon, to combine
chakras for an energy field that is pure, compacted and strong, Solar System Chakra
Balancing, and Multidimensional Chakra Linking using the 13 Rainbow Rays. Full of
intense, deep-thought concepts, this book is a keeper to be re-visited as integration
may unfold differently for each reader.
Methods
In the fall of 2008, I offered an intuitive healing study to ten clients in order
to explore the relationship between a person’s favorite color and whether or not the
healing qualities of their choice was needed to achieve a more complete, holistic
balance of energies. All were required to complete a questionnaire prior to their
arrival, which was to be sealed in an envelope so that the information could not be
used in advance to formulate a treatment plan. The protocol involved a scan of their
energy field in order to make an intuitive decision on how to proceed. Notes were
taken of the physical areas to be treated as well as any imbalance in the chakras,
matching those areas with the appropriate healing color. These notes were later
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compared to the client’s questionnaires after the color healing session, with the hope
of finding similarities between their ailment and what was found intuitively.
Prior to treatment, a pendulum was used to dowse over a color patch chart
made from 8” x 11”squares, to intuitively determine which of the seven major
chakras may have an imbalance. Dowsing is one way to find answers not normally
available to our senses, thereby making it an excellent method for determining the
appropriate colors needed by a client or in one’s self. The pendulum is a helpful
dowsing tool that translates unrecognized energies into something more tangible. It
is programmed by the facilitator to move in a particular direction based upon a
question that correlates to a specific yes or no answer. The swinging of the
pendulum is caused by involuntary muscle action stimulated by the subconscious
mind, as our nervous system responds to subtle energies we do not consciously
recognize. The subject cannot control the pendulum, particularly when the subject
does not hear or know the question in advance.
In addition to the questionnaire, energetic body scan and dowsing with a
pendulum, the clients were muscle tested for a weakness response in their physical,
emotional and spiritual aspects of each chakra. Results of the color healing were
documented by the clients in the form of a testimonial; indicating they were feeling
more relaxed, lighter, fresher, grounded and energized.
Findings
History of Color Therapy
Color Therapy, also known as Phototherapy, dates back thousands of years as
a means of therapy in ancient Egypt, Greece, China, Persia and India. The Ancient
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Egyptians used colored minerals, stones, crystals, salves and dyes as remedies in
healing. The Greeks were the first to document both the theory and practice of solar
therapy. Heliopolis, the Greek city of the sun, was famous for its healing temples, in
which sunlight was broken up into its spectral components (colors), and each
component was used for a specific medical problem, as they related colors to
behavior and symptoms of disease. The Chinese associated color with each organ
and elemental system; that every individual is a balance of five elements and each
element of either wood, fire, earth, metal or water had an associated color of green,
red, yellow, white and blue. Avicenna, (980-1037), an Arabian, wrote about the
disease symptoms associated with colors. He developed a chart which showed what
he thought was the relationship between color and the temperature and physical
condition of the body.
The practice of color therapy was on its decline in the Middle Ages, as new
systems like ayurveda, unani, and homeopathy started flourishing until color therapy
experienced a revival in the 19th century. American physician Edwin Babbit
released The Principles of Light and Color, which prescribed different colored
bottles containing water charged by the sun for treatment of stubborn conditions. In
the early 20th century, Indian scientist Dinshah Ghadiali introduced a system of
healing using colored lights called Spectro-Chrome. He proposed that disease could
be treated in the body by exposing specific areas to colored light for various lengths
of time throughout different periods of the day. He was the first to develop a system
of healing utilizing all the colors of the spectrum: red, orange, yellow, lemon, green,
turquoise, blue, indigo, violet, purple, magenta and scarlet. Case histories abound of
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the successful treatment with Spectro-Chrome, however political forces eager to
profit from modern medicine created obstacles to discredit and repress Dinshah’s
simple healing system. Dinshah was subjected to indictments, court battles, fines
and arrests, which in 1947 culminated in the burning of his collection of printed
material. Six years after probation, despite permanent injunctions by the FDA,
Spectro-Chrome survived as a nonprofit, educational corporation known as the
Dinshah Health Society. Let There Be Light, written by Dinshah’s son Darius, is now
a practical manual for spectro-chrome therapy, based upon Dinshah’s treatment
with the use of color and light for over 400 various health related disorders.
In the same period of Dinshah’s work, Swiss psychologist Dr. Max Luscher
developed a color test that consisted of a person sorting seventy three color patches
into an order of preference (an abbreviated test of eight cards was also used), and
claimed to be able to judge a person's stress level and psychological make-up by the
order the color was chosen or paired with another color. Unlike many others, he
recognized that the “sensory perception of color is objective and universally shared
by all, but that color preferences are subjective, which is a distinction allowing
subjective states to be objectively measured by using test colors”. His idea served to
boost interest in chromo-therapy, reviving a fashion just as the FDA was recalling all
of Dinshah’s devices for applying color therapy. Since the 1950's the test has been
given to hundreds of thousands of people and is now used worldwide, most notably
in Europe, by psychologists, doctors, government agencies, and universities to screen
their candidates. Our color preference gives insight regarding the powerful energies
of our inner emotions we repress as well as those that we outwardly express.
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The Power of Color Energy
Light is our most important energy source, and the entire spectrum of color is
derived from light. Light is the only energy we can see, and we see it in the form of
color. It is the visible reflection off the particles in the atmosphere. Each color in the
visible light spectrum has its own wavelength and its own frequency, which produces
a specific energy and has a nutritive effect. Our body absorbs color energy through
the vibration it gives off.
Light consists of the seven color energies: red, orange, yellow, green, blue,
indigo, and violet. Each color corresponds to one of the seven major chakras, which
in turn can influence a specific gland, organ, or tissue of the body and will affect us
differently emotionally, physically, and mentally. When something goes wrong, or is
out of balance, we can strengthen our chakras through the conscious use of color.
The color vibrations are transmitted to the vertebrae of the spine, transferring the
frequencies along the nerve pathways to the organs and systems of the body to
restore balance. By learning how each color influences us, therapy can be applied
through colored lights or mentally through energetic transfer; this is the power of
color.
The Healing Properties of Color
The first step in beginning to use color in healing is to become aware of the
seven true colors, to learn to visualize them and become them. These colors
correspond to the seven major chakras and are the same colors you see in a rainbow.
A catchy way to remember their order in the rainbow and in the chakras is revealed
in the name ROY G BIV (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet). Although
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many healers identify both negative and positive qualities in colors, as well as other
forms of energy work, it may be most beneficial to work in the context that no color
is negative; but rather are all positive. Positive color in balance produces vitality,
energy and abundance, whereas a lack of color may be considered a blockage or lack
of abundance. By eliminating negative connotations, the healing process begins by
building on a foundation (after removing an obstacle), not by tearing something
down or away from its core.
Red is the first visible color we see after the infrared band is passed. “The
Great Energizer” represents fire, warmth, vitality, strength, energy, passion, activity,
courage, self-confidence, grounding, wealth and abundance. It loosens up clogs,
releases stiffness and increases the flow of blood. It stimulates deeper passions, such
as love and sex, hatred and rage and the first (root) chakra, causing the adrenal
glands to release adrenalin.
Orange is connected to cheerfulness, joy, happiness, wisdom, creativity and
resourcefulness. It combines physical energy with mental wisdom. Orange
stimulates feelings of sociability and a sense of ambition and works in connection
with the second (sacral) Chakra, strengthening our appetite for life.
Yellow is associated with clarity, self-esteem, optimism, and intellect. It helps
strengthen the nerves and awakens mental inspiration. Typical diseases treated by
yellow are constipation, gas, and diabetes. Yellow links with the third (solar plexus)
Chakra, representing the highest of the physical colors and is considered the psychic
center for empathy.
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Green is midway in the color spectrum; therefore it contains both a physical
and spiritual nature, in equal balance and in equal harmony, making it a universal
healing color. Green gives us balance, unconditional love, self- control, harmony,
neutrality, non-resistance, hope, faith and peace. It corresponds to the fourth chakra
(heart center), increasing our sensitivity and compassion, and may be used to treat
heart troubles, ulcers, headaches, exhaustion and influenza.
Blue is at the opposite end of the visible spectrum and is associated with
relaxation, coolness, calmness, healing, knowledge, and decisiveness. Blue provides
relief to most inflammations of the skin and gums, helps reduce fever, and has a
sedative effect. The fifth (throat) chakra is often referenced as the “power center”
because it is the primary center of expression and communication through speech.
Blue awakens artistic expression and inspiration.
Indigo is connected with intuition, mysticism, understanding, and vision. It
combines the deep blue of devotion with a trace of stabilizing red. Indigo links with
and stimulates the sixth chakra (brow or third eye) and controls the pineal gland,
where the term sixth sense comes from. It governs both physical and spiritual
perception: clairvoyance, clairaudience, and clairsentience. Indigo is the color used
by Spirit to help entrance a medium and is considered the ray of the Holy Spirit. It is
dynamic in effectively treating all conditions of the face including the eyes, ears,
nose, mouth and sinuses. During the highest peaks of allergy season, I have no
problem giving psychic readings after activating, clearing and balancing this center,
a true testament to the power of applying color, focus and intention in treating a
specific ailment.
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Violet is the last color we can see before light passes on to ultraviolet,
representing beauty, creativity, inspiration, divine will, and spiritual destiny. It
purifies our thoughts and feelings, connects us to our spiritual self, bringing
guidance, wisdom and inner strength. Violet activates the seventh (crown) chakra,
helps balance physical and spiritual energies and strengthens the body’s ability to
assimilate and use minerals. The use of violet in meditation can help to open us to
past lives and dream activity.
Beyond the seven colors associated with the major chakras, white is
sometimes used as an alternative healing color associated with the crown chakra and
is considered the white light of healing and protection. Energy practitioners use this
color to create bubbles or shields of protection in their own aura field or as a seal
after a client’s treatment. White encompasses all colors in the spectrum, thereby
making it a powerful healing energy. Pink is the color of love, used to ease
conditions of anger and neglect, or further enhance compassion in the heart chakra.
Brown awakens common sense and discrimination, eliminates spacey feelings,
thereby allowing one to connect with energies of the earth, to be “rooted” firmly.
Other systems of healing explore the twelve major chakras that form the
rainbow. The first bottom three chakras correlate to physical aspects of self, the
heart is the middle transitional chakra and the top three are non-physical chakras,
directly connected to our mental and spiritual bodies. The eighth through the
twelfth chakras are pure, spiritual energy, which represent Love and Light, free will
and balance.
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Doreen Virtue, considered the authority on angels, attributes each of the
archangels with a particular aura color, related to the specific purpose of that angel.
She associates Archangel Raziel with rainbow color healing, however, encourages us
to invoke any and all of the archangels by visualizing their aura color surrounding a
situation or person in need of healing. Seeing the rainbow colored lights around you
or someone else helps heal blockages and karmic imbalances that cause negative
patterns, simultaneously healing on many levels. When invoking colors to bring
balance to your chakras, you can’t make a mistake or choose the wrong one; follow
your intuition!
Healing Imbalances in the Chakras
Dimensional Doorways, Sacred Gateways, Sacred Circles, Circles of Light, and
Wheels of Light are various names given to chakras, our spinning energy centers.
Chakras are like computer chips, programmed for data reception, storage, and
transmission. Understanding the chakra system is key in how to use color as a part
of the healing process. They are the mediators of all energy coming into and
radiating out of the body and help distribute energy for its physical, emotional,
mental and spiritual functions. When flowing correctly, a person may develop
psychic abilities or reach higher spiritual levels. As spiritual abilities are developed,
awareness and understanding of cosmic energy and other gifts abound. You may see
symbols, sacred geometry, and colors that change as you are working on various
energy frequencies. When the chakras are in harmony, you will feel connected to the
spiritual world, with clear perceptions and feelings, relaxed and energized, and a
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sense of peace. When chakras are out of harmony, you may feel anxious, queasy,
fear, emotional pain, and experience low self-esteem.
The goal of achieving and maintaining balanced chakras is not easy. We are
in a constant state of flux, however, we can become more aware of our energy bursts
or lack of energy. An underactive chakra is one in which energy is congested, in
which case energy does not flow freely through the chakra and its physical systems
creating a feeling of tiredness or weakness. On the other hand, an overactive chakra
is one in which too much energy is being drawn in and out of a particular center,
aggravating a specific condition, creating inflammation such as high blood pressure
or aggression. As a general rule, an underactive chakra can be treated with a strong
dose of its basic color, whereas an overactive chakra is best treated using its opposite
color. Learning to control and balance these areas is part of the training of
mastering energies, and necessary in any form of healing. Once a basic knowledge of
the chakras is obtained, an intuitive will develop the confidence to help others heal
themselves.
Intuitive Healing
Color Healing requires the skills of an intuitive healer. A healer is someone
who helps another realize his or her inherent wholeness. He or she follows a code of
honor and ethics, one that promotes healthy feelings, actions, thoughts, and beliefs
in the client. Specifically, being an intuitive energy healer involves knowing how to
work with the subtler energies and their effects for transformation. There are many
forms of abilities used in subtle energy-based healing. Everyone is born with various
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psychic abilities. These gifts can be developed and used to make intuitive
assessments for physical and psychological problems. The intuitive application of
energy is one of the primary ways to deliver color healing.
The intuitive gifts that come into play with energy work include clairaudience
(clear hearing), clairsentience (clear knowledge), clairvoyance (clear seeing), and
empathy (sensing other’s emotions or physical conditions). Advanced abilities may
include the ability to see into, sense, or visit other current realities, visualization of
images, spirits, or colors, reading the aura, precognition, and remote viewing.
Healers who have been trained, certified or attuned by a teacher may offer
absent healing as a way to conduct diagnoses, perceive another’s situation or needs,
or send healing energy from a distance. They may also choose hands-on healing by
making use of the hands for diagnosis, interpretation, or energy shifting, either for
present or distant subjects or groups, or mind-based techniques such as hypnosis.
Some may find diagnostic tools such as dowsing rods, pendulums or kinesiology
helpful in obtaining information about a person’s condition prior to treatment.
Our hands have the capability of sensing energy changes and differences.
Energy emanates more strongly from the hands than from other parts of the body, so
they can be used to sense and project subtle energy with thought and focus. Where
we put our thoughts is where our energy goes. By rubbing our palms together
briefly, we can activate the chakras in the palms and increase their sensitivity to feel
warmth or coolness, thickness, pressure, or pulses. This confirmation of energy
helps you define your own energy radiations as well as trust what energies you are
sensing from your client. These feelings do not always make logical sense, therefore,
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you must intuitively trust that your focused attention is sending healing energies
where they are needed the most. Trusting your intuition is the key to healing.
Many wonder if there is validity to intuitive healing. There are those that
need something more tangible in order to believe what their senses cannot trust as
truth. Cyndi Dale shares her insight in The Subtle Body: An Encyclopedia of Your
Energetic Anatomy (2009): “Energy medicine is largely dependent upon a
practitioner getting an image, gut sense, or inner message that provides diagnostic
and treatment insight”. Dale supports her theory by documenting statistics from two
20th century experts in the field of intuitive healing. “Edward Cayce, a well-known
American psychic, was shown to be 43 percent accurate in his intuitive diagnoses in
a posthumous analysis made from 150 randomly selected cases. Medical doctor C.
Norman Shealy tested now well-known intuitive Caroline Myss, who achieved 93
percent diagnostic accuracy when given only a patient’s name and birth date”.
An eloquent insight regarding intuitive (psychic) energy healing comes from
respected teacher of metaphysics, Ted Andrews How to Heal with Color (2005) in
which he shares his view that “energy operates on all levels…that which is referred
to, as psychic energy is the creative force of all substance. It surrounds us,
penetrates us, and is a part of us. It can be controlled and directed, molded and
shaped, stored and used”. Trusting your intuition in healing only happens after you
let go of the idea that there is a right or wrong way to do something. Indeed, practice
does not lead to perfection, but will provide validity in time that you will recognize in
yourself through the positive changes in your clients.
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Discussion
The use of color as a healing modality has been documented throughout
history by both ancient and modern civilizations, however, was most likely used
before the written word was developed. There is no escaping its obviousness: it can
be seen as the red in our blood, the orange in a fire, the yellow in the sun, the green
in the grass, the blue in the sky, the indigo of twilight and the violet in a sunset. We
understand color not only because we can see it, but also because we intuitively
understand its healing qualities through our sense of touch. We understand that the
red glow of a fire can warm us after time spent in a winter blizzard or how a frozen
blue ice pack can sooth the inflammation of a throbbing headache. These two
examples show that we experience color in our daily life, on an unconscious level and
it is the experience that teaches us.
Corporations and media are well aware of how color affects us. They use it
subliminally to stimulate our appetites while we dine in restaurants, suppress
feelings of anger in prisoners kept in jail, or encourage optimism in a terminal cancer
patient that cannot leave the hospital. With this much positive or negative power
over our senses, it would be beneficial if everyone was educated about color on a
conscious level, in order to make better decisions regarding our choice in where we
live, what we eat, and how we respond to subliminal suggestions.
Color is available to us any time as a universal healing energy; although it is
an energy interpreted by the individual’s perception and associations. Whereas
some see black as a negative color associated with death, others may see it as a
positive color associated with rebirth. This perception of a color quality is not
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taught, but intuitively connected to our psyche and our experiences. The healing
properties of color are truly universal as an individual or corporation cannot
trademark them, they are free for all to access, they need no education to be
understood, nor are they affiliated with any religious creed or race of people. There
is a depth to color that is often difficult to define and leaves me in awe.
Color has kept me captivated since I was a child. In my early days of coloring
books and crayons, I wished there was a clear crayon that would add dimension to
my “artwork”. Fascinated by the glittering effect of sun on clear water, I wanted to
achieve the same depth as I saw in the swimming pool to the pictures I created. In
searching for an alternative to make colors pop on paper, I discovered tracing the
outlines with a thick application of black created a sharp contrast to a heavily
saturated colored pictured. Such were the early lessons in working with color to
create an effect.
It was with this same desire to learn more about our relationship with color
that I created an intuitive healing study to discover if our favorite color could be used
as a diagnostic indictor in color therapy treatment. Ten individuals agreed to share
their medical histories and complete a questionnaire that documented their favorite
and least favorite colors, their areas of health concerns, categorized under six of the
seven chakras, and their emotional energy also categorized under the same six
chakras. By assigning a number on a scale of one to ten to each health concern and
emotional energy, I was able to indentify which chakras were weak or imbalanced.
The results were exciting as one by one I realized all the individual’s favorite colors
correlated with the chakras that most needed balancing with its same or opposite
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color, proving that we are indeed attracted to our favorite color on a subconscious
and intuitive level, knowing what it is that we need, without being taught!
Unexpected and more exciting was the discovery that the color we least like, and are
less likely to use, is also a color that we need in order to bring balance to our weak
areas! I would go so far as to suggest that the color we least like correlates to an
aspect in ourselves that we choose to ignore or deny exists. This absolutely makes
sense, considering our need for balance in a dualistic world of extremes such as
ying/yang, black/white, hot/cold, up/down and good/evil.
Color treatment involves the application of color in a variety of ways. Direct
application of a torch pen on a physical ailment such as a cut or bruise gives an
almost instant relief to pain and speeds the recovery time. Immersing yourself under
a flood of color from a specially designed lamp will allow colored light to penetrate
and stimulate the body’s meridians in correspondence to traditional acupuncture
systems. A crystal layout with or without an outside light source allows penetration
of color into the aura. Drinking colored charged water from glass jars set in the sun
for several hours brings both light and color into our physical being through our
digestive tract. Wearing colored glasses for a brief period of down time gives us a
dose of shifting energies that do not cause great disruption to our daily routine. You
may breath in a particular color through meditation and project it through your
hands into an area of the body that is unbalanced. Other methods of color healing
include applying color swatches to the chakras while visualizing their energy being
drawn and absorbed into your body, eating a color-related diet, or the use of bach
flower remedies and essential oils for color aromatherapy and reflexology.
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When healing with color, visualize the color, become the color and sense it in
beyond your physical eyes, then direct the energies through your hands with focus,
so that your full being participates in the healing. A distance treatment may be done
either by visualizing the color surrounding the entire body of the client as a layer, or
seeing it applied to a specific chakra, organ, or area of the body.
Color healing is one of the most profound alternative therapies in the field of
holistic health. It expands the awareness of the energy healer and client by using
energy, color and light healing techniques to catalyze healing in the client’s aura and
chakra system, helping he or she break free from afflictions and limitations of the
body, mind and spirit. It may provide an enhanced quality of life and/or facilitate
spiritual growth. As a form of subtle energy healing, color therapy is non-intrusive,
alleviating the need for painful surgery, scarring or long-term follow up care such as
physical therapy.
As in most alternative healing modalities similar to Reiki, it does not interfere
with any religious preference or background, does not require you to change your
belief system, nor does it require a certain level of intelligence. Alijandra Healing
with the Rainbow Rays (1995) sums it up simply “Much of its benefit and degree of
healing attained depends, of course, on how receptive or open the person is to the
light. However, the client need not be a believer in order to gain a healing”. In
addition to being open, it is helpful for the receiver to be focused with intention, and
willing to do the work after the session that may be needed to enhance the results
received from the healing session. As an energy medicine practitioner, I tell my
clients “I am the facilitator, you are the healer”, meaning that they are ultimately
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responsible for the changes in their life and must make their own commitment to
healing long after our session together.
Beyond the benefits of color therapy already discussed, this new finding
allows for an additional way of identifying the chakras that need the application of
color for healing. Ideally, a color therapist would want to document medical history,
use muscle testing and/or a pendulum to identify areas of weakness, however, there
may be times when a quick assessment is adequate, such as offering a healing session
at a holistic faire or when time is limited. With this simple method anyone wishing
to use color as a form of healing can do so simply by knowing their favorite and least
favorite color, then focus on bringing more of the same or opposite color into their
chakra with breath and visualization; quick and effective!
Conclusion
Thousands of years of use of color as a healing modality by some of the
greatest civilizations is an indicator that we need to embrace this knowledge on a
deeper level and promote it on a global scale. Individuals such as psychologists,
scientists, marketing moguls, cosmeticians, home decorators, metaphysicians and
healers have long understood the power color has as an effect on our emotional,
mental, physical and spiritual health. Whereas modern medicine uses only parts of a
natural plant to produce a product that has detrimental side effects to our health,
color can be isolated as a single dose or used in combined with multiple colors to
lead to healing without harmful, long-term side effects. There are several early
pioneers in the field of color therapy that have done the hard core research, proving
that through various applications, diseases of the body can be cured.
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Pain brings about a desire to find an end to it and pain is what sends a person
to discover its cause. Ideally, modern medicine seeks to cure physical disease,
however, one must often settle for the band-aid approach that relieves symptoms,
but does not offer a cure. Color healing, on the other hand, seeks to give short-term
relief as well as the hope for a long-term cure to both physical and psychological
illness.
The responsibility in learning to work with color comes from deep within,
working on an intuitive level versus that of a college education in a specialized field.
By building on the foundation of Dinshah’s research, which identified over 400
health issues that can be cured with color therapy, there is certainly room for
additional studies in identifying the less obvious areas of healing. Dinshah provided
clinical analysis of physical conditions while Luscher studied the psychological
effects of color. In following the flow of energy in a downward spiral from the
spiritual body, to the mental body, to the emotional body and finally to the physical
body, there appears to be a gap in the study of color and its effects on the spiritual
body, the place where all our physical pains begin to manifest from. It is the spiritual
body that holds the keys to spiritual purpose, karma, soul programs and plans.
What if the healing properties in colors were used to balance the chakras
outside our physical body? New research in the field of color therapy could bring
about a change in consciousness. It could be that real change would come from the
change within our selves and project outward, changing the perception of our reality.
As an example, imagine if you could go beyond forgiving others for their mistakes
and forgive yourself for your own mistakes in order to release karmic debts. In
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releasing karmic debts, more souls would awaken and evolve quickly, moving into
higher realms of spiritual purpose. We would then be able to create the world we
dream of…one of unity, peace and unconditional love. Applying pink, as an example,
in the spiritual body would enforce our shield of unconditional love, and the love of a
Divine Source would trickle down to our intellectual mind, where we could have
knowledge of love. Love would then trickle into our emotions, where we would feel
the overwhelming power of pure love as it overflows into our physical being; a place
of accepting the body we have for this life and all its unique characteristics that we
sometimes consider flaws. Color therapy would change the individual for the better,
thereby changing our perceptions of reality, perhaps making it an even more colorful
place. Color has a power that creates movement and change; always in a positive
direction.
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Bibliography
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How to Heal with Color. Llewellyn Publications: Woodbury, MN
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The Subtle Body: An Encyclopedia of Your Energetic Anatomy.
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Everyone’s Guide for Using Psychic Ability. Samuel Weiser, Inc.:
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Body of Health: The New Science of Intuition Medicine for Energy
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Alijandra 1995
Healing with the Rainbow Rays; The Art of Color Energy Therapy.
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