Colour Therapy
If you ask anyone what their favourite colour is, it’s likely they will have an answer for you. What you might not have realised is that those colours, the ones we are naturally drawn to and prefer above any others, have meaning behind them. After all, the phrases ‘green with envy’, ‘seeing red’, or ‘feeling blue’ haven’t come about out of nowhere; the truth of the meaning behind colour is clear to see.
Colour therapy, that is using different colours to boost the mood and relieve anxiety, is a popular way of helping people who are looking for an alterative way of getting over their problems. It’s a fascinating technique.
What Is Colour Therapy?
Colour therapy, which is also called chromotherapy, uses different colours to positively affect your wellbeing and mental and even physical health. It works because each colour has its own wavelength, and the idea behind colour therapy is that the wavelength, which emits energy, can boost your health.
Even if you don’t choose to go to a colour therapist for specialised sessions, you can still use the information that is readily available about different colours to ensure your home is as comfortable as possible for you. You might choose to decorate your home in specific shades that you know will help you stay stress-free or that will reduce your anxiety, for example. And you don’t have to cover entire walls in great swathes of colour either if you’d prefer to be more understated. You can add splashes of colour in the form of cushions, bedding, rugs, ornaments, perhaps even crafts that you have made...
How Do Colours Affect Mood?
It seems that colours really can affect how someone feels, even what they think. The right colours around you mean that you can balance how you are feeling and have a happy, healthy, positive demeanour. You might not know exactly what colours are going to work for you, and the general consensus is that you should simply trust your instinct. You’ll see a colour that just works for you, that lifts you, that makes you feel good – go with it. Using this colour whether it’s as a new decoration for your home, an item of clothing, or even a piece of food.
You might want different colours at different times of the day, from week to week, hour to hour... That’s because the body and the mind are complex things and there are plenty of outside influences that can change how you react from one moment to the next. This is why it’s best to use your colours in more transient ways – you can change your clothes, you can move onto the next craft project, you can switch one painting for another, or a cushion cover can be changed.
What Do Colours Mean?
As mentioned above, everyone tends to have a favourite colour, and there will be something about this colour that simply resonates with the body and mind. Studies are still ongoing as to why one person will like one shade whilst another prefers something else, but no matter the reason why, the meanings behind each colour are fascinating and reveal a lot. Examples of colours and their meaning include:
• Red Red – and to a certain extent, pink – is the colour that is most associated with your blood. It also links to breathing and circulation. If you want your veins to be strengthened, your blood pressure to come up, your circulation to improve, and so on, red of the colour for you.
• Yellow Yellow is the colour that is associated with the digestive system, the nervous system, and the skin. It also links to the lungs. If you have breathing problems like asthma, surrounding yourself with yellow can ease the symptoms. If you have a stomach upset, yellow is the answer there too. Allergic reactions and other skin issues can also be soothed with the colour yellow.
• Green Green is all about having a calming effect. It lowers the blood pressure and slows breathing, and it is ideal if you want to have a meditation session, or just remain calm. Plus, green is used to fight infection.
• Blue Blue is also a calming colour, but it is more about the physically calm than the mentally calm. Blue is used to treat stomach and muscle pain, as well as stress and tension, colds, and headaches.