What Color Are You Today?
There has been much information on color and its influence on people.
As and artist, I am very interested in color, and I would like to share some of the more surprising things that my research into the deeper aspects of color has revealed.
Some of this information was synthesized from the book What Colour Are You? by Annie Wilson and Lilla Bek. They had some very important insights in bringing the scientific information on color together with spiritual awareness through yoga.
As you may know, color is light broken down into different wave-lengths and thus different vibratory rates. Every color sends out a vibratory rate of either higher or lower vibrations, that very quickly creates the sensation of warmth or coolness.
Red has the longest wave-length, and the slowest vibrational rate and gives the warmest sensation.
Violet has the shortest wave-length, and the fastest vibrational rate, and gives the coolest sensation.
Theo Gimbel was a leading light researcher in England in the 1980’s, and brought the importance of color in hospitals and even prisons to the punlic eye.
http://www.colour-experience.org/colouriser/colour_therapy/therapy_8.htm
In his explanations and affirmations based on his research, he suggests that the density of red restricts its mobility, and thus slows down its vibratory rate. Warm energies have the slowest wave-length and have the greatest power to stimulate.
Blues on the other hand opens and gives a feeling of space.
In past centuries the principals of color were known through out the world and utilized by various civilations.
The ancient civilizations of Egypt, Greece, China, Tibet, and the native American Indians were more in contact with their bodies and their energy centers within and had an inner knowing of the uses of color.
The Ancient Egyptians had healing temples of color and light, and they had special sanctuary rooms in which deep blue, violet, and rose pink were used .
I think that we recognize color all the time, even if unconciously. We we accept their qualities without thinking.
We somehow know the emotional qualities and even use expressions like “seeing red”, “feeling blue”, “green with envy”, being “in the pink”, having “golden moments”–all connecting specific emotions with a specific color.
Theo Gimbel has studied the effects of color on specific illnesses, and has concluded that combining shape and color benefit certain ailments or general well-being. For instance, asthma, tension, and insomnia have all been helped by the blue spectrum. (violet, blue, turquoise) and lethargy and lack of vitality have been helped by the red, orange, and yellow spectrum.
Most allopathic medicines tend paralyse the nervous system in order to silence pain in one particular area. As we all know, this is simply a removal of the symptoms, and not a cure. Gimbel had worked with doctors in the US and Germany back in the 1980’s and felt that color could be used as an auxilliary to medical treatment.
We have 7 energy centers in our bodies that relate to the 7 colors in the light spectrum. These centers are called chakras, and each one has an important function and reflects a specific quality.
Violet is the color of the crown chakra at the top of the head. This is the link to the higher realms. It is where art appreciation, religion, and beauty reside. It indicates our sense of the good and the beautiful in our lives.
Indigo is the color of the brow chakra, and it reflects the right brain, where intuition resides.
Blue is the color of the throat chakra, and it reflects the ability to express oneself and ones’ emotions . It is where we seek to express wisdom.
Green is the color of the heart center or chakra, and it reveals how we relate to people and to nature. It reflects our emotional life. The heart is the center of the soul and it is the heart that makes us human.
Yellow is the color of the solar plexus , the center of our state of mind and how we see life intellectually. It reflects the left or the rational side of our brain, and logic. When we cannot sense things through love or the heart, we sense things through the stomach.
Orange is the color of the digestive center and reflects the ability to project and process energy for use by the top centers of the body listed above. If this malfunctions we have all manner of digestive problems. Orange signifies the movement into action.
Red is the color of the energy chakra at the base of the spine, and this reflects the sexual and fire energies of our whole body.
I would like to take this discussion further into the effects of colors in gemstones and their general energetic properties in my next blog, thanks for reading this! I hope I have shared some interesting thoughts about colors!
All the best till next time,
Gemma
