I’m in the Mood for Color

Colors are more than esthetics or personal preference. They have a direct influence on our entire being. Colors can not only clear destructive patterns but also turn on fresh qualities of intelligence. Color and light control our biological clock, our moods, our sleep and wakefulness, subjective energy levels and even our appetite for carbohydrates. Color works directly on the information stored in our light bodies, our thoughts, memories, feelings and experiences, instantly making deep and subtle changes.

Here are some of our personal experiences with colored lights: “My chronic lower back pain disappeared with twenty seconds of yellow light on my forehead. Another time I got rid of a sore throat with one minute of blue light.”   “My daughter’s grades improved and her reading ability increased from not being able to read a whole book to majoring in English in college, after twenty light treatments using a Lumatron light machine. Two teen subjects stopped having violent temper tantrums, and their college grades went from C’s and D’s to A’s and B’s after the same treatments.”

All colors have different properties and psychological effects. Red, orange and yellow are outer, yang, day colors, warming and stimulating. Blue, green and violet are inner directed, cooler, mellowing colors.   Blue may be relaxing to one person and depressing to another. Red may make one person feel anxious and may be uplifting and motivating to another.

We eat faster in a restaurant with orange decor (check the fast food places), while we tend to linger and relax when surrounded by green. Yellow stimulates thinking, and we sleep deeper in blue sheets. In winter a red jacket will give a warmer sensation than a blue one.   Blue hospital rooms following major surgery promote calm and healing. Blue rooms are sometimes used to quiet violent inmates in mental institutions.

To experiment with and experience the effects of color, any medium is fair game.   Immerse yourself in the experience of one color, say green. Eat only green foods, wear green, surround yourself with that color, even use green-tinted glasses.   Gels or plastic colored sheets over a light or flashlight can be used on your body and the room. Do this for a day to feel what effects that color has on you.   Notice how you feel, what emotions come up, and where you experience that color in your body. If that color had a voice, what would it say to you? Does it make you feel uplifted or earthbound, restful or anxious? Notice your breathing for depth or shallowness. Does it sedate or tonify, is it warming or cooling?   More than liking or disliking a color, you can explore the effect it has on your energy and physical body, your psyche and your light body.

– co-authored by Martha Rigney