color therapy

About 6 months ago, my family and I found out that my grandfather has terminally ill cancer. It began behind his ear and has now spread throughout his body, rendering him in hospice care and without the strength to do so as much as eat or stand up on his own.

As a result, we have tried many different forms of healing therapies. Yesterday, as I visited him at his home on the east side, he was complaining to me that the living room had too much light. So, I went outside and hung a yellow towel over the glass door, to block out some of the light.

Much to my surprise, he seemed to perk up a bit. I think the fact that there was less light contributed to his happiness, but his response to the new color got me thinking about something I had recently read about: color therapy. http://www.colourtherapyhealing.com/

Based on the research I have done using this and other Web sites and some of the color therapy experiments I have tried with my grandfather, I can tell you with absolute certainty that colors affect us.

Have you ever tried on a shirt and felt the color was off? Worn a shirt all day and ended up feeling drab? Colors are everywhere, and whether conciously or unconciously, we notice them.

In color therapy, each of the seven chakras (or energy points) in the body respond to various colors.

For example, yellow correlates directly to the chakra associated with the solar plexus, situated directly under the ribs. http://www.colourtherapyhealing.com/application/colour_therapy.php

In color therapy, yellow relates to self-worth and how we feel about ourselves. It is also often thought of as a color useful for studying or concentration. Since my grandfather, once a very proud and dignified man, has undergone chemotherapy and has watched his appearance change (after 80 years of the same face) he has battled with self-worth and appearance questions. Therefore, it makes sense to me that he would respond well to the color yellow, which is warm and inviting and conjures positive images of self-worth.

My favorite color has been red since I was a little girl.

In color therapy, red is a color that represents courage, confidence and energy, but also self-pity, fear and resent. Therefore, it is important that I know where I stand, emotionally, before intentionally picking out a red T-shirt. Too much red could leave me feeling worn-down.

Similarly, I have had asthma for my entire life, an ailment which coordinates with the throat chakra and responds well to the color blue, which is known for its calming and relaxing properties.

To find out some of the negative and positive aspects of your favorite color, I recommend playing this fun game with Flash multimedia: http://www.colourtherapyhealing.com/colour_fun/aspects_of_colour.php

While making some phone calls to try to find a color therapist who could comment for this blog, I spoke with a woman from Energy Way, a company with alternative medicine practitioners, who told me the best way to help treat my grandfather was to alternate the use and incorporations such as green, orange and yellow, with rubbing his feet and waving my hands over his body to dissipate negative energy. Tomorrow I will be visiting him again (and everyday until he loses his battle) and I will let you know how the new techniques work!

Love and light...