Contemplation Using Colour

Another way of helping yourself with colour is through contemplation. This is an excellent method for relaxing both body and mind. Anything from nature can be used: flowers, stones, crystals, leaves, fruit, to name but a few. Each time that you work with this method, try to select a different colour and object.

Pink Rose Contemplation

For the following exercise you will need a pink rose, pink being the colour of unconditional love.

Take your rose and put it into a vase of water. Sit in a comfortable position, with the vase containing the rose at face level and about two feet away from you.

Relax your body and mind, bringing your concentration to the rose. Notice how it is formed; how the petals are attached to the stem; the delicacy of each petal and their individuality; the variation of the colour depicted by shadow and light. When you have gleaned as much visual information as you can, take the rose and lay it on the palm of your left hand. Place the palm of your right hand approximately two inches above the rose. Close your eyes and try to feel the vibration of the rose through your hands. If you feel nothing, do not be disappointed. It takes time and practice to sensitize the body to colour.

Place the rose back into the vase and, sitting quietly with your eyes closed, visualize the pink exhibited by the rose entering your heart chakra with each inhalation. On each exhalation, allow the colour to flow into your aura until you are sitting in an orb of pale pink light and are filled with spiritual, unconditional love. When you feel ready, resume normal breathing and gently open your eyes. Pale pink is one of the colours used for people who are experiencing emotional trauma.

Visualizing and breathing in colour is an excellent way of introducing colour into the body, and can be used for many of the conditions and states relating to the physical body. If you have difficulty in visualizing colour, find the colour you require in nature and closely study it prior to breathing it in.

Insomnia Exercise

Breathing in colour is a wonderful way of working with insomnia from which so many people suffer. In desperation, people will often resort to sleeping pills, but over a period of time the body gets used to these and they become less effective. When and if they are stopped, it takes time for the body to return to its natural rhythm, and once again, many sleepless nights are experienced.

If you suffer from insomnia, try the following exercise. Firstly, make sure that your body is comfortable and warm. Mentally go over your body, releasing any tension. After you have done this, visualize a beautiful deep blue, and on each inhalation, take this colour into your body. Feel it encompassing every muscle, organ and cell. If it helps, you can imagine your body to be a very special container which you are slowly filling with blue light. Continue to do this until you drift into sleep. Do not be disappointed and give up if your initial attempts fail. All that is needed is patient practice.

If you suffer from insomnia, you might also try sleeping in a blue nightdress between blue sheets. Having a low wattage blue light burning during the night will also help. It is only by trying these suggestions that you will discover the method best suited to you.

Exercise for Depression

Colour breathing can be used for depression. If you are suffering from this, sit down during the course of the day and follow the above method, breathing in orange instead of blue. It is not advisable to work with orange late at night because it is one of the energizing colours and could interfere with sleep.

Exercise for Arthritis

For arthritis, sit down, relax your body and breathe in yellow. Visualize this colour saturating the joints which are affected. From my own experience, I have found that diet also plays a crucial role in this sometimes crippling disease.

Energizing Exercise

To energize and bring the whole of the body back into balance, all of the colours are used in conjunction with the chakras:

Lie down in a comfortable position, making sure that your body is warm. Starting with your feet and working up through your body to your head, systematically relax each part. When you have done this, bring your concentration to your breathing. Feel the breath entering your nostrils and passing down into your lungs. Be aware of your chest expanding as your lungs inflate. Breathing out, feel the warm air passing out of your nostrils as your chest contracts with the deflation of your lungs.

Visualize a bright red rose. On your next inhalation, breathe this colour in through the soles of your feet and into the base chakra. As you exhale, watch this red colour radiating out from the base chakra, into your aura. The inhalation and exhalation is carried out three times for each colour.

Now change the red rose to a beautiful orange chrysanthemum. Breathe this colour in through the soles of your feet and into the sacral chakra, watching it permeate your aura as you exhale.

Next visualize a yellow daffodil and try to feel the vibration of this colour. As you breathe in, bring this clear bright yellow through the soles of your feet and into your solar plexus, breathing it out into your aura.

From the yellow daffodil, change your visualization to a green leaf. Breathe this colour horizontally into your heart chakra and then breathe it out into your aura.

The green leaf then changes into a blue cornflower. Breathe this colour in through the top of your head and into your throat chakra before breathing it out into your aura.

Replace the cornflower with a deep indigo iris. With each inhalation allow this colour to enter through the top of your head and into your brow chakra before exhaling it into your aura.

Lastly, visualize a bunch of tiny violets. Breathe the colour of violet, into your crown chakra and then breathe it out into your aura.

Now relax and try to visualize yourself surrounded by all of these vibrant, dancing colours, each interpenetrating the physical body. When you are ready, breathe in and raise your arms over your head, stretching the whole of your body. Breathe out and bring your arms down to your sides again. Repeat twice more before opening your eyes and sitting up.

Colour In The Clothes We Wear

Another way of transmitting colour is through the clothes we wear, which act as a filter through which light passes. Unfortunately, the colour of our clothes is normally dictated by fashion.

If we are wearing a coloured garment for therapeutic purposes, then white must be worn underneath. Failing this, the article of clothing can be worn next to our skin with nothing covering it. If you suffer from high blood pressure, try wearing blue. If, during the winter months, you are sensitive to the cold, wear red, especially on your hands and feet. Didn't our grandparents wear red flannel nightshirts? Just looking at the colour red can help. Try sitting by an electric coal effect fire with just the coal effect alight. I am sure that you will feel warmer even though no heat is being radiated.

As we become more sensitive to colour, we are able to discern which colour or colours we need at any one time. Learning to listen to our bodies enables us to interpret its requirements.

Certain people ascribe individuals to the seasons of the year in terms of colour. They are either a winter, autumn, spring or summer person and they are advised to wear the colours corresponding to these seasons. This is a wonderful way of choosing colours to suit your skin tone but unfortunately its methods cannot be used when working therapeutically with colour.

Colours In First Aid

We can use small pieces of cloth as filters which can be placed on any part of the body where there is a problem. Again, only natural fibres should be used. If you are suffering from a sore throat or laryngitis, tie a piece of turquoise silk around your neck, wearing it until the condition improves.

When I was in Florence, helping to run a workshop, I succumbed to a very sore throat and loss of voice. I tied a turquoise silk scarf around my throat and wore it during the day and at night. The following day my throat had considerably improved. I continued the treatment for a further forty-eight hours, by which time my voice had returned and my throat was almost back to normal.

If preferred, small pieces of stained glass can be used as filters. These can be used in two ways — either fitted to a lamp or held over the part of the body to be treated with a light shining through. If it is a sunny day, use the light from the sun.

If you have burnt yourself, use a piece of turquoise glass over the burn, leaving it in position for ten minutes. If you have a small patch of eczema, use yellow stained glass in the same way.

Colour In The Food We Eat

A very natural way of absorbing colour into our bodies is through the food we eat. I knew a lady who used to prepare 'rainbow meals'. They were delicious and great fun to make. Next time that you are out shopping, take note of the variety of natural coloured foods which are available, and try to select foods which radiate the colour which you feel you might need and include them in your diet.

Colour In The Home

Home decoration becomes vitally important the more sensitive we become to colour. To decorate a bedroom, for example, in red or yellow could be disastrous. Red could cause many sleepless nights, while with yellow we could become so detached that we could end up by being well and truly 'spaced out'. The ideal colours are blue or very pale lilac. My hall and therapy room are blue and patients frequently remark how calming and peaceful they find it.

Red is best used in a room where there is a lot of activity, while yellow, the colour associated with the intellect, is good when used in studies or places of intellectual pursuit. Orange, which stands for joy and creativity, can be used in kitchens and children's play rooms. White can be a very isolating and solitary colour, and should therefore always be interspersed with other colours. If you would like more information on the use of colour in decoration, read Healing Through Colour by Theo. Gimbel.

Art Therapy

Another way of using colour therapeutically is through art. Some people can gain inspiration and a sense of well-being simply by looking at beautiful artwork. I found that some of the wonderful artistic creations in Florence were able to lift me into a new dimension of consciousness and health.

To work therapeutically with art, you do not have to be an artist or possess a great gift in this field. It does not matter if you are unable to paint or draw. To work with yourself in this way, you need a set of crayons and a sheet of white or light grey paper. Sit down somewhere quiet and select just three colours from your crayons. Have a chosen piece of music playing in the background and, using your three crayons, interpret, on your sheet of paper, what the music conveys to you. The shapes in the drawing which evolves, should be completely unique to you and should not resemble any known object, such as a flower, house, tree, and so on. Allow your own feelings to be expressed through your hands and on to the paper.

Another way of working in this way is to express disappointment, pain, hurt and anger through your drawing. For this you do not need music, just the three crayons of your choice, and paper. You do not have to create a pretty picture. In fact if you are suffering from any negative emotions, your drawing should be anything but attractive. This does not matter, nobody else is going to see what you have drawn unless you choose to show them, and you are free to destroy it whenever you wish. It is far better to release your feelings in this way then storing them inside yourself where they could, at a later date, manifest as a physical disease. If these methods are worked with under the guidance of a trained art therapist, he/she should be able to interpret your drawings and help you with your problems.

Experiencing Colour In Nature

Perhaps the most beautiful way to absorb colour is to be like our ancestors and revert back to nature. Endeavouring to spend at least one hour a day in the midst of nature is a wonderful tonic. This can be achieved by sitting or working in the garden, walking through parks, or in the countryside — a pursuit which should be done throughout all the seasons of the year. Each season brings its own range of colours and with them come very special healing powers. Whenever possible, I sit in my garden to work. To me, the inspirational and healing power with which I am surrounded is truly awe inspiring.

If you are interested in experiencing the healing power of colour, may I suggest, that you start your journey by walking every day in nature's healing environment.

Matthew Bakewell

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