Color Therapy: A Brief Introduction

Also known as chromotherapy, using colors to help heal your body, mind, and spirit is an ancient technique. Throughout history, healers have used tools such as colored light, gemstones, crystals, candles, colored fabric, and even lasers to stimulate or soothe various chakras (energy centers) where there may be energy blockages or weaknesses.

Physically, we are more immediately affected by color than by any other healing medium. This is because light travels many, many times faster than sound, and we feel on a cellular level the effects of light and color many millions of times faster than physical movement or touch. The speed of light is 186,000 miles per second; the speed of sound is a relative snail's pace at 736 miles per hour.

When a color - or rather, our brain's interpretation of a color - reaches our conscious level, our emotions are duly affected, because our cells have already responded. Before we can even name the color that is affecting us, we have already been affected.

With this in mind, it's easy to see how we can be profoundly influenced by the colors with which we surround ourselves.

Some beginning tips and self-searching questions for working with color therapy in your life:

• Take note of the colors in your surroundings. What colors dominate your surroundings?
• Take note of the colors you use to define your body. What shades dominate your clothing?
• Across the spectrum of the rainbow, do your colors tend to fall into "warm" - reds, oranges, yellows - "cool" - blues and greens - or "neutral" - black and white?
  
• Note the presence of complementary colors, if there is one - those colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel, such as purple and orange, or yellow and blue.
• Are there any colors that you feel strongly toward or against?

I'll be discussing color therapy in more detail later on, but for now, it's fun and can be enlightening to begin to see how and where color fits into your life.

May your days be filled with rainbows!

Rose Quartz for Emotional Balance

This beautiful crystal, named for its soft pink color, contains properties of unconditional love for others and for one's self. It is believed to help balance the emotions while increasing self-esteem.

Rose quartz works by opening the heart chakra ~ the 4th chakra, the anahata chakra ~ enhancing your own openness to love in all forms: romantic, platonic, self love, family love, and love of animals, plants, and the Earth.

Using rose quartz can balance your emotions, allowing for inner peace, while creating space for compassion and forgiveness to blossom. It can help you let go of stored fear, anger, and resentment, replacing them with peace, harmony, and self-esteem.

Some tips for using rose quartz in your everyday life:

• Keep a small, heart-shaped rose quartz stone under your pillow when you sleep at night to encourage love in all of your relationships, but especially your romantic and sexual ones.
• Stash a rose quartz in your pocket when attending any meeting (business, family, etc.) that may be emotionally disruptive. The crystal will help keep your heart chakra open, allowing for more peace to flow through your communications.
  
• If your pet has been through a trauma, such as moving or illness, attach a rose quartz to his or her collar to allow for a peaceful release of fears and frightened emotions.
• If you don't have a crystal with you, simply visualize the healing energy of the rose quartz traveling across space and time to enter your heart. Allow the light to be soft and pink, and let the light of the crystal fill your entire body with love and peace.
• Place a stone in your view or hold one when you're talking on the phone. Visualize the crystal's love energy filling your heart and traveling through the phone lines to the person on the other end. Visualize their heart being filled with the same healing love energy from your rose quartz, and allow this energy to flow freely between you.

May your days be filled with love and peace.