According to ancient Egyptian mythology, the art of chromotherapy was discovered by the god Thoth. In the hermetic traditions, the ancient Egyptians and Greeks used colored minerals, stones, crystals, salves and dyes as remedies and painted treatment sanctuaries in various shades of colors. The ancient Ayurvedic physician Charaka, who lived in the sixth century BC, recommended sunlight to treat a variety of diseases. In ancient Greece the physical nature of color was dominant. Color was intrinsic to healing, which involved restoring balance. Garments, oils, plasters, ointments and salves were used to treat disease.
Avicenna (AD 980) advanced the art of healing using colors. He made clear the vital importance of color in both diagnosis and treatment.
Pleasanton (1876) used only blue and stated that blue was the first remedy in case of injuries, burns or aches. He reported his findings on the effects of color in plants, animals and humans.
Most areas that seem to have been ignored in the past were emphasized by Edwin Babbitt (1942). Babbitt presented a comprehensive theory of healing with color. He identified the color red as a stimulant, notably of blood and to a lesser extent the nerves; yellow and orange as nerve stimulants; blue and violet as soothing to all systems and as having anti-inflammatory properties.
Accordingly, Babbitt prescribed red for paralysis, physical exhaustion and chronic rheumatism; yellow as a laxative, emetic and purgative and for bronchial difficulties; blue for inflammatory conditions, sciatica, meningitis, nervous instability, headache, irritability and sunstroke. He also stated that ‘all vital organs have direct connection with the skin through arteries, blood vessels and capillaries, and color rays can affect the entire blood stream through circulation and elimination of toxins’.
Ghadiali (1927) discovered the scientific principles that explain why and how different color rays have various therapeutic effects on the body. He discovered that there is a unique color or energy vibration that either sedates or stimulates the stream of energy through a specific organ, causing a natural biochemical reaction. By knowing the action of different colors upon the different organs and systems of the body, one can apply the appropriate color that will balance the action of any organ or system that has become abnormal in its functioning or condition. When this balance is disturbed, mental and physical problems occur. The aim of the science of color healing is to cure disease by restoring normal balance of color energies of the body.
Until today, many researchers studied the physiological and psychological effect of chromotherapy and revolutionized its application. No controversies were found among the theories presented, in research work conducted in any area of the world.
As a result of pioneering research various new techniques have been developed over the past decades. Today we know, colors have a profound effect on us at all levels – physical, mental and emotional. Chromotherapy is now used e.g. in the treatment of premature babies, treatment of cancer, anorexia, bulimia, insomnia, alcohol and drug dependency, seasonal affective disorder, rheumatoid arthritis.
The Therapeutic Concept of Chromotherapy
Every creature is engulfed in light that affects its health conditions. The human body, according to the doctrine of chromotherapy, is basically composed of colors. The body comes into existence from colors, the body is stimulated by colors and colors are responsible for the correct working of various systems that function in the body. All organs and limbs of the body have their own distinct color. All organs, cells and atoms exist as energy, and each form has its frequency or vibrational energy. Each of our organs and energy centers vibrates and harmonizes with the frequencies of these colors. When various parts of the body deviate from these expected normal vibrations, one can assume that the body is either diseased or at least not functioning properly. The vibratory rates inherent in the vibrational technique (chromotherapy) are such that they balance the diseased energy pattern found in the body. For in every organ there is an energetic level at which the organ functions best. Any departure from that vibratory rate results in pathology, whereas restoring the appropriate energy levels to the physical organs results in a healed body.
Chromotherapy is a narrow band in the cosmic electromagnetic energy spectrum, known to humankind as the visible color spectrum. It is composed of reds, greens, blues and their combined derivatives, producing the perceivable colors that fall between the ultraviolet and the infrared ranges of energy or vibrations. These visual colors with their unique wavelength and oscillations, when combined with a light source and selectively applied to impaired organs or life systems, provide the necessary healing energy required by the body. Colors generate electrical impulses and magnetic currents or fields of energy that are prime activators of the biochemical and hormonal processes in the human body, the stimulants or sedatives necessary to balance the entire system and its organs.
The Text above is based in following article:
Samina T. Yousef Azeemi and S.Mohsin Raza: “A critical Analysis of Chromotherapy and Its Scientific Evolution”. 2005: 481 – 488. In: “Evidendance Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine”.
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