Colour can calm and cure. Sameera Moledina tells you how colour therapy works

Colour affects all we do through our moods and emotions. It creates mood, and affects energy. It can also have an emotional impact that can delight you or distress you. ''Most of us take colour for granted," says Aneeta Sanas, colour therapist. "The main reason I started using crystals for my healing purposes is because colours have certain properties that work for cleansing, purifying and energising our 'chakras' and have great beneficial effects on the human mind and body. Colour affects the entire human organism and each colour has a role to play.For a healthy life, a good balance of colour is necessary.'' Colours evoke both pleasant and unpleasant emotions. Your reaction to certain colours is influenced by personal experiences.

Vivid colours can stimulate people to activity. Colour has been known to increase productivity and to speed recovery time in patients. It is a property of light, which consists of many different electromagnetic waves of energy. When light falls upon the photoreceptor cells of the retina, it is converted into electric impulses, which then travel to the brain and trigger the release of hormones.

It is well established that the lack of sunlight experienced during the winter in northern climates causes depression in many people - a condition known as seasonal affective disorder (SAD).

"Colour therapy comprises of using the seven colours of the spectrum to balance and enhance the body's energy centres and also to help stimulate the healing process," explains Sanas. "The therapy uses colour to re-balance the 'chakras'that have been depleted of energy. It is based on physiologic functions that respond to specific colours. When light enters through the eyes or the skin,it travels neurological pathways to the pineal glands attached to the brain, which control the daily rhythms of life. Different colours give off different wavelength frequencies and these different frequencies have different effects on physical and psychological functions."

Understanding the meaning of colour can therefore help us understand and heal our emotions and feelings.

The Process

Colour therapy, which can help shift blocked emotions, is a totally holistic and non-invasive therapy. The body is exposed to different coloured lights, while therapists use a variety of techniques. While some may use filtered light of different colours, some prefer coloured silks instead of lights.

Daily exposure to full-spectrum light from a special bright-light box has been shown to improve SAD by suppressing daytime elevation of the hormone melatonin (a substance that promotes sleep) and increasing the amount of the mood-elevating brain chemical serotonin.The diagnosis and method of treatment determine the number of sessions required.