The Power of Colour Therapy in Dark Times

How my friend’s colourful photos reminded me of the importance of colour in our lives and the mood changing benefits it can have….

During this dark and bizarre time of lockdown, my friend’s family set a daily task to photograph themselves dressed up and surrounded by only one colour. It brought a boost of joy to everyone who saw the photos, but it also made me think again about how colour can affect our mood.

If you scroll through the photos, there will be colours you feel immediately drawn to, that lift your spirits and there will be others that leave you a bit “meh”. That’s the power of colour.

Everyone has a favourite colour. Very often the colour you choose is one you picked when you were a kid and it’s kind of stuck. My favourite colour is green because when I was a teenager my room was a painted a beautiful spring leaf colour. I remember one of my best friends having a sleepover at my place and when she opened her eyes she looked around and said: “I always feel good waking up in this room. It’s the green.”

The fact that the colour of my room had an immediate result on my friend’s mood always stayed with me, so much so that when I had my therapy room built, I decorated it in different shades of green for that very purpose – sage green for a soothing calming effect and light green for a refreshing revitalised feel. I wanted my clients to feel good when they visited me, just like my best friend did all those years ago. (Green also happens to be the colour of the heart chakra and symbolises healing.)

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There are some colours, however, that you turn your nose up at until you’ve had a certain experience with them. I once rented a flat in West London that had bright orange walls. I thought it was way too brash and garish and made a mental note to immediately paint them when I got a chance. Of course, I never got round to it but the weird thing was, the orange walls grew on me and ended up having a very strange effect on my mood. Instead of finding it oppressive and blinding, I actually found it comforting. The room became like a warm and cosy womb, a sanctuary from the outside world. (It was Shepherd’s Bush in the Naughty Noughties and I was in my 20s so the outside world was particularly crazy back then.) I began to realise why Buddhist monks chose to wear orange robes. Orange made me feel zen.

So have a think about your house, your clothes, the things you surround yourself with. What do the colours say about you? What emotions do the colours provoke in you? And perhaps, if you’re feeling a bit out of sorts, might it be time for a change of colour? See how surrounding yourself in certain colours can change your mood.

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To help you, below we’ve got an audio of a relaxing colour therapy meditation using the imagery of different coloured waterfalls. Give it a go to see if you’re ready to give yourself over to the power of colour therapy. Or have another scroll through my friend’s family photos. What colour brings you joy? Then do your best to bring that colour into your life as much as you can.

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