Color Therapy

[erica922]

RED
Associated with:
VITALITY, ENERGY, COURAGE

Physical effects:
Stimulates brain activity, increases heart rate, respiration and blood pressure, gives energy and self-confidence.

Governed by:
The Muladhara or Root Chakra

Orange
Associated with:
HAPPINESS, INDEPENDENCE, CONFIDENCE

Physical effects:
Energizes, stimulates the appetite and digestive system, removes inhibitions, and fosters sociability.

Governed by:
The Swadisthana or Spleen Chakra



YELLOW
Associated with:
AWARENESS, WISDOM, CLARITY

Physical effects:
Energizes, relieves depression, improves memory, increases awareness, perception and understanding. Also stimulates the appetite.

Governed by:
The Manipura or Navel Chakra



GREEN
Associated with:
BALANCE, LOVE, PEACE

Physical effects:
Soothing, relaxing mentally as well as physically, helps alleviate depression, nervousness and anxiety, offers a sense of renewal, self-control and harmony.

Governed by:
The Anahata or Heart Chakra



BLUE
Associated with:
KNOWLEDGE, RELAXATION, HEALTH

Physical effects:
Calming, lowers blood pressure and decreases respiration. Ideal for sleep and over-active children. Enhances communication and decision-making.

Governed by:
The Vishuddhi or Throat Chakra



INDIGO
Associated with:
INTUITION, IMAGINATION, UNDERSTANDING

Physical effects:
Strengthens intuition and imagination, increases dream activity. Helps connect us to our unconscious mind.

Governed by:
The Agya or Third Eye Chakra


VIOLET
Associated with:
CREATIVITY, WISDOM, INSPIRATION

Physical effects:
Suppresses appetite, provides a peaceful environment, relieves tension, and is good for migraines. Promotes inner strength, wisdom, kindness, artistic talent and creativity.

Governed by:
The Sahasrara or Crown Chakra




COLOR AND ENERGY.-
Color is simply energy—energy made visible. As human beings, it's the only energy we can actually see.

The familiar spectrum of the different light wavelengths (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet) is visible when we see a rainbow, or when we view the colors created as light is refracted through a prism.

Dr. Max Lüscher, a Swiss professor of psychology and the inventor of the Lüscher Color Test, felt the significance of color originated in prehistory, when human lives were completely governed by day and night, light and dark.

Day brings bright, warm colors, with action, activity and an increase in metabolic rate. Night brings cool, dark hues, with rest, inaction and slowing down.

RED IS HOT BLUE IS COOL
In the late 1950s, the color researcher Robert Gerard took this a step further.
He noted that in human beings, both psychological and physical activity appear to increase as the wavelength of the light increases.
In other words, reds, oranges and yellows are just naturally more stimulating to us than greens, blues and purples.
He felt the color blue could be a supplementary therapy—for example as a tranquilizer and relaxant in anxious individuals and as a way of reducing blood pressure in the treatment of hypertension.
Later research tends to support his conclusions.
In an experiment where prisoners were randomly assigned to either red, yellow, blue or green wings, those in the blue and green wings were less inclined to violence than those in red and yellow wings.
Pink has also been found to have a tranquilizing and calming effect within minutes of exposure. It seems to suppress hostile, aggressive, and anxious behavior.
Further tests show that blood pressure, pulse, and respiration rates tend to increase most under yellow light, moderately under orange, and less under red. They decrease most under black, moderately under blue, and minimally under green.
Color also appears to affect our response to food.

For example, in fast food restaurants the décor is often designed around appetite-promoting colors, such as reds and oranges—a belief that also surfaces in traditional wisdom.

TRADITIONAL WISDOM
Traditional color wisdom—reaching as far back as ancient Egyptian times—offers similar conclusions, though based on a very different, non-scientific approach.

In classical Indian philosophy, for example, the seven colors of the rainbow are associated with the seven chakras (or energy centers) of the body.

Each chakra is related to a specific body function and has specific effects

[erica922]

January
In January
it's so nice
while slipping
on the sliding ice
to sip hot chicken soup with rice.
Sipping once
Sipping twice
Sipping chicken soup with rice.

The sun came out,
And the snowman cried.
His tears ran down
On every side.
His tears ran down
Till the spot was cleared.
He cried so hard
That he disappeared.

January is here, with eyes that keenly glow,
A frost-mailed warrior
striding a shadowy steed of snow.
- Edgar Fawcett

January is the quietest month in the garden. ... But just because it looks
quiet doesn't mean that nothing is happening. The soil, open to the sky,
absorbs the pure rainfall while microorganisms convert tilled-under
fodder into usable nutrients for the next crop of plants. The feasting
earthworms tunnel along, aerating the soil and preparing it to
welcome the seeds and bare roots to come.
- Rosalie Muller Wright, Editor of Sunset Magazine, 1/99

February
The name February is believed to have derived from the name 'Februa'
taken from the Roman 'Festival of Purification'. The root 'februo' meaning
to 'I purify by sacrifice'. As part of the seasonal calendar February is the
time of the 'Ice Moon' according to Pagan beliefs, and the period described
as the 'Moon of the Dark Red Calf' by Black Elk. February has also
been known as 'Sprout-kale' by the Anglo-Saxons in
relation to the time the kale and cabbage was edible
- Mystical WWW

Late February, and the air's so balmy
snowdrops and crocuses might be fooled
into early blooming. Then, the inevitable blizzard
will come, blighting our harbingers of spring,
and the numbed yards will go back undercover.
In Florida, it's strawberry season—
shortcake, waffles, berries and cream
will be penciled on the coffeeshop menus.

- Gail Mazur, The Idea of Florida During a Winter Thaw

Away in a meadow all covered with snow
The little old groundhog looks for his shadow
The clouds in the sky determine our fate
If winter will leave us all early or late.
- Don Halley


March
The afternoon is bright,
with spring in the air,
a mild March afternoon,
with the breath of April stirring,
I am alone in the quiet patio
looking for some old untried illusion -
some shadow on the whiteness of the wall
some memory asleep
on the stone rim of the fountain,
perhaps in the air
the light swish of some trailing gown.
- Antonio Machado, 1875-1939

Each leaf,
each blade of grass
vies for attention.
Even weeds
carry tiny blossoms
to astonish us.
- Marianne Poloskey, Sunday in Spring

The sun is brilliant in the sky but its warmth does not reach my face.
The breeze stirs the trees but leaves my hair unmoved.
The cooling rain will feed the grass but will not slake my thirst.
It is all inches away but further from me than my dreams.
- M. Romeo LaFlamme, The First of March

Last day of Winter,
leafless walnut trees--
form is emptiness.
First day of Spring,
clear sky to Mt. Shasta--
emptiness is form.
[Cuttings: March, by Michael P. Garofalo]
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April
The first of April is the day we remember what we are
the other 364 days of the year.
- Mark Twain

O Day after day we can't help growing older.
Year after year spring can't help seeming younger.
Come let's enjoy our winecup today,
Nor pity the flowers fallen.
- Wang Wei, On Parting with Spring

The April rain, the April rain,
Comes slanting down in fitful showers,
Then from the furrow shoots the grain,
And banks are fledged with nestling flowers;
And in grey shawl and woodland bowers
The cuckoo through the April rain
Calls once again.
- Mathilde Blind, April Rain

May
The month of May was come, when every lusty heart beginneth
to blossom, and to bring forth fruit; for like as herbs and trees
bring forth fruit and flourish in May, in likewise every lusty heart
that is in any manner a lover, springeth and flourisheth in lusty
deeds. For it giveth unto all lovers courage,
that lusty month of May.
- Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur, 1485

The wind is tossing the lilacs,
The new leaves laugh in the sun,
And the petals fall on the orchard wall,
But for me the spring is done.
Beneath the apple blossoms
I go a wintry way,
For love that smiled in April
Is false to me in May.
- Sara Teasdale, May

A swarm of bees in May
Is worth a load of hay;
A swarm of bees in June
Is worth a silver spoon;
A swarm of bees in July
Is not worth a fly.
- Rhyme from England

June
In June, as many as a dozen species may burst their buds on a single day.
No man can heed all of these anniversaries; no man can ignore all of them.
- Aldo Leopold

On this June day the buds in my garden are almost as enchanting as
the open flowers. Things in bud bring, in the heat of a June noontide, the
recollection of the loveliest days of the year - those days of May when all
is suggested, nothing yet fulfilled.
- Francis King

I know well
That the June rains ...
Just fall.
- Onitsura

If a June night could talk,
it would probably boast it invented romance.
- Bern Williams

July
The serene philosophy of the pink rose is steadying. Its fragrant, delicate petals
open fully and are ready to fall, without regret or disillusion, after only a day
in the sun. It is so every summer. One can almost hear their pink, fragrant
murmur as they settle down upon the grass:
'Summer, summer, it will always be summer.'
- Rachel Peden

For him in vain the envious seasons roll
Who bears eternal summer in his soul.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, The Old Player

That beautiful season the Summer!
Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light;
and the landscape
Lay as if new created in all the freshness of childhood.
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow


August
When in still air and still in summertime
A leaf has had enough of this, it seems
To make up its mind to go; fine as a sage
Its drifting in detachment down the road.
- Howard Nemerov, Threshold

Whilst August yet wears her golden crown,
Ripening fields lush- bright with promise;
Summer waxes long, then wanes, quietly passing
Her fading green glory on to riotous Autumn.
- Michelle L. Thieme, August's Crown

What dreadful hot weather we have!
It keeps me in a continual state of inelegance.
- Jane Austen
When gardeners garden, it is not just plants that grow,
but the gardeners themselves.
- Ken Druse

September
But now in September the garden has cooled, and with it
my possessiveness. The sun warms my back instead of
beating on my head ... The harvest has dwindled, and I
have grown apart from the intense midsummer
relationship that brought it on."
- Robert Finch

Tis the last rose of summer,
Left blooming alone;
All her lovely companions
Are faded and gone.
- Thomas Moore, The Last Rose of Summer, 1830
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Blessed be the Lord for the beauty of summer and spring,
for the air, the water, the verdure, and the song of birds.
- Carl von Linnaeus
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Summer afternoon - summer afternoon; to me those have always
been the two most beautiful words in the English language.
- Henry James
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[erica922]

October
In the garden, Autumn is, indeed the crowning glory of the year,
bringing us the fruition of months of thought and care and toil.
And at no season, safe perhaps in Daffodil time, do we get such
superb colour effects as from August to November.

- Rose G. Kingsley, The Autumn Garden, 1905
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There is no season when such pleasant and sunny spots
may be lighted on, and produce so pleasant an effect on
the feelings, as now in October.
- Nathaniel Hawthorne
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Spring comes with flowers, autumn with the moon, summer with the breeze,
winter with snow. When idle concerns don't fill your thoughts,
that's your best season.
- Wu-Men
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The leaves fall patiently
Nothing remembers or grieves
The river takes to the sea
The yellow drift of leaves.
- Sara Teasdale
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November
I saw the lovely arch
Of rainbow span the sky,
The gold sun burning
As the rain swept by.
- Elizabeth Coatsworth, November

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So dull and dark are the November days.
The lazy mist high up the evening curled,
And now the morn quite hides in smoke and haze;
The place we occupy seems all the world.
- John Clare, November

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Our Father, fill our hearts, we pray,
With gratitude Thanksgiving Day;
For food and raiment Thou dost give,
That we in comfort here may live.
- Luther Cross, Thanksgiving Day
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No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease,
No comfortable feel in any member -
No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,
No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds -
November!

- Thomas Hood, No!

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December
The holly and the ivy,
When they are both full grown,
Of all trees that are in the wood,
The holly bears the crown:
O, the rising of the sun,
And the running of the deer
The playing of the merry organ,
Sweet singing in the choir.

- Christmas Carol

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The gardening season officially begins on January 1st
and ends on December 31.
- Marie Huston


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From December to March, there are for many of us three gardens -
the garden outdoors,
the garden of pots and bowls in the house,
and the garden of the mind's eye.

- Katherine S. White

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I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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At Christmas I no more desire a rose
Than wish a snow in May’s new-fangled mirth;
But like of each thing that in season grows.

— William Shakespeare