Introduction to the Chakras and Color Therapy – Offerings to Brighten our Energy

Hello Friends!  Today, we’ll be learning about the concept of Chakras – the 7 energy centers that run along the length or our spines, and how they relate to Color Therapy – the idea that surrounding yourself with specific colors can offer healing.  I’ll be sharing my research, of others’ research and my plan to test out the theory.  Shall we dive in and unleash our inner rainbow?

The Road to Greige

A few events happened to me in the last year which made me realize that I need to introduce different colors into my life.   You see, I am a recovering neutral-aholic.

It probably began with Design School at Kent State University, where my favorite Architecture Professor Thom Stauffer would only wear a combination of black and grey suits, drive a black Porsche, and restrict his students to build models using a combination of black and grey materials.  I had assumed that life as a designer must be reduced to shades of grey.  And then I moved to California, where the prevailing design trends included beige, brown, and white.  So, I dressed myself in black, I decorated my apartments in earth tones, and then, many years later, I forced my daughter to match me in a combination of these neutrals.  Which isn’t going so well, and we’ll get to that later!   I was even introduced to the term Greige – a mix between Grey and Beige – Glorious! 

Can you relate?  Do you shy away from bright colors?  Maybe, we’re just products of society and our environment and need to extract the inherent color out.  I’ll attempt to do so here.     

Introduction to Chakras

Last Fall I enrolled in a Yoga Teacher Training Program, read about that here, and one of our lessons was on the Chakras.  Previously I had learned a little about them, and had written the whole idea up to be a concept only hippies believed in.  But as I read about them again, the topic seemed to resonate more. 

I shall attempt to describe the Chakras here, but I encourage you to read the book The Chakra Directory, as I did, for a fuller understanding.  The author writes,

“The chakras are the key centers of your personal energy field that reside along your spinal column…there are seven chakras that span vertically from your tailbone to the top of your head.” 

Vicki howie, author of “The chakra directory”

The word ‘chakra’ in Sanskrit means wheel or spinning disk.  So, it’s fun to imagine these little spinning wheels along your spine emitting wavelengths of energy. 

Each chakra is a physical point along your spine, but is associated with more emotional aspect of your being.  For example, your Root chakra focuses on stability and security, while your Throat chakra revolves around self-expression and communication. 

It is believed that these energy centers are different in us all, and can vary within our life stages.  Chakras can be more ‘open’ or ‘closed’ or the disks can spin at different speeds.  The goal is for all the chakras to be in balance and that balance is unique to the individual.  When one is in balance, he or she is physically healthy and spiritually content.  When one or more chakras are out of alignment, physical or emotional pain manifests. 

And here’s what’s cool about it – there are tons of ways to ‘fix’ your chakras. 

For example, let’s say someone was suffering headaches.  That person may engage in activities to re-balance their Third-Eye Chakra which is associated with that area of the body, before popping the Motrin.  And these activities can vary from yoga or stretching, essential oils, breathing types, eating specific foods, gemstones, sound baths, among others.

Chakras and Yoga

In Yoga, we essentially balance all the chakras by stretching and contracting the entire length of the spine.  But you can tailor your personal yoga practice to focus on one or more of the chakras by incorporating more poses specific to that energy center, or holding those poses for a longer duration.  As a yoga teacher, I don’t know which students need to balance which chakra so we stretch them all.  But I like to highlight one each class to introduce the concept to my students.   

Chakra Colors

Another technique to address chakra imbalances is Color Therapy.  Each Chakra has its own unique color.  Starting at the base of your spine, your first Root Chakra begins with red, the second Chakra Orange, and they continue through the rainbow colors, ROYGBIV, to your 7^th Crown Chakra ending with Violet. The 7 Chakra Store explains it further, writing,

“This particular color arrangement is known as the spectrum of white light or the visible light, and it ranges from 700 nanometers (dark red color) to 400nm (violet color).”

7 Chakra store

Just like the colors of the rainbow have different wavelengths, “your chakra spinning speeds correlate with these wavelength frequencies.”   AKA, the Root Red Chakra has a longer wavelength than the 7^th higher Crown Violet chakra.  I don’t know about you, but I find this fascinating. 

It is believed that visualizing on or surrounding yourself with the colors associated with the chakra can ‘open,’ or ‘balance,’ that chakra.   In other words, that technique can heal whatever negative emotion, pain, or side effect you may be experiencing.  So, back to our example person experiencing the headaches, he or she may wear indigo clothing which is the color associated with the Brow chakra to balance that energy center and reduce his or her pain.  Or there are alternatives to clothing. You could find other ways to introduce a specific color to your lives such as eating colorful foods, planting (or buying) colorful plants or flowers, redecorating or painting the walls of a room, or slightly less shocking, adding colorful throw blankets, pillows, towels, etc. 

Color Therapy

Now, coming from a person who has experienced chronic pain most of her adult life, this idea is intriguing.  In my early 20s I began having bouts of extremely painful neck and shoulder tweaks, sometimes reducing me to a prone position with ice packs.  The following 10 years, I tried most conventional methods of pain management: Doctors, Physical Therapy, Massages, Chiropractors, you name it.  Along, of course, with a heap-ful of pain meds.  I eventually learned to reduce and manage my pain with…. Can you guess?  YOGA! Combined with monthly deep tissue massages.  It has never completely gone away but this maintenance routine keeps the pain levels mostly low.  Though my kids or day job will escalate the pain with added stress.  The terrible twos and the pandemic were not fun seasons.

So while reading the Chakra Directory book, you can see why my inner brain gears were spinning, thinking, “You’re telling me that instead of stretching, icing, massage, icy-hot, there may be an alternative to living with shoulder pain?” Why the heck not, right?  There’s no downside to surrounding yourself with color, unless it’s like…neon…

This idea is corroborated by a similar concept – Color Therapy.  This article in Real Simple gives a good overview of this, writing,

“color therapy, or chromotherapy, puts into practice the idea that showing people different colors—or specific colors—can help treat both mental distress and even physical pain.”

Real Simple magazine

Healing through colors is a thing!  Maybe that’s the reason my vibrantly dressed, rainbow loving daughter is always in such a good mood, despite having a stressed-out mother, ha?   

Your Inner Child

Do you want to hear something shocking?  My favorite color as a child was bright purple.  (Gasp!)  I remember traveling to Boston with my mother to visit my aunt, and this was my favorite part of the trip:  My aunt would take me to a store called Purple Panache.  EVERYTHING in this store was one color – purple, though in every shade.  All the toys, paper, pens, trinkets, even the lighting, counters, and walls were purple. And every year, my aunt would let me pick something out and she’d buy it for me.  Thank you, Aunt Laurel, probably 30 years too late, but better late than never?  Sadly, this store has since shut down, but I found another one online for fun. Looking back, I wonder if upon entering this store my Crown chakra was spinning at top speed, at one with my 8-year-old divine spirit, ha. 

And yet I’m still surprised when my 5-year-old gets giddy every time we pass a bright colored store, flower, car, etc?  It all make sense now.  When we’re a child we’re naturally drawn to the colors that make us genuinely happy, not the colors (or lack of) the world tells us that are trendy. 

Ever since I discovered ‘twinning’ was a thing, I’ve tried to dress my daughter in outfits that match mine.  It’s so cute to play dress up and funny to dress her as an adult – the juxtaposition of her little-girl-pigtails, and a fur vest or collared jacket, just amuses me.  However, about the time she turned 3, she began to rebel.  My beiges, blacks, and whites did Not suit her developing sense of style.  Naturally, I turned to bribery to avoid the complaints, and eventual tantrums.  A trip to the beach, or a lollipop, or cupcake….just to match with mommy and take one photo?   

Now she’s 5, and it rarely works anymore.  She wants to wear the brightest color with the most disturbing patterns, and then opposite colored accessories.  Some of her outfits make me just short of physically sick.  But now I have a son to also dress, bathe, feed, pack lunch, brush teeth, comb hair, along with myself, to get us all to school and work in the morning.  I have lost my fight.  And so, she waltzes into school in her own heinous selections.  I present to you, Exhibits A and B.

Color Compromise

So, I’m trying a new approach.  Compromise.  I will try to focus on one chakra color for a month or two, and let my daughter choose the article of clothing of that color, and see if we can come up with an outfit around it, together.  I will commit to wear more colors….while attempting to minimize, not delete, her amount of colors.  Lord help me.

Last month we selected the color Green.  Green is associated with the 4^th Chakra – the Heart.  This is the energy center of your Love, Self-Trust, and Courage.  (See previous blog post on Courage here).  March is a great month to add a little green to your life.  Here we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, the first day of Spring, and the Persian New Year – which highlights re-birth, growth, and all things spring.  In my yoga classes we practiced postures like Side Crow, Warrior 2, Tiger, and Airplane, all stretching the heart area – chest, sternum, and collarbone. 

Now we’re moving on to the color Indigo! (sigh of relief…this color is a little more palatable for me)

I have decided to commit to this self- appointed Programme for one year.  I will wear each of the chakra colors for a month or two, and at the end of the year, I will analyze to see if it has a made a difference. Care to join me?  Let’s push aside the basic blacks and dig deeper for some brighter hues to brighten our energy. 

Conclusion

So here are the reasons I will attempt to override my netural-holic tendencies and re-introduce rainbow colors in my life:

1. Help my yoga students deepen their practice by sharing the benefits of chakra color visualization while in corresponding yoga postures
2. Heal my own shoulder pain
3. Convince my daughter to still twin with me
4. And to try it out something new, and share my results with you!

This is the beginning of this (extremely scientific) experiment, so I will report back later to let you know how it’s going. 

I hope this post has provided a general understanding of the chakra concepts and the benefits of color therapy.  I’d love to hear if you’re a chakra believer or if you’ve had any experiences involving color that have been impactful.  Leave a comment below, if so.  Until next time my friends, thanks for reading!