Chromotherapy Lighting and Lights

Chromotherapy

Physicians and Chromotherapists are starting to offer Chromotherapy to their patients because of the intense health benefits associated with the practice.

What is Chromotherapy Lighting?
So, what is chromotherapy? The simplistic definition of chromotherapy, otherwise referred to as color light therapy and colorology, is the use of colored light waves for therapeutic benefits. Considered a form of alternative medicine, color light therapy is used to expose individuals to specific colored light waves in an effort to treat different bodily ailments and conditions, as well as to promote continued health. The basic premise behind chromotherapy is that light waves can and do have an effect on the human body and that certain different colored light waves can encourage the harmonization of the emotional, spiritual, and physical well being of an individual that partakes of colour therapy. Chromotherapy has been around for centuries and now sauna manufacturers are recognizing the incredible health benefits supplied by chromotherapy lights and are combining chromotherapy features with other benefits that are supplied through far infrared sauna use.

Chromotherapists are professional healers that believe that the use of color, particularly in the form of light waves, can change a person's mood, can affect individuals on an emotional level, and there is even special testing to determine what, if any, colors are having a negative or a positive influence on an individual. The Swiss psychologist, Max Luscher, in the twentieth century, designed the Luscher Color Test to determine how colors express and affect a patient's psychological state.
Both light and color are applied to selected areas of the body by Chromotherapists. Pressure points are common parts of the body where light is used to implement healing. Some Chromotherapists rely on the use of prisms, gemstones, special colored fabrics, and candles in addition to colored light for healing sessions as well. The benefits of Chromotherapy are often unified with other alternative healing methods including aromatherapy and hydrotherapy.

The Ancient History of Color Therapy
For those who wonder, "What is chromotherapy," it may be surprising to find that color therapy and color healing practices have a rich history. According to many accounts, color therapy has been around for several centuries. It is believed by some scholars that color therapy originates from Ayurveda which is the long held and revered natural healing system from India.

The Tantric Chakra System and Color Therapy
In the ancient Ayurveda medicinal principles, color and the use of color is strongly related to seven chief chakras in the human body. Chakras are chi energy sources that align with the spine, and are considered spiritual centers of the body. If chakra energy centers are in balance, then the human being is healthy, but if the chakra center is blocked or over-stimulated, the individual may exhibit symptoms of disease. Every chakra is associated with a particular color, bodily system, and a bodily organ. The dominant colors of the seven chakra energy system include red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet, and run in order from the base of the spine to the top of one's head. When these colors are not in balance, color therapy is used to restore the chakras' natural balance.

Red is the color associated with the root chakra, also referred to as Muladhara, and it is the color that is believed to be associated with the feet, legs, the adrenal glands, and the adrenal medulla. This chakra is positioned at the lower base of the spine and to restore balance, the patient would be exposed to red color light therapy.

Orange is the second chakra in the Tantric chakra system, and it is called the sacral chakra or Swadhistana. This chakra center is associated with reproduction, the kidneys, the sexual organs, hormones, and when out of balance is believed to produce mood swings. The patient using color therapy to balance this chakra would then be exposed to orange light.

Yellow is the third colored chakra in the Tantric system, and it is identified as the solar plexus chakra or Manipura. This chakra is said to control digestion, energy levels, deep emotions, the pancreas, adrenal glands, the stomach, the intestines, the liver, and the adrenal cortex. The patient using color therapy to balance this chakra would then be exposed to yellow light.

Green is the fourth chakra in the Tantric chakra system, and it is called Anahata or the heart chakra. This chakra is believed to control the respiratory system, the heart, and emotions that include love and compassion. The green chakra is also believed to control the thymus, to affect the immune system, the endocrine system, and T-cell production. The patient using color therapy to balance this chakra would then be exposed to green light.

Blue is the fifth chakra in the Tantric chakra system and is called Vishuddha or Vishuddhi, or the throat chakra. This chakra is associated with one's ability to communicate and to convey emotions. This chakra is also believed to rule the thyroid gland, thyroid hormones, and maturation processes. The patient using color therapy to balance this chakra would then be exposed to blue light.

The sixth charka is Indigo, and is identified as Anja or the third eye chakra. This chakra is located on the individual's brow, and is associated with pineal gland functioning, consciousness, awareness, and light. This chakra is believed to control and regulate the production of melatonin, sleep, light sensitivity, and intuition. The patient using color therapy to balance this chakra would then be exposed to indigo light.

Violet is the color of the Sahasrara chakra or the crown chakra and this chakra is directly related to consciousness, higher consciousness, the nervous system, the endocrine system, the pituitary gland, the hypothalamus and the thalamus. The patient using color therapy to balance this chakra would then be exposed to violet light.

Other Ancient Cultures and Color Therapy
Other researchers suggest that colour therapy is rooted in Egyptian and Chinese cultures. The Egyptians, in ancient times, established and erected large solarium-like rooms containing panes of coloured glass; these rooms would allow the sun to penetrate the room and fill the individual receiving color therapy with different colored light. In ancient Chinese cultures, every organ in the human body was assigned a corresponding color which was believed to have a powerful effect on the organ.

The ancient Egyptians asserted in their mythos that color healing was created by the Egyptian God of Writing, Thoth. Thoth, also identified as Hermes Trismegistus by the ancient Greeks, was one of the primary teachers of magic and the healing arts. One of the primary magical arts taught by Thoth (Hermes) was that of healing with color and the Egyptians used a variety of colored items including crystals, stones, dyes, minerals, paint colors and light to induce healing effects.

According to the ancient Chinese, every organ in the body was not only associated with a color, it was also associated with one of the five elements: earth, air, fire, water, wood, and metal. Red was the color associated with the heart and small intestine as well as the tongue; the color yellow was associated with the spleen, the stomach, the pancreas, and the mouth; the color white or silver was associated with the respiratory system, the large intestines and the nose; the colors purple, blue and black were associated with the bladder, the kidneys and the ears; and the color green was associated the gall bladder, liver, and eyes. Exposure to color therapy sessions with associated organs/colors were believed to produce positive healing results.

The Chinese also believe that the human body has what is known as meridians which pervade the entire body and transport energy throughout the body. These meridians connect every major organ through an energy transportation system. If obstructions in this energy flow occur, disease and disorders are the result. The ancient practice of acupuncture, a process of using needles in affected areas, is a method used to remove bodily energy field obstructions. Chromotherapy is the practice of using light therapy to produce the same effect without the pain sometimes associated with the ancient practice of acupuncture.

Avicenna's Role in Color Therapy

Avicenna, an Arabian philosopher and physician, having lived from 980 to 1037 CE who wrote The Cannon of Medicine argued that color is a visible symptom of disease and bodily disorders; and he created a temperature chart which related to color and a variety of physical conditions. Avicenna asserted that the color red was responsible for circulatory processes: "that it moved the blood," and that blue colors, as well as white colors cooled down the temperatures of blood. Avicenna also believed that the color yellow minimized muscular discomforts and swelling. Many of Avicenna's beliefs worked in conjunction with the understanding of the four bodily humors.

The four bodily humors are attributed to Hippocrates, a Greek physician and philosopher who lived circa 460 to 377 BCE, who suggested that there are four different and distinct bodily fluids which maintained a bodily balance within the human being. When the four bodily humors were disturbed and out of balance, the individual would become ill and the symptoms were believed to reveal which of the four humors, yellow bile, black bile, blood, and phlegm, that was out of balance. Yellow bile was believed to be a product of the liver, black bile was believed to be product of the spleen, phlegm was believed to be a product of the human brain, and blood was believed to originate from the human heart. Avicenna used his understandings of the four humors and suggested that when an individual was exposed to certain colors, such colors had the potential for over-stimulating certain bodily humors.

Later on, during the 19th century, when issues with smallpox were prominent throughout Europe, the rooms where sufferers of the disease remained were draped with long red curtains so that the red coloring of the curtains could draw out the smallpox disease from the victims. Other cultures have used water infused with different colors in addition to meditations which focus on a particular color in order to derive color healing benefits.

Color Healing in Contemporary Times
Later, traditional color therapies evolved to involve the use of light from healing purposes. Contemporary chromotherapists might use a colored, flickering light to shine into a patient's eyes, and it is believed that this practice has caused some stroke victims to exhibit a faster healing and recovery time. The use of color healing and light therapy is further used in some contemporary treatments for depression as well. Further, a German acupuncturist, Dr. Peter Mandel has created Esogetic Colorpuncture%u2122 where different coloured light is used on different acupuncture points on a patient's body.

Contemporary practitioners of Feng Shui, an ancient Chinese art of placing and positioning specific objects in a location in order to bring balance and harmony to the establishment and individuals, also use color in their practices in order to incorporate the right colors in homes and businesses. Of course, there are even simpler forms of color therapy identified in the practice of wearing eyewear with different colored lenses too. The study of light's and color's effect on the human body continues as is seen in the recent research conducted at Cornell and Dartmouth Universities. Researchers have found that certain cells regulate the circadian clock, the internal clock that regulates human biological functioning, by detecting light, and that the use of blue light may help to reset one's biological clock and eliminate issues with jet lag, as well as issues people sometimes face with sleep disturbances.

The use of color therapy and color light therapy is beginning to become quite popular in the United States, since many people are now beginning to understand the important role that light plays in the health of the human body. More and more people are beginning to ask the important question, "What is chromotherapy," and are finding that it is a form of science which many people are turning to for health improvement. Realizing that light plays a role in mood, and that light is fundamental to life, the understanding of the intricate workings of light as it relates to the human body are taking entirely new directions.

How Chromotherapy Works
Light is fundamental to all human beings and everything on earth for survival. Light waves have different wave lengths which are measured in nanometers. There are both visible and invisible spectrums of light which people are exposed to every day at various wavelengths. Chromotherapy relies on light waves that are similar to radio waves, televisions waves, and electromagnetic waves. The light waves are forms of energy which are capable of penetrating the body and invoking healing. The contemporary practice of chromo therapy is used to expose individuals to unique light waves to induce healing within the body. The practice is completely safe because light is natural and fundamental for survival. It is believed that chromotherapy lighting helps to flood the body with necessary light and that light then has a positive effect on the glands, cells, organs, and muscular tissues. The shared vibrational frequencies of light that an individual is exposed to is believe to restore the very natural balance of all the chakra centers and therefore harmonizes mind, body and spirit.

Chromotherapy lighting is used to heal a variety of ailments. Red lighting is believed to enhance the nervous system and circulatory processes; pink lighting is used in color therapy to promote a strengthening of blood vessels, capillaries, veins, and arteries as well as to purify the blood; orange lighting is used in light therapy to work as an energizing force; yellow lighting is used as a bodily purification process and is believed to be beneficial to the skin; green lighting is appreciated for its regenerative properties and the fact that it boosts the immune system; blue lighting is excellent for healing articulations, joints, muscular cells, the skin, the circulatory system and eases the nerves; indigo lighting is appreciated in light therapy sessions for its effects on the body's circulatory system; and finally, violet lighting is used to enhance the lymphatic system in the body, to heal infections and to minimize bodily swelling and/or inflammation.

Chromotherapy, Colour Healing and Infrared Saunas
Today's infrared sauna manufacturers are including Chromotherapy in portable home saunas which offer different lighting colors based on the seven Tantric chakra system. Unified with the healing attributes derived from infrared heat technology, the chromotherapy lights maximize the healing benefits that sauna usage provides.

Seven different lights are embedded within the solid structure of a portable home sauna. These lights are then used to get the greatest benefits from color healing therapy. Since all cells in the body emit light, and human beings are constantly exposed to different light wavelengths, chromotherapy, otherwise understood as colorology or color light healing, can restore the imbalances created on a daily basis. Now, most infrared sauna manufacturers are including Chromotherapy lighting as a basic feature in home saunas, thereby permitting all sauna users to get the most out of home sauna use every time they partake of an infrared therapy session.