By Alan Williams
Color and light therapy has been practiced for thousands of years in Asia, most specifically Japan, China, Korea and Thailand. For the last several decades, color therapy has been widely used in Europe, but in the United States, and for that matter, most of Latin America, color and light therapy is still mostly unknown (*2010).
According the last SPA convention report, color or light therapy is the fourth fastest growing field in the Spa business. More and more spas and resorts are re-designing their spas with color and light in mind.
Quiet rooms are becoming the rage, it seems. When people come in off the street, they need to de-stress before they can have their body or face worked on. Hence the quiet room, a darkened facility where in the client sits and watches a device like the Zen Light, which cycles through the seven chakra colors (red, orange, yellow, blue, green, indigo and violet) at a very slow pace. This technique lowers the blood pressure, soothes the mind, and prepares the patient/client for the needed therapy within the spa.
Color or Light therapy is sometimes knowing as Lumia Therapy is used throughout the spa or chiropractic office. When a patient is lying down in a mud bath, he or she can experience the Tantra Portal, a view screen that utilizes lasers and color wheels to transport the patient into a deep alpha state. The portal effect is like looking through deep space field, with gaseous clouds and swirling colors mimic the pictures as seen though the eyes of the Hubble Space telescope. After five minutes, the patient’s blood pressure drops an average of five points. After one hour of viewing, the patient is in a deep meditative state. After two hours, it is not unlikely for the patient to “see” visions.
The color technology used in the Tantra portal is analog in nature, random, non-digital, and free form. No image repeats twice. This allows the mind to free associate. Like when you dream, the left-brain or rational brain clicks off, and the line between reality and pattern blurs, the same thing occurs while watching the Portal. But is this scientific? For decades, the work of color therapy pioneer Dr. Dinshah has been both canonized and vilified. His early work in the filed of chromatherapy is still an issue of controversy.
The government declared him a quack, and put him in jail. The AMA completely dismisses his research, much like they do acupuncture, aromatherapy and even chiropractic. But anyone who has tried those alternative forms of healing knows of their validity and usefulness. Even the United States Military is using color therapy in their psychological studies on soldiers. Green is seen a calming color, and is used in barracks to keep the troops relaxed. The same studies on color have been implemented in Public Schools. There seems to be a disconnect between various branches of the Government on the subject.
What we all need to realize is that by depriving ones body of color through modern advances, such as constant exposure to computers, television or artificial lighting, we are in effect robbing ourselves of the necessary color nutrients vital to our continued health and well being. When people become depressed, for example, they perceive the world in gray or black and white mode. When they are happy, the whole world tales on a more colorful nature. The primitive animal brain actually reduces the perceivable color spectrum in times of conflict or survival, to reduce the number of choices during a crucial decision making process. A wrong decision could quite literally propel a person into blackness, or death.
The antidote is this type of therapy. Like when a person eats too many processed foods, they need to ingest fresh fruits, vegetables, grains and juices in order to cleanse their body; the same is true of light and color. If you live in a dark or gray climate, you will be prone to seasonal affective ness disorder, or SAD, and you need full spectrum light to balance out your system in order to ward off depression. This is a major concern in Canada, Scandinavia, Alaska and Russia, where during the winter, sunlight is scarce. SAD lighting technology is not only the rage there, it is quite the necessity.
But how can color therapy heal a person? The use of devices like the Bioptron™ or the Luma Light 2000™ by body workers and color therapists have been going on for decades now. The effect on the body is subtle to be sure, but companies like Physodermie have been supplying their color systems to Spas and wellness centers in record numbers, with successful results. New devices have appeared in the market during the last years like the Lumenis™ actually receiving FDA clearance for the treatment of Acne. The Lumia Wand™, the first totally fibre optic color device on the market with no heat at the source, has been used successfully by several local color therapists. It is quite effective in soft tissue damage, when pills have failed.
Color is an extremely important part of all of our lives. Color determines your nationality, the flag you cherish, the clothes you wear, and the house you live in. What you take in to your eyes is quite literally the nutrients of color. Imagine a world of only shades of gray. It would be very dull, sad, and ultimately not worth living in. It is vital to feed your soul with light and color, to maintain balanced health.
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