Also known as colour therapy, chromotherapy is a healing method that uses colour and light to support both the mind and body. Each colour on the spectrum is thought to carry its own emotional quality, helping to subtly influence mood, focus and relaxation.
The use of colour as a form of healing dates back thousands of years, with early civilisations across Egypt, China, India and Greece all exploring the effects of light and colour on wellbeing. Today, colour continues to shape our everyday lives, from the way we decorate our homes to the clothes we wear.
Chromotherapy builds on the natural connection between colour and emotion, and the deeply therapeutic effects they can have on our wellbeing. This non-invasive treatment has been found to offer an array of benefits, from easing stress and lifting mood to encouraging a more restful sleep.
Understanding Chromotherapy
Chromotherapy is an alternative wellness approach based on the idea that different colours and shades carry their own unique wavelengths and frequencies, which can support a person's mind and body in different ways. Studies have shown that different colours can affect our emotional responses. While some colours support feeling uplifted and energised, others are softer, inviting focus to quiet the mind.
Today, across spas, bathhouses and wellness centres such as About Time, the philosophy of chromotherapy is woven into pools, showers and treatment rooms. You may find it expressed through non-invasive LED lighting, allowing guests to choose their own colours in support of their own wellbeing.
Historical Roots of Chromotherapy
Colour therapy has been explored for centuries. Some of its earliest known examples date all the way back to 1500 BC in Egypt, where papyrus lists different colours as part of traditional healing practices.
Archaeologists have discovered temples with dedicated healing rooms. These were calm spaces constructed to let light pass through crystals, creating different colour patterns for deep renewal. Ancient Egyptian mythology also linked the healing properties of colour to Thoth, the god of knowledge.
Other cultures also experimented with the restorative power of colour. In Indian tradition, colour was deeply woven into the practice of Ayurveda, an ancient system of healing, where all living beings carry a coat of many colours. Each colour is associated with one of the body’s seven energy centres, or chakras.
Ancient China associated different colours with one of their five elements: wood, fire, earth, metal and water. This understanding was used within Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), where colours support balance within a body’s natural force of energy, or Qi.
What Chromotherapy Can Help With
Pain relief
Research has found that certain colours may help ease both pain and inflammation. The colour green has shown a soothing effect on patients, as those who are surrounded by green scenery or a room painted green show meaningful signs of pain alleviation.
Improved sleep quality
We all know the importance of getting good sleep. Within our day-to-day lives, we can be exposed to colours that are detrimental to our sleeping patterns. Blue light from screens is known to interfere with the body’s natural release of melatonin, disrupting the quiet signals that prepare us for rest. By contrast, colours such as deep blue or soft green can create a calming atmosphere, gently lowering stress levels to better prepare your mind for rest.
Enhancing mood
The warm, luminous tones of yellow and orange are often associated with enhancing spirits and creating feelings of positivity. When paired with these colours, chromotherapy can help invigorate your mind to complement your mood.
Stress reduction
Chromotherapy can be a great way to calm your mind and body from stress and anxiety. Research suggests that colours such as blue and green can encourage a calming effect on the nervous system, fostering a profound sense of tranquillity.
Enhanced energy
Colours such as red and orange can be great energy boosters, with associations to vitality and strength. They can offer a meaningful enhancement to energy when fatigue starts to set in.
Chromotherapy Colours
Red
Red is often associated with feelings of stimulation, energy, and alertness. Through chromotherapy, red is often used to increase your heart rate and blood flow to energise your body, with positive effects on circulation and scar tissue.
Green
While red is used to power up the body, green can help you slow down. The colour of nature and earth, green, can produce a calming effect. restorative effect on both the mind and body, encouraging emotional harmony and balance. It can help soothe any inflammation coursing through your joints and encourage feelings of relaxation.
Blue
Blue can be cool and soothing, and as the colour of the ocean waves and tranquil water, it can create feelings of rest and relaxation. It’s a great shade for those searching for a deep inner peace, with its positive effects on facilitating a restful sleep, lowering blood pressure and pulse rate for a profound sense of relaxation.
Yellow
Yellow can help strengthen your nervous system, with its documented effect on improving your mood to leave you feeling happy and positive. As the colour of the sun, and life-force, it can evoke vitality and warmth, boosting self-confidence and self-esteem.
Orange
Orange carries the warmth of the fire, with freshness and invigoration. Like yellow, it can leave you feeling optimistic, eliciting happy emotions within the mind. It’s also thought to boost mental activity and creative thinking, to help individuals adopt new ideas with improved concentration.
Violet
The colour of transformation, violet, is frequently associated with fostering creativity and inspiration. It can encourage mindfulness, spiritual growth, and because it possesses the highest vibrational frequency on the visible light spectrum, this frequency is believed to allow a transition from physical to spiritual awareness.
Pink
Pink is frequently used in dental offices and for specialised medical centres to calm patients, lessening any feelings of anger and anxiety. Many practitioners view pink as a feminine colour that evokes softness and tenderness, as a caring, nurturing tone.
White
The colour of perfect balance. White is clear and pure, and is often associated with a resetting of the body’s natural senses. White light can stimulate the production of serotonin, which is a natural chemical that helps regulate sleep and your body’s nervous system.
How to Practice Chromotherapy
Chromotherapy can be embraced as a guiding element of your everyday routine. Here are some ways you can start experimenting with chromotherapy:
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Being mindful of the colours you surround yourself with
Consider the colours within your home and workplace, and how they shape your sense of ease. For a space that invites rest and calm, incorporate soft blues and greens to create that atmosphere. For a room that you want to feel energising, involve warm reds and oranges for gentle motivation. -
Embrace nature
Time spent outside in nature can be one of the most natural and restorative ways to experience the revitalising power of colour. Allow the palette of the natural world to settle your mind, with natural green leaves and colourful flowers. -
Minimise blue light screens at night
Studies have shown that the blue light from your phone, laptop and other devices can disrupt sleep quality. Consider wearing blue-light filtered glasses, or adjust the settings on your devices to warmer, softer tones. -
Wearing coloured clothes
Allow colour to be a considered part of how you dress, choosing shades that align with how you want to feel. A little yellow might gently lift your spirits and help you feel positive and joyful. -
Use colour in your self-care routine
Colour visualisation can be a gentle or grounding addition to a self-care practice or meditation. Try to imagine yourself surrounded by a colour that evokes a desired emotion or feeling to enhance your inner sense of wellbeing.
How is Chromotherapy Different from LED Light Therapy?
While both chromotherapy and LED light therapy draw on colour and light, they differ meaningfully in their approach.
Chromotherapy is usually limited to just the benefits of visible light, with a focus on promoting mental and emotional effects through our visual and sensory perception of these colours. LED light therapy on the other hand works on a cellular level, with more targeted treatment within our body at a cellular level, and works to improve the health of skin.
With roots that date all the way back to the ancient cultures of Egypt, Greece and India, where colour and light were understood as being fundamental to a deeper sense of wellbeing, chromotherapy remains a staple of modern therapy. It invites us to slow down, to pay attention to the light around us and to consider how the colours we inhabit each day can shape our inner world.
Our team at About Time is proud to provide industry-leading treatments from our range of experts. At our bathhouse in Torquay, we have a commitment to revitalising your personal wellbeing. Please contact us here for more information on our services and to book your first appointment.