Colour Applications for a range of uses.
Decor and Clothing
Our emotions and moods are influenced by the colours we see in our everyday surroundings. That's why orange is often used in the frozen food isle because it stimulates buyers. As with anything there is such a thing as 'too much of a good thing'. So try not to over use a single colour even if it is your favourite. Use some accessories to bring in another colour that complements or contrasts with the main one.
Lighten up dark rooms, brighten up bland rooms. Use accessories like blankets, pillows, towels, rugs, curtains, art, etc. to bring more colours into your environment.
Think about what the main purpose of your chosen room is and what kind of energy you want to generate. Unless your bedroom is a passion pad and you need little sleep bright red is probably going to be over stimulating! If you want a good nights' sleep on the other hand you're probably going to want something to make you feel relaxed. You want your kitchen and dining room should be conducive to health and digestion with an upbeat feel. Many people these days have them combined and the social hub of the house. A living room would benefit from a more relaxed social atmosphere. where you can chill out, chat or watch a film or snooze in front of the fire.
You want the the colours you use to make you feel good. You don't want to be stuck in a space that irritates you or makes you feel miserable. If you can't change the colour on the walls bring in some hangings can help and some differently coloured accessories can draw the eye away. Experiment with how colours can affect each other when placed side by side. For example red next to green or blue next to green can give your main colour, the green a completely different feel as you can see in the examples below.
Do you have a favourite colour theme for your clothes? If you're quite conservative in your tastes wearing limited or muted colours you could try using some accessories in a different colour. You could experiment with a different colour under your clothes.
Try to use a variety of colours in your day to day life and explore the whole spectrum. Use jewellery, scarves, ties, socks etc. Try and change your clothing colours on a regular basis and have fun with it. Of course if your work life requires a uniform you could have fun wearing outrageously patterned socks or ones with pictures on. Alternatively some coloured underwear that only you, or perhaps some lucky other, knows about.
Visualize:
A colour or colour combination around yourself to receive its benefits. White and bright blue are used for protection. Pink is good to visualise between yourself and another person to help heal a relationship or to give support. You can use a gentle blue or green for relaxation and to help bring down blood pressure and feel calmer for example.
Meditate
When meditating bringing in colour into your practice can help you focus. Again think about colour for different effects. Do you want o be uplifted and energised or to become calm and peaceful?
Candles
Red candles at a dinner party will give it some energy and stimulate appetites. Pink is good when you need a bit of TLC. Using the appropriate colours is good for spell making, prayers and blessings too.
Food
It goes without saying really that eating and drinking a rainbow of naturally coloured foods will provide you with a wide range of vitamins and nutrition. Processed foods are full of unhealthy additives and dyes so eat in moderation if you must.
Water
Infusing water for your drinks and baths can give you specific colour benefits. You can use coloured bottles, jars or covered glasses filled with water and let sit in a sunny place for at least one hour to infuse. I like to use spring water I have collected from known pure sources. If the sun isn't available you could use light projected onto the vessel. Your containers must be transparent glass, not opaque, and not plastic, in order for the light to penetrate the water.
Coloured films can be used to cover a clear glass container or glass paints, just be sure to cover it completely. Try varying the doses and see what works for you.
Plants
Plants are a wonderful to bring in colour to your rooms with the added health benefits of producing oxygen and cleansing the room of harmful pollutants. Ivy eats toxins for breakfast while succulents release oxygen at night, great for when you are asleep. I love my Christmas cactus flowering in the festive season and on into January when it is cold dark outside.
Flowers
Bunches of flowers are an easy fix and you could bring in pots of bulbs from outside for seasonal colour splashes. Think outside the box with bowls of lovely coloured autumn leaves or branches of winter berries. Return the berries outside once you have finished with them as food for wildlife, even dried they can still be eaten.
Art
Of course art has a big part to play. You can either buy pictures in your favourite colours or create your own. Think about the size and placement of the picture. Also think about how you want it lit. Will it catch the morning sun as you have a cup of tea in the morning or will it be lit by a table lamp as you relax in the evening. This is important to think about as lighting will affect how you see it. Will you pass it on the stairs or will it be in a place where you can sit and gaze at it?
Light
Coloured lights can be used for colour energy therapy. Light can travel in three ways from its' source to elsewhere. (1) directly from its' source through empty space; (2) through various media, (3) after being reflected from a mirror.
If you are lucky enough to have a stained glass window you will have seen the beauty of the colours spilling into your room as the light shines through the glass. You could even try painting your own stained glass. If you are not confident about your drawing skills you can lay a pattern or image underneath the glass and just copy that.
To get a similar effect you could try placed coloured glass items on window ledges or coloured sun catchers. Glass crystal drops are also pretty and send out cascades of rainbows and sparkles across your space. As well as crystals use mirrors to bounce the light around.
Electric lighting can be used to good effect with glass lampshades or coloured bulbs. Think about where you position them too. Do you want an entire room infused with a colour? Or do you just want one corner of a room illuminated? Experiment and see what works for you.
Light can also be projected through coloured transparencies and onto specific parts of the body or you could just try lying in a patch of sunlight on the floor as it streams in through some coloured glass in your window.
Do not underestimate the power of colour it is the gift of Mother Nature. :-)
Amanda.
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