Manage your Emotions with Color Therapy

The Science of Color Therapy

There is evidence of people using color therapy to manage their emotions that dates back as far as 2,000 years. In fact, there is a lot of science behind the way that colors affect our psyche. You may have heard before that the color you paint a room can have an effect on your mood while you're in it. This is why you’ll often see, for instance, children’s establishments (like daycares or pediatrician offices) painted bright colors that seem to increase positive feelings. Though, color therapy goes much deeper than yellow=happy and red=mad. Each color can have both positive and negative emotions attached, and it’s up to you to decide how that color makes you feel. Here are the basic colors and some of their suggested emotional responses:

To properly execute color therapy, you’ll need to pinpoint the emotion you want to target or correct. Then you can choose which color you’d like to practice with. From then on out its smooth sailing. Just set down and use the color(s) of your choosing and paint slowly and mindfully, allowing yourself to “feel” the color as you put it on the page.

Remember that each color you choose for therapeutic purposes may be associated with some negative emotions as well, but think of it like a cautionary tale. For instance, red color therapy would be suitable for boosting confidence when you’re feeling anxious or worried about an upcoming event, but wouldn’t be very effective for calming anger.

Color therapy exercises are unique because it forces you to work on a more monochrome scale than usual. Try choosing several shades of a single color. If you decide to utilize green in your color therapy, try using shades like emerald, jade, mint, or sage green. Sometimes these creative parameters can actually encourage something rather unique.

By: Katelyn Davis