COLOUR THERAPY
an Introduction by Diana Maberly, MIACP
Colour therapy when professionally and safely used with the complementary colours can have a therapeutic effect on the human organism. Colour is spontaneous in its healing and is pleasant to work with. For example there is a psychological response to colour so it can be used with art therapy and counselling. It is used with light therapy. If you wish to improve your image and confidence you wear the colours, make-up and shades that suit you best. The colours that decorate your home or work place have an effect on your well-being too. Colour in food helps to focus on healthy living. If you are a cook you can use colour to make the food look more appetising when you serve it.
When you are tense it would help you if you learnt to relax with a colour meditation. If you are a gardener choose different areas to emphasise the colour spectrum. Because as you walk through the garden it will enhance your well-being and lift the spirit. When you take flowers to an ill person choose the colour you think will benefit them most. One flower or a small bunch is just as therapeutic as a large bunch.
Light therapy involves shining coloured light in a specific sequence onto a specific area, or bathing the whole body. This therapy is good for general health, anxieties, skin problems and stress-related problems such as post trauma stress, bereavements, or following an operation. Colour often helps with reading disorders such as dyslexia, as well as with such illnesses as chronic fatigue syndrome.
Colour research is going on round the globe and its use is extending all the time. One well established area is the use of blue light on jaundiced babies elevating the need to change their blood. Research continues in areas of Psychology and Optometry. In my own case I have been researching the remedial use of coloured glasses for children with learning difficulties.
Accredited training in colour therapy is available through the Open College Network SW. It follows the guidelines laid down by the International Association of Colour and the Institute for Complementary Medicine. The Helios Diploma Course in Colour Therapy has 22 modules, though not all are compulsory. The course aim is to teach the therapeutic use of colour in a practical and safe way. The course is accredited through practical class work, home study exercises and the satisfactory completion of a journal. Certification will be on the verified by an external moderator.
Article written by Diana Maberly, MIACP
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