
A Colour Guide To Stress Therapy
In my early twenties, I used to consider stress therapy more like a fancy practice. The concept of stress was so foreign to me that nothing would make me take mental pressure very seriously.
Not that I wasn’t stressed out at all; I mean, I must have had also, back then, deadlines and troubled love stories, picky bosses, needy friends and insomnia. I was just not aware of how all of these were pushing my limits to a crisis.
My mind was constantly restless and in overdrive, running from one idea to another. I had zero patience to get one thing done before going onto the next. Consequently, both my mind and my body were suffering from fatigue because I was in a continuous rush.
The simple idea of enjoying the colour and the feeling of grass in a park for 10 minutes or just sitting on a bench watching the bright blue sky seemed terrible to me. It was inconceivable to waist precious minutes!
But the time has come for me to stop. To think. To understand. But most of all, to look around and see the colours. It happened when I was invited by a painter in his studio. He introduced me to the true beauty of colours. He helped me understand that each and every one has a meaning, an energy and a vibration.
Better yet, I learned from him how can I benefit from the power of colours to enhance my state of mind or to calm down the rollercoaster in my head.
Stress Therapy Could Be An Easy Daily Practice
To begin with, stress therapy may sound much more pretentious than it actually is. Despite its name, it’s not necessarily the kind of practice done sitting on a couch, guided by a professional. Of course, there is that possibility, too. But I am talking about a simple mindfulness exercise, based on colours.
Here is a colour guide of 4 of my favourites colours, that you can use every day in your mindfulness practice, too. You can add colour to your meditations – regardless of whether you are practicing at home or on the go – to your desk at the office, to your favourite spot in your house, to your car, even to your yoga class or to your… outfit.
A Colour Guide For Your Energy
Blue
By simply loosing yourself into blue for 10 minutes before going to bed could be help ease insomnia symptoms or enhance the quality of your sleep. Blue holds this power of calming down the nervous system, so why not paint a bedroom wall in blue, hang a nice blue painting closer to your bed or place it on your desk.
You can also benefit from a diffuser in your bedroom; most of these devices are designed for both aromatherapy and colour therapy. If on the go, just image yourself surrounded by warming blue light. Breathe into the colour for a few minutes. It is liberating, isn’t it….
Red
Going further with the colour guide tips: wear red when your energy level is low. Red is the colour of power and passion and can also boost courage and self confidence. Whether feeling a bit down or having an important meeting, a touch of red makes a world of difference.
For me, painting with different shades of red was a very intense experience. At some point in my life, it helped me release the anger I was holding within. You don’t have to be a painter to enjoy the practice, I am not one, either. Anyone can experiment at least with a colouring book. The secret is to follow no rules, just colour in red as much as you need, until your breathing comes into balance again. It is irrelevant that you might have coloured an entire plate in only one shade of red. It is your plate and your therapy.
Green
Green is the connection with the ground, the colour of wellness and good mood. Enjoy a 10 minutes barefoot walk on grass whenever the opportunity arises. Especially those days when your agenda is so busy that stress is overbearing. Just step out of your office for 10 minutes, feel the ground under your feet or lay down on the grass. If you think that it is impossible to make room in your calendar for such a fancy escape, than it is probably mandatory you do it because that’s when you need it the most. It could be helpful to also do it whenever you’re feeling airy or when you become aware of loosing touch with the people and things surrounding you.
Yellow
Have you ever felt happy in the morning for no particular reason? Just by opening your eyes to a beautiful warm light? If so, is thanks to the yellow energy effect, which, from my experience, I can confirm it actually works.
At the beginning of my yoga training I had a hard time coping with both my body’s limitations and my lack of concentration. I felt sad and ashamed being one of the very few in my class basically unable to do even the simplest of asanas. I was getting nervous and sometimes furious during the classes, all further amplified by staring into the grey yoga mat I was provided with by the studio. Therefore I decided to change it whit a yellow one, to at least see a nice colour when suffering in Downward Dog. I started to breathe into that yellow every morning, picturing myself in a rapeseed field on my way to the seaside. It helped me a lot. Yellow is the colour of clarity, awareness and curiosity and its energy is related to our capacity to perceive and to understand.
As you can see, this colour guide is based on my experiences with colours. Colour Therapy and the psychology of colours are scientifically proven and I recommend you look further into it. But I also encourage you to experiment with colours in various ways. It is definitely a form of stress therapy for me. I hope it can benefit you plenty, too.
SparkYourBloom Today And Everyday!