The Energy Of Colour

*Originally published April 2019 but worth enjoying again*

Got a favourite colour? Like the bright turquoise blue that always sparks a little feel good energy in you when your eye spots it.

Or maybe you have secretly always wanted a bright yellow rain slicker because you just know that a cold, grey, rainy day won’t seem as bad if you protect yourself under the colour of sunshine.

Our brains are attracted to certain colours while others, we avoid. Why is that? Is it just a personal preference or is there a real reason why we like one colour more than another? Maybe it’s just the energy of the colour.

We live in a world of electro-magnetic waves and those waves create energy. The only energy waves that the human eye can see is light and in that light there is an entire spectrum of colour. Those light waves get absorbed into our bodies (not just our eyes but through our skin as well) and trigger hormone production which, in turn, supports our health.

With out the light from the Sun, we know that life would not exist on our planet. But what I find really interesting is how the colours within that light effect us in subtle emotional ways.

Each energy wave undulates at a different frequency. On the spectrum of energy waves lengths, cosmic rays have the shortest wave length, radio waves have the longest wave length and light waves are right in the middle. When light waves are bent, we can see all the colours held within. Think of light waves seen through water vapors in the sky (clouds) and you will see a rainbow.

Now here is what I think is the cool part. Each colour within the spectrum of light vibrates at its own unique wavelength which in turn creates its own unique form of energy. That is why colours can make you feel calm or happy, or angry or even rev you up. It is the energy that you are absorbing into your system from the colour’s wave length that is creating a biochemical reaction in your body.

Pretty sciencey stuff but there is an even cooler connection because the different colour wave vibrations also connect to our body’s energy centres or chakras.

Let’s look at the rainbow and the colours associated with the chakras. There are seven colours in the rainbow and there are seven main chakras with corresponding colours. The colour order is red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet for both. Chakra energy centres start in your lower body with red and coincides with our connection to the earth. Each chakra connects to a different aspect of human emotions and needs until we reach violet at the top which coincides with our connection to the energies of the universe. The energy wave lengths of the colours of light also starts at the slowest (or longest) wave length which is red and increases (or shortens) until you reach the colour violet.

The energies of each colour in the spectrum of light, and how science feels they effect us emotionally within, happen to coincide with the energies the ancients associated with each chakra energy centre in our bodies.

I love when science and spirituality connect.

So what are the energies of each colour and how can they effect us emotionally? And how are they associated with each chakra in the human body? Below is a chart of the colour energies and the chakra energies. Notice the similarities.

So why wouldn’t you like the energy of a colour? Why would you avoid wearing a certain colour for instance?  It’s only a colour after all, they exist everywhere and unless you are completely colour blind, they’re hard to avoid.

It’s because there is a positive and negative to everything. The colour red for example may fuel your passion and give you courage but on the opposite end of the spectrum, may insight anger and frustration in you as well. Green may leave you feeling calm and hopeful but may also insight envy and jealousy. It’s all in the hue and tone of the colour; the hopefulness of the bright yellow-green of spring or the jealousy of being pea green with envy, the love and passion that a red rose represents or the clanging urgency of an in your face fire truck – same colour, different emotions.

The energy of a colour also has a cultural element. Some cultures associate different beliefs around colours. Red is for celebration in China and represents good luck. A bride would traditionally wear red on her wedding day and not the purity of the white that a bride might wear in western society. The Chinese instead would use white for a funeral, not black as others might choose.

And then there is the debate of whether black and white are even colours. The school of though here is that black is not a colour because black happens when there is no light so therefore there is no energy vibration. While white is a blending of all the colours. Sunlight is white light and only shows it’s colours when bent and filtered through some atmospheric condition such as a cloud or reflected off a surface of some kind.

Now try and explain this theory to a child who is reaching for their white or black crayon and you will get a very confused look in return. So the debate continues.

As to whether black and white each have a unique energy, I believe they do. If white is a blending of all the colours, would it not be the purest form of colour energy? And if black is the absence of light, would it not represent a void or a nothingness?

I love colour – all colours. I wear colour to enhance my energy. If I want to feel self confident I wear yellow, If I want to feel peaceful and calm, I wear a shade of green that sends out that vibe. If I want to attract pure clean energy to me, I wear white and if I want to detract energy away from a part of my body that does not need attention, I cover it in black.

But if I want to feel pure joy, I go somewhere where I can surround myself in a rainbow of good vibrations and absorb a full spectrum of colour energy and then for me, life is good.