Influence Your Chi Through Color
"Mere color, unspoiled by meaning, and unallied with definite form, can speak to the soul in a thousand different ways.” ~Oscar Wilde
Our chi is influenced by color, and we can therefore use color to improve our chi. We can use color through visualization during our meditations, the clothing we choose to wear that day, the food we decide to eat for each meal, and how we design our spaces.
Visualized Color: Meditations
Reiki is a life force energy that flows within the physical body through pathways called chakras, meridians, and nadis. It also flows around us in a field of energy called the aura. When we call in Reiki for healing, it flows through to the affected parts of the energy field and charges them with positive energy. It raises the energy field's vibratory level in and around the physical body, where the negative thoughts and feelings are attached.
Light is a crucial energy source that grants us the ability to see color by producing the color spectrum. Each of the seven colors in the spectrum has its own wavelength and frequency that produces specific energy and nourishing effect. We can call in color the same way we call in Reiki energy to heal and support us through our life’s journey.
When we seek color in the mind’s eye we can improve our mood, behavior, health, physical movement, language, as well as empower our soul to manifest. During mediation, we can visualize the color flowing into our energy field through our physical body, and painting our aura with that desired color.
You can always turn to the color spectrum to help you paint the picture of the life you envision:
RED (Root Chakra) – grounding, passionate, driven
ORANGE (Sacral Chakra) – creative, playful, independent
YELLOW (Solar Plexus Chakra) – self-worth, joyful, optimistic
GREEN (Heart Chakra) – self-care, prosperity, compassion
(Pink is not associated with a Chakra, but can be used to heal the heart chakra and to attract love. The combination of green and pink is extremely powerful for those going through a breakup)
BLUE (Throat Chakra) – freedom, self-assurance, truthful, loyalty
INDIGO/VIOLET (Third Eye Chakra) - enlightened, intuitive, opulent, clarity
WHITE (Crown Chakra) – wholeness, inner-peace, dreamer
BLACK (not associated with a chakra) - Black is the absorption of all color and void of light, which relates to the hidden and unknown. It creates a barrier between itself and the outside world, providing comfort while protecting its emotions and feelings, and hiding its vulnerabilities. When you visualize your aura covered in black, it can shield you from absorbing others' emotions and prevent your vulnerabilities from leaking out.
Influencing your Chi Through the Color of Your Clothing & Food
“When we open our eyes in the morning, lying in bed, we see the color of the ceiling of our bedroom. When we leave home, we see the color of our entrances, then the color of our car. As we drive, we see the colors of other commuters’ cars. In the office or school, we see other coworkers' or classmates’ clothes, the work and study interior. All of these have a defining color or hue, and when these come in contact with or eyes our chi’s affected, creating a physical chain reaching.”- Lin Yun
Feng Shui is based on the belief that human life is connected and flowing with the environment around it. The relationship of color and life are intertwined as color provokes philosophical, emotional, and physical responses. Color sequences can enhance our well-being or improve our energy levels. Colors may be used as accents to enliven bland wardrobes and thus activating our chi (circulating life energy).
Feng Shui looks to the five elements - wood, fire, earth, metal, and water - to live a harmonious life and forecast fate. These five elements regulate the Feng Shui energy map, known as the Bagua Five Element Color Wheel, divided into eight areas with the corresponding color, body parts, and directions. When you superimpose the appropriate color from the map onto a room, a body, or life, it will enhance your fortune.
Are you feeling bored? Throw on something with red, a vibrant pink or magenta to bring in some fiery energy. Are you feeling disheartened? Wear yellow and earth tones to slow down and nurture yourself. Are you procrastinating on a project? Try wearing blue to bring mental clarity and focus. Feng Shui color theory is about balance and if you tend to wear the same colors all the time, you may have a tendency to be exclusively living in the energy of your comfort color, which could be creating stagnant energy within your life. Not that shifting your energy can be as easy as changing your shirt or adding an accessory, but it can slowly help shift your energy and move you to the place you desire.
Feng Shui color theory can also be applied to food as a healing technique and appetite stimulant, including food presentation and place settings. When you know the state of the five elements within your body, you will begin to notice a deficiency or excess of an element, which can eventually lead to illness.
Influence your Chi Through the Color of Your Interiors
Color plays a crucial role in defining the atmosphere for any space. The extent of the influence color has on us depends on the state of our chi. Feng shui affects people regardless of whether their chi is good or bad, but the time frame will differ. If the feng shui promotes a negative energy, it will take a person with good chi a longer time to be impacted by the energy. We can use the color within our interiors to create the desired response and shift our chi if needed. A space we live in should be designed to nurture our chi.
Similar to how we activated our chi through the colors of our clothing and the food we eat, we turn to Ba-gua Five Element Color Wheel. The Chinese believe a home is similar to a human body. Each room in a home is like a separate, but interlaced, vital organ - part of the whole, but with its own functions.
Foyer - a light, bright color that is well lit. When we enter a pleasant space, we can alter our chi to a positive state and regenerate our energy.
Kitchen - white is the best color. A blank canvas that allows the colorful food to take center stage. White is the color of purity and cleanliness and is the color that represents metal (fire element).
Note - Note - The fire element represents the kitchen, so avoid all-black kitchens, since black represents water, and water destroys fire. Destructive combinations are formed of conflicting elements - water and fire or earth and wood. If disharmony among the elements is unavoidable, try bringing in a compatible element and place between the conflicting elements.
Bedroom - Goes a little deeper, and the color choices depend on the location of the bedroom. One thing that is common depending on the placement is that the color should be light to promote rest, relaxation, and relationships. The bedroom colors can also create a powerful metaphor or cure. If your bedroom is located in an undesirable location, such as over the garage, that could lead to a feeling of instability within the space due to the constant moving in and out. To create stability, the floor can be brown wood planks or a tan carpet, symbolizing the grounding earth element of a tree trunk. Then to evoke a nurturing environment and vitality, add green to the walls with red accents to suggest the growing healthy leaves and flowers growing on the trees.
Living Room - Full of colors, shades, and patterns to promote entertaining, lively conversations and a pleasant atmosphere. The living room, usually the hub of the space, which is represented by the earth element. Brown, tan, yellow and orange are great in this space.
Dining Room - Light and bright colors set the atmosphere conducive to enjoying conversation and eating. Avoid black and white combinations, which are less conducive to enjoying eating. Black is excellent for an elegant dining experience or to inspire you to lose weight since it doesn't stimulate the palate.
Bathroom - black or white or a combination of the two. Accent this combination with bright colored towels.
Cures to Shift the Chi
The application of color schemes and the placement of certain colored objects have the power to revitalize dead spaces and convert strong, threatening chi into positive, nurturing energy.
Buddhists believe the rainbow is nature's symbol of power and beauty, and when these colors appear in the appropriate sequence, can bring luck and improve a person's life. This can be done by utilizing the Five-Element Color scheme in one space but must be applied in a vertical sequence. This color scheme represents the natural process of constant cyclical change.
Floor - Earth Element
Furniture - Metal Element
Walls - Water Element
Curtains - Wood Element
Ceiling - Fire Element
Hang faceted crystal balls in areas that receive sunlight so that the light can transform through their prismatic power into a rainbow of refracted colors.
The “green cure” is used to harness energy and vitality. Plants are a great option, not only because of their color but because of their association with life and growth.
Feng Shui is a Guide
Colors evoke different reactions. Color can excite, and others bring a sense of hope. With that being said, our perception of colors is also determined by customs, cultural traditions, and nature itself, making the connections to color subjective. What might make one person feel cheerful can make another person feel irritated, depending on the viewers' past experiences or cultural differences. Color is not entirely agreed on universally and can appeal differently to individual countries and our personal experiences. But colors and emotions are closely linked no matter what, so you need to take their effects into account whenever you are using colors.
Now that you know how colors and emotions are connected, you can choose colors accordingly and implement them to get the desired results.
Next Article - Friday, August 21, 2020
The exploration of how to incorporate the colors of the Root Chakra with meditation, food, clothing, and interiors to activate and balance it.
