Among all the classes that I teach, relaxation or concentration exercises featuring colour are a clear favourite. It has become apparent that looking at or visualising appropriate colours can help our mood. This should not be surprising – think how references to colours and their associations abound in everyday language: ‘Seeing red’, ‘rose coloured glasses’, ‘sunny disposition’, and so on. You may also be using colour in everyday life without realising it. Why did you choose that particular top from your wardrobe this morning? Was it just because it was the only thing that was ironed, or was it because the colour appealed to you on some level? Could it have been chosen to reflect your mood, or to enhance it? Using particular colours is put to very practical use these days – by commercial agencies of course, but also as a therapeutic tool.
Red
Red is a good example. Think of the language: a red-letter day, seeing red. Red is an exciting, physically stimulating, and energising colour. This is one reason so many restaurants have red décor – it stimulates the appetite. For a similar reason (at least in bygone days) there were references to red-light districts, involving a different sort of appetite, but perhaps we will not pursue that one! Nearer home, if an already excitable toddler is dressed in red – move the ornaments out of the way, shut the cat in the kitchen and prepare for hyperactivity! The positive side of this physically stimulating colour is that you can use it if you are feeling tired or lethargic to boost your mood. (Pink is uplifting in a more subtle way. So much so that it has been used to replace austere white décor on some hospital wards followed, I understand, by a measurable improvement in levels of depression, and even patient recovery rates. It must help if things take on a rosier glow.)