Light is an amazing healer. Various forms of light therapies have been around since the days of ancient Greece and Egypt, and the use of light therapies for medical purposes are having a renaissance now. Light has long been associated with healing and spiritual connection. Words in the English language such as “enlightenment” and “illumination” refer to the process of bringing greater light into our conscious experience and bodies.

There has been a huge amount of recent research into the healing effects of light on our bodies. Light therapy is now firmly moving into mainstream medicine. Therapeutic light has been shown to offer the following beneficial effects:

• Promotes better mental clarity
• Anti-aging and facial lifting effects
• Improves mood and reduces depression
• Improves learning in children and reduces attention-deficit and hyperactivity disorders
• Improves energy levels
• Lowers blood pressure
• Strengthens the immune system
• Improves and protects vision
• Can cure stubborn infections resistant to antibiotics and antiviral drugs
• Prevents and cures a host of diseases

We may call the need of the body/mind for specific colors “color hunger”. I have observed many people expressing a strong craving for a specific one of the twelve colors offered in my treatments. This need was determined through kinesiology testing, or by asking the patient what color they were attracted to, or both. As light of that color was applied to points on their body, they have often experienced immediate or delayed beneficial reactions, such as deep relaxation, mental clarity, increased energy or relief of various somatic symptoms.

My observation is that our hunger for a certain color is not because it is unavailable to us, but more because we are blocking its absorption or utilization due to some emotional reason or limiting belief system. For example, Orange is a color of creativity and joy. If a young child was criticized each time she drew imaginative pictures, she may associate her creativity with criticism and pain. That may cause her to block her access to the color Orange to avoid pain. This is just the kind of person who may suffer from “writer’s block” later in life when she needs to write a term paper or complete a graphic design deadline. Applying therapeutic Orange light to her centers may help her accept and get in touch with that child-like joy of creation again.

When applied to appropriate acupuncture points, orange light can act as a natural anti-depressant. Blue light, the complementary (or opposite) color to orange, has anti-inflammatory effects on arthritis and burns, and is effective for calming nervous tension and overly charged emotional states.

We can adjust our moods and energy with color. When feeling too blocked or dull we can use Orange or Scarlet to juice up our experience; when feeling like it’s a perpetual Manic Monday we can use Blue or Indigo to calm down and feel more peaceful.