About Blue and Healing

You don’t have a soul. You are a Soul. You have a body. ~C.S. Lewis

My mother said to me, If you become a soldier you’ll be a general; if you become a monk you’ll end up as the pope. Instead, I became a painter and wound up as Picasso. -Pablo Picasso

There are many resources out there concerning color therapy and using color in healing. Perhaps one of the most asked questions is about healing and how color can help the body speed up the healing process.

Last August when I spoke about the role of color in hypnosis at the International Convention for the National Guild of Hypnotists (NGH) many in the room referred to green being the color for healing. I have read several books that refer to green for healing. This is a misnomer and green needs to be used sparingly, particularly for viral infections, bacterial infections and cancer. Why? Green promotes growth! It is all about new beginnings and inspires relationships and growth, and growing is the last thing you want a tumor to do.

I believe green has been associated with healing because the scrubs and hospitals have green and are painted in greens. This is not because it promotes healing, it has been misinterpreted. Green was introduced into the surgery/operating rooms to reduce eye fatigue! And therefore has been misinterpreted in the hospital healing arenas by many interior designers. When surgeons operate they see a lot of blood, which is red, and when they would look up there is a green afterimage. This creates fatigue as the eye adjusts, so having green helps the adjustment. Bright white is really tough, as the afterimage can be very prominent. To understand what an afterimage is, stare at a red dot for about a minute intensely and then quickly look up and you will see the after image of green-the complimentary color of red. As a side note, when I was in first or second grade, I could never remember the complimentary colors in art class, so I would stare and look up and “get” the answer! That was when I realized color could communicate! So, it is easy to see where the communication mix-up has taken place.

So, what is the true color of healing? When I see a client with a strong blue in his or hers auric field more specifically around a certain body area, my first question is to ask if there was an injury in that area? If the answer is yes, then I am assured that area/injury is healing. The body will absorb and take on the calming, cooling color of blue and use that energy to regenerate. In a sense it is because the cells are communicating or talking with each other to build up the site energy to its full potential. Blue is the color of communication and opportunity, and I believe it is this cell communication process which helps create healing within our systems. In a sense, gives our body the opportunity to heal. (how do you like the way I worked that one in!)

I would like to talk a little bit about healing and how we can use blue to help ourselves heal or to facilitate another’s healing. You can imagine the person in blue, wrapped in a blue cloud or a blue bubble, particularly if they are learning from something systemic or something inflammatory, like arthritis. You can imagine and “wrap” a specific area in blue, I will do it immediately if I have twisted something, jammed a finger or pulled a muscle. Almost like a wrap or a cast of blue. With my children, particularly when they were toddlers and falling and bumping into things I would always kiss their “boo-boo” and put on a cool towel and imagine blue surrounding the area. Or put my hand over it and imagine my hand glowing blue over their area of hurt. Even many of the “cool packs” for sprains and twists are blue gel, which is great! From a literal sense, I will go even further and say when I put a cool towel over their “boo-boo” guess what color the towel was? Yes, blue.

If you are learning from arthritis, blue sheets on your bed are a wonderful way to help with inflammation and healing at night while you sleep. I have sheets in different colors for different situations in my life and use these as a healing boost while I sleep. Do you have a favorite sheet set? (some of us do but never really think about it in the sense of energy and what your body is asking for to heal or move forward!) So, if you are on a budget, buy sheets or a blanket (or PJ’s) whatever. If you are more inclined, look at the color of your bedroom and consider your color palette and choices. I am fortunate enough to work as a spokesperson with the FreshAire Choice™ Brand paint, which is a no-voc green paint found at Home Depot stores across the country.

If you have a chronic dis-ease, particularly an inflammatory dis-ease, consider the color choices of your bedroom. Again, color is energy and you are energy. Walking into a cooling, soothing environment and sleeping in a cooling, soothing environment can be extremely healing and beneficial to your physical and emotional well-being. BUT, the color itself, not just the characteristics of the colors (ie: blue is soothing, calming ect…) The COLOR allows your body to absorb the healing qualities of that particular hue.

I accepted the position with FreshAire Choice™ because it supports my research and they understand the healing qualities of color, BUT- ALSO, being a no-voc paint, the product supports the outcome, it is all healing.

Businesses which are in the category of healing, communication or provide opportunities to others will do well having blue in some prominent position within their branding. Because the blue will support their ideals as much as attract the correct energy to the company. Environment, again can also play a supporting role to the non-verbal communicative powers of color.

I appreciate all your support and hope you have found this week’s blog on blue helpful and well…HEALING!!! Next week, I will be talking more specifically about healing and share some insights I have received about prayer and sending healing to others.

Blessings to you. Catherine

Logo Critique: Alchemy and Energy

After looking through your website http://www.alchemyandenergy.com and your logo, I would like to comment on the color choices first, then I will get into the actual mark itself. I also understand the restrictions of the blog templates and budget restrictions, which can limit design–just to let you know I understand and have been there!

First, thank you for trusting me to do this, and again, there is no catch, I am really gathering research to indicate the relationship between a brand and a corporate/company consciousness. I will critique this openly and honestly. I hope you will see that I love my work, and I think it makes a difference to help others.

Ironically, I received an e-mail this week asking about the color teal and what it represented. Looking at the teal color with the word “Alchemy” is interesting as alchemy is associated with transformation, but also the creation of a universal cure for disease. Teal is a color of healing, particularly healing of relationships through healthy communication. So it is an appropriate, supportive use of the color. The warm red of the word “Energy” is also appropriate, as it is a color that emerges from the page and radiates warmth and action. Therefore I would say that your choices of color are appropriate and proactive as far as representing your corporate ideal. In a color sense you are communicating healing through action (one word: responsibility). So that is all good.
Where the logo falls short is in the mark itself. Although the undulating feeling of the script can be comforting, it is not substantial enough to tell me you really are in business. In a sense, it is more of a “hobby vibration” based on the representation. This is not anything terrible, particularly if that is what you want to depict. However, you may have some difficulty attracting clients based on the image you are projecting. I work within the realm of the holistic and spiritual genre as well, and it is a fine line to maintain our spiritual identity and present solid business savvy, so I am well aware of the challenges.
Your logo needs grounded, needs some “umph” and sometimes this can be done through a bolder typeface, or by anchoring it within a particular shape. When I taught design I would always tell my students to compliment an organic shape with a geometric, hard-edged shape. These shapes will work together for each other, rather than two organic shapes (as you have) or two structural hard shapes, because without the contrast you get bored and leave. It is all about relationships and comparing/contrasting. In a sense you have done it with the colors, they are almost (but not quite) complimentary colors, as red and green pop each other in the eye, the teal quiets the soft red, which is good, but it can be stronger if the shapes, the type, also compliment.

Grounding it, or in other words, “giving it some substance” will create a more confident feel for your business. In a sense, you want it to say, “I know my stuff, I am good and I can help you succeed” Your current logo reflects doubt in your abilities; it is a visual “smoke and mirrors” feel and from looking at your site, Jennifer, I would say you KNOW YOUR STUFF. So it is best to grab my attention immediately.

Your logo is your branding and creating the same confidence you have in your site within your logo will just strengthen your presence. Your logo is the weakest part of your package, and it really should be the most substantial. Whether you decide on a more complex template or something simple, you will still want to have your logo a solid representation of who you are.

Blessings, Catherine

Q & A from the Queen of Color

Q:
Hey Catherine,
Hope things are well. I had lunch with Christy today and we both had noticed “teal” is starting to show up everywhere. Christy recalled you had said something about it in one of your classes with but couldn’t remember what you had to say about it. So now I’m curious as to what you had to say about it. Geez, I just noticed my Gmail account has a teal color scheme. hmm….

A:
It does not surprise me that teal is becoming prominent now in the current environment. I had lunch with a woman’s group several week’s ago and we all laughed, over half showing up in teal and cobalt blues! What does this say?

Teal is a color of healing, it holds the healing and communicative qualities of blue coupled with the renewal and resurgent qualities of green. Together, blue and green create a wonderful healing color. What does it heal? relationships first and foremost, but also issues with communication, the heart center and the throat center. In a sense it can help you use healing words, so it is a good color for teachers and counselors.

In today’s hostile environment, wrought with fear and financial challenges, use the cool calming color of teal to bring about calm healing. It is a nice color to accent your website or your resume and we often see it within the health field.

Thanks for the great question!