The History of Chromotherapy
Chromotherapy is not a new or trendy alternative medical discovery. Originating in ancient India, Egypt and Greece, color therapy treatments help soothe ailing body parts and mental stress. When a physician exposes a person to colors, assorted vibration speeds and color wavelengths work to harmonize body and mind. Modern practitioners cast colored light on a person's entire body or specific problem areas using a lamp with an attached color filter. For signs of improvement, patients seek treatments at regular intervals.
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Ancient Origins
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Colors in our environment affect us physically and psychically. According to the Colour Experience website, ancient civilizations believed that colors in fire and sunlight spectrums represented an aspect of the divine. Ancient Egyptians, for example, used colored minerals, stones, crystals, salves and dyes as remedies.
According to Alternatherapie's website, a site detailing alternative medicines and their histories, the Vedas scriptures, written near 1500 B.C. as the primary texts of Hinduism mention, the significance of colors for healing.
Ancient Egyptians & Greeks
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Ancient Hindu scriptures mention healing through color. Ancient Greeks believed the four elements---earth, air, fire and water---represented fundamental constituents of the universe. Because color was also a natural occurrence---rainbows reflected through prism raindrops, different shades of light from the sun---colors too deserved spiritual attention. The Greeks made colored garments, oils, ointments and salves to treat disease.
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Avicenna & Color Discoveries
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Ancient Egyptians used colored minerals, stones, and crystals as healing remedies. A disciple of Aristotle, the Persian physician Avicenna (980 - 1037) made significant advancements in healing techniques using color. In his Canon of Medicine, he wrote about the crucial importance color has in both diagnosing and treating diseases and ailments. Avicenna noted that color is an observable symptom of disease and developed a chart that correlated specific colors to temperament the physical body.
Avicenna also warned about the dangers of certain colors. He observed that a person with a nosebleed, for instance, should not look directly at any bright red light because it would trigger more blood to pour.
Paracelsus & The Middle Ages
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Avicenna discovered looking a red object increased blood flow. A well-known healer in the Middle Ages, Swiss botanist and physician Paracelsus (1493-1541), considered light and color treatments vital for good health. But during the Middle Ages, drugs, medicines and treatments like surgery and antiseptics pushed chromotherapy into the background. Color therapy treatments did not become popular again until the 19th century, but still not in North America.
In India, treatments like Ayurveda, Unani, Homoeopathy and Allopathy grew popular and effective; people turned away from color therapy as an effective treatment.
General Augustus Pleasanton & Blue Light
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In 1876, Augustus Pleasanton, an American General during the American Civil War, re-discovered the significance of light as a treatment. In his book "The Influence of the Blue Ray of the Sunlight," Pleasanton theorized that blue wavelengths from the sun are especially influential in the growth of plant and animal life. He noted their effect on human health and erasing disease. While the theory is considered pseudo-scientific it is often cited as the origin of modern chromotherapy, at least in the U.S.
Edwin Babbit & Modern Advancement
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In the 19th century, American Edwin Babbit created a more scientific-based theory of color-healing. Babbit discovered, like the ancient Persian physician Avicenna, that red stimulates blood-flow. He also identified yellow and orange as nerve stimulants and that blue and violet trigger anti-inflammation. Babbit's work popularized chromotherapy in America and across Europe.
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