Colour Therapy and Colour Reading

Meaning, Uses and Spiritual Practice

Have you ever walked into a room and immediately felt drawn to its colours? Or noticed that on some days you naturally reach for bright, uplifting shades, while on others you prefer something softer and calmer?

Colour is all around us, yet most of the time we probably don’t give much thought to how it makes us feel.

For me, colour can be another way of becoming more aware of ourselves. I don’t believe that choosing a particular colour automatically tells somebody everything about your emotions, health or spiritual state. We are far more individual and complex than that.

But I do believe colour can give us something interesting to explore.

Colour therapy and colour reading are two different but related practices. Colour therapy uses colour intentionally within wellbeing or spiritual practices, while a colour reading usually explores the colours somebody feels drawn to and what those colours may personally or symbolically represent.

There is also scientific research into colour and psychology, although it is important to separate this from claims sometimes made about colour therapy. Researchers have found that colour can influence psychological responses in certain circumstances, but effects aren’t necessarily universal. Context, culture, personal experience and even the particular shade or brightness of a colour can matter.

So rather than seeing colour as something with a fixed meaning, I prefer to approach it with curiosity.

What does this colour mean to you?

That question can sometimes be far more revealing than a list telling you what a colour is supposed to mean.

What Is Colour Therapy?

Colour therapy, sometimes called chromotherapy, is a complementary practice based around the intentional use of colours.

Historically, different systems of colour therapy have attributed particular physical, emotional or energetic properties to different colours. Some practitioners use coloured lights, fabrics, visualisation, crystals, artwork or coloured surroundings as part of the practice.

Chromotherapy has a long history, and published reviews have explored its theories and proposed mechanisms. However, that should not be confused with evidence that colour can diagnose or cure disease; broad therapeutic claims remain much less established than the simple observation that colour can affect perception, preference and psychological experience. PubMed

This is an important distinction.

I see colour therapy as something that can sit alongside meditation, relaxation, self-reflection and spiritual practice — not as a replacement for appropriate medical or mental-health care.

You don’t have to believe that a particular colour has a special healing power to explore how different colours make you feel.

Sometimes it can be as simple as asking:

Which colours make me feel comfortable?

Which colours energise me?

Which colours am I avoiding at the moment?

Has my relationship with a particular colour changed?

There are no right or wrong answers.

Does Colour Really Affect How We Feel?

This is where things become particularly interesting.

There is research examining connections between colour and psychological functioning. But the evidence doesn’t support a simple rule such as blue always makes people calm or yellow always makes people happy.

A major review of colour psychology concluded that the field has produced interesting findings but remains relatively young, with context playing an important role in how colour affects us.

Research into colour-emotion associations has also found that people’s responses aren’t nearly as fixed as popular colour charts sometimes suggest. One study of English-speaking adults found relatively low agreement for many supposedly standard colour-emotion pairings, with saturation and lightness sometimes proving important too.

Culture matters as well. The emotional meanings we give to colours can be shaped by language, symbolism, social traditions and our own experiences. Frontiers

That makes sense to me.

Imagine two people looking at exactly the same shade of blue.

One person may associate it with peaceful childhood holidays beside the sea.

Another may associate it with a difficult period in their life.

The colour hasn’t changed.

Their relationship with it has.

That is why I would never tell somebody that a colour must mean one particular thing.

Colour Therapy and the Chakra System

Within many modern spiritual practices, colours are also associated with the chakra system.

You may commonly see the chakras represented as:

• Root chakra — red: grounding, security and stability
• Sacral chakra — orange: creativity, emotion and expression
• Solar plexus chakra — yellow: confidence and personal power
• Heart chakra — green: love, compassion and connection
• Throat chakra — blue: communication and self-expression
• Third eye chakra — indigo: intuition and inner awareness
• Crown chakra — violet or white: spiritual connection and higher awareness

I think it’s important to describe this accurately.

These associations belong to spiritual and energetic frameworks. They should not be presented as scientifically established anatomical structures or as a way of diagnosing illness.

But within meditation and spiritual development, they can provide a useful symbolic focus.

For example, somebody working on confidence might choose to visualise warm yellow light around the solar plexus during meditation. Somebody wanting to reflect on communication may choose blue while focusing on the throat chakra.

The benefit may simply come from creating an intention and giving the mind something meaningful to focus upon.

If you’d like to explore meditation alongside this, you may enjoy my Spiritual Wellness Meditation, which uses gentle visualisation, grounding and golden light as part of the practice.

What Is a Colour Reading?

A colour reading is different from colour therapy.

Rather than using colours with the intention of creating a particular atmosphere or experience, a colour reading generally explores the colours that somebody feels naturally drawn towards.

Depending upon the practitioner, you may be asked to choose from coloured cards, objects, crystals or images.

The practitioner may then explore your selections with you.

I prefer to see this as an intuitive and reflective practice, rather than a test with fixed answers.

If you choose purple, for example, I wouldn’t immediately decide that it proves you are spiritually developing.

Instead, I might be interested in why you chose purple.

What does it remind you of?

How does it make you feel?

Have you always loved it?

Are you suddenly seeing or choosing it more frequently?

Sometimes the conversation that comes from the colour is more valuable than the colour itself.

Can Your Favourite Colour Reveal Your Personality?

This is another area where we need to be careful.

You’ll find plenty of online quizzes claiming that your favourite colour reveals exactly who you are.

They’re fun, but human personality doesn’t fit neatly into a colour chart.

Research suggests that colour-emotion associations and preferences can vary considerably, and factors including culture and individual differences can influence responses. Frontiers

So loving green doesn’t automatically mean you’re balanced.

Loving red doesn’t automatically mean you’re passionate.

And disliking blue certainly doesn’t mean there is something emotionally wrong.

Your colour preferences can still be interesting.

They just aren’t a diagnosis.

Using Colour as Part of Meditation

One of my favourite ways of working with colour is through visualisation.

You can keep this incredibly simple.

Sit somewhere comfortable and allow your breathing to settle naturally.

Choose a colour that feels right for you in that moment.

Don’t overthink your choice.

Close your eyes if that feels comfortable and imagine a gentle light in that colour surrounding you.

You may see it clearly.

You may simply imagine it.

You may sense it rather than see it at all.

All of those experiences are perfectly okay.

Then ask yourself:

How does this colour make me feel?

Don’t search for the “correct” spiritual meaning.

Notice your own response.

You can also explore colour within your wider spiritual development if you’d like to become more aware of how visualisation, intuition and symbolism work within your own practice.

Colour, Intuition and Spiritual Development

As we develop spiritually, many of us become more interested in symbols.

Colours are often part of that.

You may notice a particular colour repeatedly during meditation, feel drawn towards certain crystals or suddenly find yourself choosing colours you previously ignored.

I think the important thing is not to become frightened or obsessed with finding a hidden message behind everything.

Sometimes purple is simply purple.

But sometimes noticing what we’re drawn towards can encourage us to stop and reflect.

Ask yourself:

What was I thinking about when I noticed it?

What does that colour represent to me personally?

Does it remind me of somebody or something?

What emotion comes up when I see it?

This keeps spiritual exploration personal and grounded rather than turning every colour into a prediction or sign.

If you’re beginning to notice other changes in your intuition or spiritual awareness, you may also find my article What Is a Spiritual Awakening? helpful.

Simple Ways to Bring Colour Into Everyday Life

You don’t need specialist equipment or a colour therapist to become more conscious of colour.

You could experiment with it through:

• Your home: Notice how you feel in rooms with different colour schemes.
• Clothing: Choose colours because of how you feel wearing them rather than what a chart says they should mean.
• Meditation: Visualise a colour that feels comforting, uplifting or grounding.
• Journalling: Write about the colours you’re currently drawn towards and the memories or emotions you associate with them.
• Creativity: Paint, draw or create without worrying about whether your colour choices are “correct.”
• Nature: Notice the enormous range of greens, blues, browns and seasonal colours around you.
• Crystals: If crystals form part of your spiritual practice, explore whether you’re drawn towards particular colours before looking up traditional meanings.

The aim isn’t to control how you feel through colour.

It’s simply to notice.

That awareness itself can be valuable.

What About Coloured Light Therapy?

This is worth mentioning because the terminology can become confusing.

Colour therapy or chromotherapy should not automatically be treated as the same thing as medically studied light-based treatments.

For example, photobiomodulation uses specific light wavelengths and controlled treatment protocols and has been investigated in randomised clinical trials for particular health conditions. A recent umbrella review found evidence of benefit for some outcomes, but certainty varied considerably across conditions. PubMed

That is very different from saying that looking at a particular colour or balancing a chakra can treat a medical condition.

Whenever health claims are involved, those distinctions matter.

Common Myths About Colour Therapy

There are a few ideas about colour therapy that I think are worth clearing up.

Myth: Every colour has one universal emotional meaning.

Not necessarily. Research suggests colour responses are influenced by context, culture and individual experience. Frontiers

Myth: Choosing a colour can diagnose your emotional or physical health.

A colour preference may give you something interesting to reflect upon, but it shouldn’t be used as a medical or psychological diagnosis.

Myth: You need to be spiritual to appreciate colour.

Not at all. Colour is part of everyday human experience and is widely used in art, design, fashion, marketing and our surroundings.

Myth: Colour therapy can replace medical treatment.

It shouldn’t. If you enjoy colour therapy as a complementary wellbeing or spiritual practice, that’s very different from using it instead of appropriate professional care.

Myth: There is a right colour for everybody.

I don’t believe there is.

The most interesting colour is often simply the one you’re drawn towards today.

Colour Reading as a Tool for Self-Reflection

This is ultimately where colour reading becomes most meaningful for me.

Not as fortune-telling.

Not as diagnosis.

Not as somebody else telling you exactly what you’re feeling.

But as another way of encouraging you to pause and look inward.

Imagine choosing three colours without thinking too much about them.

You might then ask yourself:

Why those three?

Which one feels most like me at the moment?

Which one feels uncomfortable?

Which colour would I like more of in my life?

There may be no profound answer.

Or the exercise may bring something to the surface that you hadn’t consciously considered.

Either outcome is perfectly fine.

Why Colours Matter

Colour is woven into almost every part of our lives.

It influences the clothes we choose, the rooms we create, the artwork we enjoy, the brands we recognise and the natural environments we find beautiful.

Research suggests colour can interact with psychological functioning, while also showing that these relationships are more complex and context-dependent than simple colour-meaning charts imply. Frontiers

From a spiritual perspective, colour can also become part of meditation, chakra work, visualisation and intuitive reflection.

I don’t think we need to choose between those two perspectives.

We simply need to be clear about which is which.

Final Thoughts

Colour therapy and colour reading can be beautiful ways of exploring awareness, intention and self-reflection.

But I don’t believe we need to give every colour a fixed meaning or make claims that go beyond what we genuinely know.

If a colour makes you feel peaceful, enjoy it.

If another makes you feel energised, notice that.

If you suddenly feel drawn towards a colour during meditation, become curious about what it means to you.

Your own experiences, memories and associations matter.

Spirituality doesn’t always have to give us another set of rules to follow.

Sometimes it can simply give us another way of asking:

What am I noticing about myself today?

And perhaps that is where the real value of colour begins.

If you’d like to continue exploring your intuition and spiritual awareness, you can visit my spiritual development courses or explore more articles here at Age of Awakening.

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