Tag: life

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The Gentle Art of Healing 4

The following was posted on Regain.us. Please contact them or a therapist for help. This is provided for information only.

I think it provides some incite into the colors we are drawn to. Why someone would prefer a certain color yarn over another. I thought it was interesting, I hope you do too.

What Is Color Therapy, What Is It For, And Is It Right For Me?

Updated September 04, 2018

Colors are all around us. They’re in the natural world, in the homes we live in, the cars we drive, the clothes we wear, and the entertainment we watch. Colors aren’t just meaningless parts of our environment, either. They can change the way we feel and react to different situations. Color therapy uses these powers of color to heal, energize, and soothe us.

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What Is Color Therapy?

Color therapy is an alternative therapy that uses colors and their frequencies to heal physical and emotional problems.Color therapy is also known as chromopathy, chromotherapy, or color healing.

What Is Color Therapy Used For?

The goal of color therapy is to correct physiological and psychological imbalances. For instance, if you’re stressed, color therapy can help soothe you so that you can regain your psychological balance. If you’re depressed, color therapy can be used to invigorate you and give you increased energy.

When Did Color Therapy Start?

Color therapy has been around at least since the time of Ancient Egypt. Egyptians believed in the power of light and used different colors of light to promote healing. Color therapy has continued to be important in some cultures. Even in Western societies that tend to prefer modern, institutionalized medicine, natural healers have continued to use colors to help people improve their physical and emotional health.

Although Western medicine doesn’t accept color therapy as such, Western researchers are studying the scientific properties of colored light and the light frequencies within it. Color therapy hasn’t ‘earned’ a place in Western medicine yet, but there’s a strong possibility that it might when all the research results come in.

Colors And Chakras

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Eastern medicine is the source of many of the so-called alternative therapies in the Western world. In Indian philosophy, the chakras are considered the centers of spiritual power and energy within our bodies. There are seven chakras, and a different color represents each:

  1. The Root Chakra, located at the base of the spine, is represented by red. This chakra has to do with our grounding and connection with the Earth.
  2. The Sacral Chakra, located 2 or 3 inches below the navel, is represented by orange. This chakra is said to be associated with reproduction, the kidneys and adrenals, and pleasure. It is the mind-body chakra.
  3. The Solar Plexus Chakra, located between the navel and sternum, is represented by yellow. This chakra is associated with the pancreas, liver, digestive system, and gallbladder, as well as positivity, empowerment, and well-being.
  4. Green represents the Heart Chakra. It’s associated with the heart, lungs, and immune system. It’s associated with energy, the nervous system, mental focus, compassion, and empowerment.
  5. The Throat Chakra is represented by blue and is associated with the thyroid and metabolism as well as peaceful expression.
  6. The Third Eye Chakra, located between the eyebrows is represented by indigo and associated the pituitary gland and pineal gland and influences our sleep cycles, self-esteem, clarity, wisdom, and intuition.
  7. The Crown Chakra, located at the top of the head, is represented by violet and associated with the pineal gland, light sensitivity, sleep cycles, dreams, clarity, and spirituality.

Methods Of Delivery For Color Therapy

The alternative healing practice of color therapy relies on the delivery of the light frequencies of color to the body. The light either goes into the body through the eyes or via color therapy equipment.

Through Eyes

One way to take advantage of light therapy is to view the color simply. You look at the color for a few minutes. That’s all there is to the delivery. What you need to be careful with are the colors you choose. Green is considered the safest color. Red and orange may cause you too much excitement and agitation.

I can’t help this, that’s excitement in @GG’s case. ( Love You, shout out)

Color therapy is individualized as well. What works to help you might make someone else feel worse. For example, if you have a lot of anxiety and need to calm down, blue might be a good color to use. If someone else were depressed, though, blue wouldn’t be a color they should use in color therapy.

Via Color Therapy Equipment

There are various kinds of color therapy equipment. Some of them can be made easily, while others can be ordered for a color therapist’s use. This equipment uses the projection of colored light. Sometimes, the color is projected on a screen, and you look at it. The light comes from specific light bulbs of no more than 500 watts. With color therapy equipment, the colored light can be shone on your skin as well using modern and sometimes high-tech equipment that allows the hue and intensity of the color to be dialed in precisely.

Psychological Effects Of Different Colors

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Colors affect our mental processes and can change our mood. Each color has a different effect, so different colors are used for different mental conditions and mood problems. The following list describes how each of the main colors used in color therapy affects us and what they can do for you.

Green

Green is the most balancing of all the colors. Color therapists usually consider green the safest color and typically start color therapy with it. When you’re feeling sad, hopeless, or depressed, green can improve your mood. However, it’s important to have a pure green color, as a light green can cause you to tip into anxiety.

Green is said to enhance the emotions of love, joy, and inner peace. It can bring you hope, strength, and serenity. Green is said to increase your wisdom and facilitate change and independence.

Blue

Blue is a color that must be used with extra care, as it can zap your energy if you’re feeling low. Blue does help you express your feelings, though, and is related to your inner truth. Blue is a cold color that can be used to help you become more peaceful and relaxed. Primary blue is often used in therapy settings used for meditation and relaxation.

Blue can also be associated with wisdom, creativity, loyalty, and spirituality. Too much blue or blue that is too dark can lead to sadness, depression, and a feeling of emptiness. Light blue promotes serenity. It can also be used to help with insomnia.

Yellow

Yellow can be used in color therapy to bring energy and encourage action. This color can make you feel happier. It can bring out your intelligence and wisdom. Too much or too-bright yellows are associated with betrayal, cruelty, and deceit. It can remind us of our mortality. Yellow is the most intense color in the spectrum.

Orange

Orange signifies abundance, pleasure, well-being, and sexuality. Orange may be used to stimulate different organs in the body for physical healing. It revitalizes you and gives you increased mental energy. It can increase your feeling of connectedness between your mind and body. However, color therapists usually avoid this color for you if you’re prone to anxiety.

Red

Red is even more stimulating than orange. It influences emotional issues like financial independence and physical survival. It’s mostly used for physical healing because its emotional effects can be extreme. Color therapists avoid shining red on your head, as this can cause intense agitation. Infrared can also be used by a skilled color therapist if done so with caution. Neither red nor infrared is used for someone who has severe mental conditions.

Purple

Purple is most strongly associated with beauty, spirituality, and bliss. In color therapy, violet is often used on the forehead and neck to initiate feelings of calm and relaxation. However, it’s recommended for use anywhere on the body.

I was really interested in my color choices and the colors in my stash. I thought maybe the reason some projects end up on time out is because of the colors in it. Either way it’s definitely food for thought.
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The Gentle Art of Healing 3

I am continuing where I left off in this part of the series. the current question is, What else can knitting(crochet) do?

It can also help with issues like sleep problems, particularly if you’ve got thoughts whirling around in your head preventing you from going to sleep. Or maybe somebody who wakes at 3 am and can’t get back to sleep. In that case, I would recommend having a small case by your bedside, and it’s one of those things you can do quietly in bed to relax you enough to go back to sleep. Stress from work because you can use it on your commute to work, or at lunch. I think one of the things we learned from the survey was that computer tech people found it relaxing after working in a 2D atmosphere to a 3D project helped them to relax as well. you can use it for problem solving, in fact there is quite a lot of research that if you have a problem and you go away and you leave it, do some relaxing craft. your brain relaxes and an answer will some to mind.

Makes you happier
  • Gives a sense of Achievement
    • helps you feel safer
      • helps you socialize
        • gives your mind a break

The interviewer asked whether knitting can help us in our wellbeing day to day? You can use it whether your fit and well or if you suffer from an altered mental condition. Because we suffer from an ongoing condition of stress, so if you don’t manage your stress on a day to day basis it can give us other problems.

Some use it to find friends , join a knitting group. it’s a safe environment and you meet people from a lot of different backgrounds, that you wouldn’t normally have the opportunity to meet.

Helps with sleep problems
  • reduces stress at work
    • helps with problem solving
      • helps finding friends & building community

The interviewer asked, “How can we motivate ourselves to get started knitting for wellbeing”? The motivation part is a big problem, actually it’s one of the biggest issues in the healthcare system. Is to actually help people to get motivated, get involved in their own healthcare. What we found was if we could help people to take small achievable steps and build on that. Once they felt successful at the smaller steps, they could then build on those feelings.
So going back again to this rewardable occupation, you’ve got a system in your brain called the reward system. The brain provides a natural boost of a feel good chemical, seratonin.

I have read 2 of Betsan Corkhill’s books, “Knitting For Health And Wellness: How to knit a flexible mind and more…” and “Crochet Therapy: The Soothing Art of Savoring each Stitch”. I found the information to be very interesting and the thoughts behind it very stimulating. The patterns are very easy for a beginner to master. She has a very calming way of writing, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I highly recommend them.

Thank you for reading my fascination with this subject, If anyone is interested I have some great color therapy notes I’d be happy to write about.

Knit for Peace has a downloadable 44 page pdf. I think it was a thesis paper, but it is a good read if your interested in learning more.
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The Gentle Art of Healing 2

Interviewer asked: Why Knitting ( crochet, needlework)?

All of these are important.

The brain,has the capacity to process many things at a time, but if the brain is concentrating on doing a cross body task then it has less opportunity or capacity to concentrate on other things like problems or pain for example. There was a study done that showed repetitive movement causes the release of Serotonin in the brain. The rhythmic movement is just as important as the repetitiveness. It takes sort of control over their thought process. And with the movement,and the mood they are in, it is instantaneously soothing and relaxing.

Most of the stories received by the study have mentioned the repetitive movement as facilitating meditative lactate. They say it’s like Meditation, “Zen”.prayer, zoning out, like going to a sanctuary of that peaceful mind.

Rhythmic

  • Repetitive
    • Calming/ Self Soothing
      • Gives a Sense of Control

The Interviewer asked: What else can Knitting(crochet,needlework, ect.) do?

A study was done of people with clinical depression, out of most of our replies, 81% have a happier affinity, 54% happy or very happy, 1% didn’t care.

Then, there are lots of stories of it creating kind of like a barrier, of increased personal space. The way you hold your arms out with your knitting in front of you. It stops the rest of the world from entering your personal space, decreasing anxiety, panic, stress. They can use it as a way to help them socialize, or on public transport.


In fact there are quite a few people who wouldn’t be able to use public transport, without their knitting, because of the way it creates a personal space around them. There are a lot of activities that these people are able to participate in, due to the perceived increase in personal space created by this cross body movement in front of them. They can socialize with other people while having this notion of space, join knitting groups. If they are feeling safe, they can interact with the others. If they are feeling particularly vulnerable they can just sit and knit, just listening to the people around them, giving them the choice of interacting with the others or just sit quietly and knit.


Some describe it as giving their mind a break, especially people with anxiety, continuously worrying about it in their minds. It’s a way of breaking into those thought patterns, again there’s a way of renumerating thinking. A sort of backward loops way of thinking about things, they are very difficult to break once they get established but perhaps it’s the automatic nature of knitting that’s doing that, because automatic movement can effect your subconscious too.

People can forget what it feels like to be relaxed, because if your stressed or anxious for a long period of time, it can affect the muscles, your jaw might be clenched, your posture might be poor, so the brain kind of recognizes this as being you,and you can forget what it feels like to be truly relaxed. So what the professional tries to do, is to get the person to remember how to relax, what it feels like. Its very difficult to get someone to relax if they’ve forgotten what it feels like to be relaxed. So if you give them something like knitting, it can help them to remember what it feels like, get them to recall that feeling, even when they haven’t got their knitting at hand. A daily dose of knitting to help them in terms of managing stress.

This stuff can be a little dry, but I haven’t received any comments telling me to stop. I haven’t received any comments at all. Is anybody out there? Anyway, we will go on to discuss a little more about stress and then on to color theory!

Happy day everyone!