To complement the MASSAGE Magazine article, “Light and Laser Therapy: Pain-Relieving Tool Complements Massage,” , in the July 2013 issue. Article summary: When used in combination with massage therapy, and to a lesser extent as a stand-alone treatment, light and laser therapy can be an effective pain-relieving tool.
by Julianne Bien
As Earth spins on its axis, it revolves around the sun and brings us many seasons filled with light, warmth, dark and cold. During these environmental changes, our bodies undergo emotional and physical changes.
The internal lighting system, which lives within all of us, is what regulates our bodily functions. When we don’t get enough sunlight, we may get depressed, withdrawn or more susceptible to a cold or flu.
When spring comes around, our bodies run on reserve, as we have been spending most of our days inside, bombarding ourselves with artificial lighting. A protective shield against darkness, our skin enables our body to store light photons as a natural reserve. This allows us to function properly and have energy during low light seasons. When sunlight charges the core of our essence, it is our skin that absorbs, processes and distributes the information contained in light.
You might expect summer to be especially helpful for our bodies, in terms of receiving the sun’s energy. However, nowadays we routinely substitute daylight with various types of artificial illumination, even during the summer months.
Hundreds of years ago, humans spent 90 percent of their waking time outdoors. Now when we venture outside, we shield ourselves from sunlight by wearing hats, applying sunscreen and staying in the shade as much as possible.
Color and light
The world around us is constantly illuminated by light. It’s what enables us to see color and perceive our world as lively and fascinating as it is.
Color is made up of various shades, tones and pigments, and is the essential energy that is basic to all life. Carried in sunlight, color is a true and honest sensation that playfully stimulates our senses and affects our psychological and physical state of being.
Color light therapy has evolved throughout history—from the ancient Egyptians using light and prisms to heal people to ancient Greece, where heliotherapy, or curing sickness by sun exposure, was born.
Studies have shown light is an essential ingredient to a healthy metabolism in all living creatures.
Color and light continue to help the healing process in many ways. Color light therapy is also described as chromatherapy, spectrachrome and color harmonics, which utilizes a color-light illuminator. This tool enables energy carried in light to support the body’s healing potential efficiently.
Light and the body
Electromagnetic circuitry and our internal communication system are highly affected by artificial light, which can minimize circulation in the body. Massage therapists are at the forefront of guiding people into a state of self-healing and rejuvenation by a multiple of disciplines. When you begin to understand the benefits of energy-based modalities such as color light therapy, this enhances the cascading effect of piezoelectricity and provides the body with vital information only color can offer.
When used in a massage session that includes acupressure, color light therapy can have a significant effect on the recipient by sending messages throughout the body as a call to action. While reflex zones are being worked on, color can help release old memories that are trapped in body tissue. Although there can be serious underlying causes as to why a person is in pain, it is the last link of the chain of events that reverberate. Pain is only a signal, not a source of trauma.
Another reason to use color in these healing methods is the space it can give to a seasoned massage therapist. Your hands and fingers are your most important tools, and color light therapy can give them breathing room while the light takes charge. Since these small packets of color energy travel at the speed of light, it will go where it is needed in the body.
Licensed acupuncturist and massage therapist Jeanne Denaro has used color light to enhance results in her practice for a few years now. She introduces this noninvasive, energy-based modality with the Lumalight by selecting a color filter, clipping it to the penlight and shining it 2 to 8 inches away from the body.
Here Denaro explains her understanding of color light therapy:
“There are a series of components that make up our body. It is fueled by photons of light, which enables the use of its specific colors to encourage the healing process. It is used to relieve temperature-driven emotions and ailments as well as boosting energy and creating a more powerful life force. Introducing red to a timid or stressed person who may need some fire in her life can accomplish this.
“There are also reflex zones that respond well with color therapy. I believe you just need to create the space for clients to be aware of their current self and the body will receive what it needs.”
Color attributes
- Red: Essential for physical and emotional transformation, red restores depleted energy and nourishes adrenal function. It stimulates circulation as well as the muscular and cardiovascular systems.
- Orange: This warm, encouraging color has a vitalizing radiance. It can be used to relieve nervous tension, arthritis, fear and loss of appetite when related to depression.
- Yellow: Used to heal arthritis and stimulate eye and ear functions, yellow is a warm, positive color with a purifying effect. It can also be used to strengthen the nervous system and assist metabolism.
- Green: Cooling, sedating and balancing, green helps reduce the swelling and inflammation of joints and tissues as well as calm the body. It can also help create oxygen and purify the blood.
- Sky blue: Used for bronchial and lung issues, sky blue is a cool, calming color that facilitates the breaking down of emotional barriers. It aids in relaxation and sleep, soothes skin irritations and relieves itching and pain.
- Indigo blue: Peaceful and calming, indigo blue is used for restlessness and pain. It helps to calm skin eruptions, oozing sores and external bleeding as well as helping bacterial infections.
- Violet: With the shortest wavelength, violet helps to relieve itching, irritations and inflammation. It is also used to treat anxiety and nervous disorders.
- Magenta: This color helps to balance emotional disturbances and the heart. It supports the circulatory system, adrenals, kidneys and hormonal system.
- Crimson: Known as the best color to clear stagnant energy cysts, crimson can help clear negative emotions that may translate into fear, anger, rage and shock.
- Gold: Similar to solar energy, gold encourages proper circulation in the body. In Western medicine, it has been used for arthritic and rheumatic conditions.
- Turquoise: Used for relaxation, turquoise supports the restoration and rejuvenation of the body at a deep level. It can also help inflammation and itching.
- Light green: A little more subtle than green, light green helps harmonize all systems of the body.
Color light therapy helps to heal the body, mind and soul. Within all living organisms, information is communicated through color-coded broadcasts of faint light energy. All of us emit these broadcasts beneath our skin, which help maintain our natural and active state of rhythm. To have balance, there must be light—and without light, there would be no life.
Julianne Bien, founder of Spectrahue Light & Sound (www.spectrahue.com), developed the Lumalight Color & Geometry System and its training materials. Her numerous books on color and light therapies include Golden Light: A Journey with Advanced Colorworks and Color Therapy for Animals. She presents her theories at conferences and nationally accredited certification courses throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Note: No medical claims are made or implied in this article and the information does not replace the advice and care of a medical professional.