Man as a Being of Light:
The Scientific Explanation of Why Colour Light Therapy Works

Often when people hear about Colour Light Therapy for the first time they instinctively know that it is what they need or what they'd like to train in - they just know working with colour and light is right - it makes sense to them intuitively. On the other hand it is good to know that there is a grounded, solid, scientific basis for how and why Colour Light Therapy works, coming from the research and experiments of many eminent scientists over the last century. The crystallisation of this research and experimentation has ultimately led to this technique of irradiating points with focused beams of coloured light in the treatment systems developed by Peter Mandel, a German Naturopath. These light treatments are the basic building blocks used in Colour Light Therapy sessions along with other techniques which make it an holistic therapy.

The healing effects of sunlight on conditions such as rickets and skin tuberculosis were discovered around the 1900's and other research on the healing effects of colour followed in the early part of the 20th century. The influence of light on the endocrine or hormonal system is already well known - our sleeping and waking rhythms are regulated by changes in light. As winter draws in and days get shorter some people can be seriously affected by the lack of light and become prone to depression (Seasonal Affective Disorder - S.A.D.).

Researchers in the former Soviet Union have shown that light travels along energy meridians in the body and light is taken into areas of the body exactly corresponding to the acupuncture points for that part. The role of light in the body has been determined on an even deeper level - the level of the cells - through the work of Dr Fritz-Albert Popp. He has proven the existence of 'biophoton emission' - a faint radiation of light emitted by living cells which regulates bodily processes. In effect cells are communicating with each other through pulses of light - a fact proven by another of Popp's experiments. Cells were radiated with red light and gave back blue light, not red or its complementary colour green - blue is an answer rather than a reflection - also showing that there is intelligence at the cellular level.

This cellular intelligence, communicating information from one cell to another via light is also dramatically illustrated through the work of other scientists. In 1922 the Russian biologist Alexander G. Gurwitsch conducted experiments to determine what triggers onion stalk cells to begin growing when approached by the roots of another onion. He separated the onions physically by placing them side-by-side in sealed quartz glass containers so there was no possibility of any biochemical contact between them. Even with no physical contact, cell growth was triggered in the second onion - the message was relayed to the other cells by light (ultraviolet light can pass through quartz glass). Fifty years later other Soviet scientists carried out a similar experiment with cells in adjacent sealed quartz glass jars. A virus was introduced to the cells in one jar and the cells in the other container immediately got sick as well - the message of sickness was transmitted even though the virus wasn't physically present in the second jar. So, to summarise, cells communicate via light and they transmit biological information - messages of either sickness or health.

Goethe and subsequently Rudolph Steiner explored the effects of different colours - e.g. red for stimulation and circulation, blue for calming and pain relief, yellow for fluidity and digestion. Applying the colours that relate to the natural frequency of a particular organ to the relevant acupuncture or meridian points allows the message of that colour to be transmitted directly to the cells in the organ. When they receive the energy (light) and the information (colour) the cells are reminded to resonate in their natural frequency. Toxins are released - either physical or emotional - and thus the cells come back into balance. For example, the liver resonates with the colour yellow so in a liver detox treatment, acupuncture points for the liver are treated with yellow light, prompting a natural cleansing of the liver of toxicity.

So whatever attracts you to Colour Light Therapy, it is underpinned by compelling scientific evidence from the world of physics for the use of colour as a healing tool. We are indeed beings of light.

(Source: Colour Me Healing by Jack Allanach)