Meditation: Chromotherapy and Healing

This unit's meditation, The Crime of the Century (Kaplan, 2010), resembles a zen-like re-enactment of the scientific experiments conducted by Sir Isaac Newton, between 1666 and 1672, to prove his theory of the relation of light to color. In his unprecedented experiments, Newton demonstrated that a ray of light is divided into its constituent colors by the first prism, and the resulting bundle of colored rays is reconstituted into white light, sound familiar? (Cherry, 2010).

This week's meditation was like a bit of a social experiment set to calming music and the lulling voice of an effective moderator. We, with the moderator's instruction, focused on certain colors associated with different parts of our body. The moderator introduces each color in association to a given body part separately, and the moderator eventually asks us to envision all the said colors seen through the prism as one radiant white light that envelops us as the climax of the meditative process.

All cerebral analysis aside, the exercise was relaxing and quite enjoyable. But with more thought I wonder: Was I supposed to gather something other than surface relaxation from the exercise? Was I supposed to feel warm when I focused on red and cool when I focused on blue? I can't say the experience was an evocative color-to-emotion exercise, but it does pique my interest about the study of chromotherapy, light therapy, and colourology as a holistic or alternative treatment.

I will likely return to this practice again; maybe I'll think less about the meaning of the exercise and just enjoy. Can I get an "Ummmm"?

Cherry, K. (2010). Color Psychology: How Colors Impact Moods, Feelings, and Behaviors. About.com

The Crime of the Century (2010). Kaplan University. Retrieved from http://www.kushs.net/kaplan/HW420/TheCrimeOfTheCentury.mp3