Chromatherapy is a technique of care through the use of colors. By using the energy and the universal properties of colors, the self-healing of the body is stimulated. Focus on this growing practice.

Like light therapy in winter, chromatherapy is a technique for healing physical, mental and emotional disorders, using the universal properties of colors. Developed forty years ago by neuropsychiatrist and acupuncturist Christian Agrapart, it also bears the name of chromatotherapy or chromotherapy.

According to chromatherapy, the colors, according to the light spectrum they offer, have a significant influence and specific benefits on our mind and body. This could be explained by the wavelength specific to each color, giving it an influence on our state, via our sensory organ of sight and our nervous system. But it’s not just our eye that reacts to colors. Our skin, too, is very sensitive to light, and thus to the light spectrum of each perceived color. The skin is thus able to perceive these different wavelengths of each color, and to react accordingly. This reaction has of course a consequence on all our cells, and thus on the general state of our body and our mind. This involves physical aspects of electromagnetic exchanges between cells, when they receive the wavelengths of colors, through complex biochemical and biophysical processes in the body.

This technique is therefore based on influences between the properties and energies of colors, medicine, physics and psychology.

Not yet scientifically recognized, this color therapy technique is still at the stage of alternative medicine, and must be used in addition to traditional medicine. No proof of efficacy has yet been found.

Permanently surrounded by colors, we are often unaware of their influence on our condition. However, many expressions of everyday language show that colors have meaning and influence our lives more than we think: being in the red, seeing life in pink, having the blues, laughing yellow, or having dark thoughts. Feelings and emotions are thus associated with each color, and we perceive them completely unconsciously. Chromatherapy thus makes it possible to control these effects by using the properties of colors wisely, and for targeted objectives.

The colors present in nature are classified from warm to cold tones. Warm colors (red, orange, etc.) are more stimulating, while cold ones (blue, green) are soothing and regulating.

In practice, chromotherapy uses eight colors, derived from the primary colors (blue, yellow, red) and their combinations. We can sometimes add pink, magenta and indigo.

• Red wine : transmitting energy and initiative, red is recommended in cases of physical apathy, sluggishness, colds, hypotension. It is interpreted as a sign of extraversion. Used in excess, it would cause irritability, aggressiveness and fatigue;
• Yellow : revitalizing and stimulating, yellow allows the brain to get excited and show clarity and joy. Interpreted as sunlight, it is an effective antidepressant. Used in excess, it would cause irritability and prejudice;
• Orange : mixture of the two previous colors, it brings together the benefits of red and yellow, ie energy and lucidity. Bringing emotional health, communication and creativity, orange allows you to overcome your inhibitions. Used in excess, it would cause nervousness and restlessness;
• Blue : source of relaxation, it is ideal for appeasement, mental fatigue, stress and insomnia problems. Also used for hypertension, it relieves pain, fever and plays an antiseptic role. Blue stimulates intuition, and awakens talent. Used in excess, it can be a source of melancholy;
• Green : mixture of blue and yellow, green gently brings calm. Ideal for recovering from physical or mental fatigue, it is regenerating and stimulates the growth of our cells. Used in excess, it can weaken or depress;
• Turquoise : more tonic version of blue, it calms and soothes inflammations or infections, by supporting the immune system. It brings the virtues of yellow and stimulates the desire for sharing, lucidity. Finally, it increases our concentration;
• Violet : strengthening the nervous system, it is a motor of mental activity. Used in the case of anxieties, fears and memory loss, it also helps fight rheumatism and blood problems. In excess, it would engender sadness or buried anger.

In order to use all these colors and apply their properties to the patient, chromatotherapists use lamps or flashlights, much like acupuncture. Slides can also be used by applying them directly to the body, in exposures of several minutes.