How can we use colors to stimulate certain aspects of our lives through chakra awareness?   When working on growing my business I focused on red for about a year I wore it often (or shades of red, burgundy etc.) and surrounded myself with it for a year- I can say it really helped.  Red is the color that represents the root Chakra-survival, food and shelter-our basic necessities (all requiring money).  Red is known to be a color of “good-fortune”in many Asian cultures-coincidence?

When using color therapy in our wardrobe to energize aspects of our lives the truth is we don’t all look great in all colors.  I cannot wear orange or yellow!  I love these colors. I use them in my home but I look very sallow in them.  The book, “Color me Beautiful” has great guidelines on how to use color to one’s best advantage.  It is often more about the shade or hue of a color than it is about a particular color (exceptions to this exist-like yellow/orange in my case).  It is an interesting and entertaining book.  The photos are dated but helpful just the same.

Black is an interesting case.  Many Image Consultants claim that most people don’t look great in black.  Many people do but the amount of people out there swathed in it is staggering.  Image aside, I can say from experience that black can be very draining to the wearer because it is absorbing by nature.  Black absorbs all the colors of the spectrum (this is why it gets so hot in the sunlight).  White, on the other hand, reflects light.  So, wear black if it becomes you, but as an experiment notice how you feel at the end of a day of wearing it.  Noticing these things consciously can be a useful tool in keeping your spirit uplifted.  Black can also be very soothing and centering when used well and is not over-used.

To remember the colors that correspond to each chakra think of the rainbow.  If as a child you were artistic (and even if you felt you were not) you may have learned the rainbow’s colors.  Remember the mnemonic-ROY G. BIV?  It is as simple as that.  ROY G. BIV (red, orange, yellow,green, blue, indigo violet).   Remember the connection to the wonder we felt (and hopefully still do) at seeing a rainbow.  By imagining the rainbows colors in centers of your  body you are in essence connecting to your chakra energy centers.  Light is energy.  The spectrum of the rainbow is light-therefore it is energy. It is that simple.

This table illustrates the seven Chakras, their color correspondence and their location.

	Color	Chakra	Chakra Location
Chakra One	Red	Root	Base of spine
Chakra Two	Orange	Sacral	Sacral Area
Chakra Three	Yellow	Solar Plexis	Below Sternum
Chakra Four	Green/Pink	Heart	Center of Sternum
Chakra Five	Blue	Throat	Throat Area
Chakra Six	Indigo	Third Eye	Third Eye Area
Chakra Seven	Violet/White	Crown	Top of Head

The photo above is of stones which can be placed over each chakra in order to nourish them.  As one can see the colors are not exactly as I stated.  There is room for variations when it comes to this work.  Use this as a guide but feel free to choose what feels best at a given time.
Visual stimulation is one way to access the chakra centers for positive growth.  You can use many of the senses, sound-tuning forks/singing.  smell- aromatherapy…and on and on.  Yoga is great because it is so connecting for our spirit to matter and body.  See my article, Yoga and the Chakra system.  Think of Color Therapy like ingesting the color into you.  Colors give off a vibration.  Looking at art in a museum or flowers in a garden affects us subconsciously as well as consciously. They have lasting effects and are useful tools in stimulating our moods.