Enhancing Mood With Color

By Vusi Moloi © 2008


Some forms of negative mood like depression, anxiety and defensive aggression can respond well to the use of color as a therapeutic outcome. The use of color for therapeutic purposes is an ancient African healing modality.

The ancient Egyptians used color in their assortment of remedies. Some Sangomas use color as part of a holistic healing experience. The graduates of Lebollo in South Africa wear a certain color on their skin in a convocation ceremony which causes women to scream in the villages. Thereafter no one complains of depression or anxiety. The African cleansing and therapeutic rituals integrate color as a healing agent. How is it possible for color to be a healing agent?

Everyone has felt the calming effect of watching a blue sky. Color is a form of visible light that approximately vibrates at wavelengths ranging from 400nm to 700nm. When a 420nm light wavelength strikes the retina it is perceived as violet blue. Retinal light has always been described in terms of visual guidance for the organism. For the longest time it was not known how some form of colored light impinged on mood.

This fact changed when a groundbreaking research by Dr. George Brainard of the Thomas Jefferson University’s Department of Neurology led to the discovery of the missing link. Dr. Brainard and colleagues discovered the fifth photopigment that used light not just for vision as the other classic four i.e. rods and cones, but for purposes of regulating the circadian and neuroendocrine systems. These are systems that affect our mood. Dr. Brainard found the peak response in the range of 446nm to 477nm. These vary in the blue range.

When I demonstrated Thekwini on a laptop to the scientists at the Royal Ottawa Hospital and the NRC (National Research Council) in Ottawa they were amazed at the novel concept of inducing positive mood using a visual stimulus with color wavelengths. This project was subsequently approved for funding under the Industrial Research Assistance Program of the NRCl in Ottawa. Thekwini uses the principles of physics, vector calculus, signal processing, and signal detection, among others to process and inject the healing wavelengths into the visual stimulus.

An article “Shaking Off Negative Mood States With Thekwini” was been published in the newsletter Volunteer Views of the Canadian Mental Health Association in Ottawa. That article, according to the editor, received lots of positive feedback from the readers. It is hypothesized that Thekwini can effectively manage some forms of negative mood like depression, anxiety, SAD, defensive aggression, among others, in a non-invasive way.

Want to know the healing colors? Try green if you are hyper or recovering from an injury. This explains why some hospital walls are painted green. Feeling depressed? Try sky or indigo blue. In the winter season there is less light. A brilliantly saturated red, yellow or orange may be in order or an outright red or white colored coat can lift mood. Some epileptic persons must avoid rapidly moving stimuli likely to induce seizure like interlaced video screens, video games, dance clubs, some Television programs or set. Thekwini was designed to accommodate such persons. To see a demonstration of Thekwini check out The Gentle Sky on the Youtube Colormedicine channel.

About the Author:

Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book A Goodbye To My Little Troubles and a creator of Thekwini. In this book he writes about the history of mathematics and the cell membrane among many topics of human interest. The author explores the subject of color healing in the scholarly paper “The Golden Rays of the African Sun” published in The Heart of Our Community. Besides working as a software engineer Vusi holds a Diploma in the Holistic Science of Color Therapy.