A learned friend has for years worn outfits only within a particular colour family every Monday. She devotes every Tuesday to another colour and, indeed, has matched each day of the week with a specific colour. She recently insisted that I attend her Holi party on a Monday garbed in white because she was of the firm belief that colours have therapeutic value.
Colour Therapy, she revealed after a bit of probing, falls under the very wide umbrella of alternate healing. It asserts that various colours can promote different states of the mind and can even help alleviate ailments. She pointed out that our everyday speech also has many a colour association with different emotional states. We say: She's wearing rose-tinted glasses to indicate an overly positive attitude or He’s in a blue/grey mood to reference a depressive state of mind. This is indicative perhaps of our awareness, even if tenuous, of the meanings contained within different hues.
The colourful festival of Holi seemed to be the right occasion to speak to Mini Gopalan, an alternative therapist, who has worked on Colour Therapy, number of other therapies, acupressure and various other methods to heal people. “Chromo Therapy or Colour Therapy is something that is widely used but not many people are aware of it. I think that knowledge needs to be spread,” Gopalan says.
She begins by addressing the significance of the festive gulal. “Natural reds and pinks are the best colours for Holi,” she says. “Red because you are creating happiness and initiating something good… Holi marks the onset of a new season, spring. Some yellow colour in the form of turmeric is fine because it is a Guru colour and it is also antiseptic.”
Strongly opposed to metallic shades and chemical-based colours, which she pronounces “very toxic,” the therapist is also against playing Holi with a melange of colours. “When you mix up so many colours, it creates an imbalance and can cause anxiety. Black attracts energy of all kinds and can cause havoc, so it has to be avoided.”
Gopalan points out that light has seven colours and there are also seven heavenly bodies which correspond with the names given to the seven days of the week in Indian languages. These celestial objects reflect colours – Mars or Mangal is famously called the Red Planet while the Earth is blue – and according to her this conjunction is the reason why certain colours are matched with certain days in Colour Therapy.
Delving deeper, Gopalan starts with Monday (or Somvaar). “The Moon is called Som and Somvaar is associated with the mind because the waxing and waning of the Moon affects the tides as well as the moods of people. So, when you wear the creamish-white colour associated with the Moon on Monday, you are actually strengthening your mind power. Similarly, Mars is called Mangal and a lot of red is worn on Mangalvaar as it has the power to move matters forward. If you want to start something new, Mangalvaar is a great day because red is a great initiator. Red is considered auspicious in many regions, including China.”
When practicality makes it difficult to sport a particular colour on a specific day, Gopalan has a ready recourse. “Wednesday is associated with Mercury and the colour green, and it helps you to talk well. But if, for example, you are giving a speech in a black formal suit, you can keep a piece of green cloth in your pocket. That will help you speak with confidence.”
In a similar vein, she reveals that Thursday is associated with Jupiter or Guru and the colour yellow which supports progress in life, while the colour of Friday is white because Venus is white and bright. She elaborates, “Saturday is supposed to be Shani Dev’s day, and you wear blue or black. But many women and unmarried girls don't want to wear black so they put a black bindi, which is not right. You're supposed to put red on the forehead because it activates your agna chakra. Finally, Sunday is named after the sun, which is called Ravi, and associated with red and orange. These colours enhance power because the sun is the all-powerful source of every life.”
As a practitioner of Colour Therapy, Gopalan takes pains to point out that she is not discounting the important role played by allopathy. But she asserts that adding Colour Therapy has helped many. She reveals, “During the Covid-19 pandemic, people from the USA used to reach out to me and I would provide them this therapy. Even pregnant women who have been warned of possible complications by their gynaecologists have benefited from using certain colours regularly throughout their pregnancy.”
Whether one believes in the power reposing within a palette of different colours or not, it could be seen by some as simply an excuse to being more colour into their wardrobes...and their lives.
