Colour therapy (color therapy), also called chromotherapy, is the practice of using colour to bring your body, mood and spirit back into balance. In the tradition, every colour carries its own healing energy: red warms and energises, blue calms, green restores balance and violet quiets the spirit. You work with colour in five basic ways: colour breathing, coloured light, crystals, the colours you wear and the colours around you. Pick one colour and one technique, and give it a week.
- Colour breathing and meditation: breathe a colour in, and let tension go.
- Coloured light: sit in the glow of a coloured lamp.
- Crystals by colour: hold or place a stone in the colour you need.
- Wearing colour: dress for the day you want.
- Colour in your space: candles, cloth and lamplight at home.
On this page: what colour therapy is · what each colour means · the 5 techniques · a daily routine · colour therapy in NZ · FAQ
What is colour therapy (chromotherapy)? ✨
Colour therapy is one of the oldest and gentlest healing practices. You will see it spelled "colour therapy" here in New Zealand and "color therapy" in the United States. Either way, the idea is simple. Colour is light, and light reaches us all day long. Choose the colour, and you choose the feeling.
People have been fascinated by colour's power for a very long time. The physician Avicenna, writing a thousand years ago, saw colour as a sign of illness and a part of treatment. Isaac Newton named the seven colours of the rainbow, adding orange and indigo to match the seven notes of a musical scale. The poet Goethe tinted his laboratory windows yellow, red, green and blue to feel what each colour did to his mood.
In 1878, Edwin Babbitt taught that every person radiates their own coloured energy, and that illness is that colour field falling out of harmony. Even the painter Kandinsky wrote, "Colour directly influences the soul."
Modern colour therapy keeps that heart. Practitioners use coloured light, cloth, crystals and visualisation. Many people work with the rainbow order, red to violet, and link each colour to one of the seven chakras. For the chakra side, our guide to visualising chakra colours walks you through it.
What does each colour mean in colour therapy? 🔮
Start with how you feel, then reach for the colour that answers it. Warm colours lift and energise. Cool colours settle and soothe. Green sits in the middle, the great balancer.
| Colour | Traditionally used for | A crystal in this colour |
|---|---|---|
| Red | Energy, warmth, courage, tired or cold days | Red jasper |
| Orange | Joy, creativity, a lift after a heavy week | Carnelian |
| Yellow | Clarity, focus, confidence, a sunny mood | Citrine |
| Green | Balance, renewal, healing the heart | Green aventurine |
| Blue | Calm, stress relief, easy communication | Lapis lazuli, blue lace agate |
| Indigo | Intuition, deep thought, a quiet mind | Amethyst |
| Violet | Rest, sleep, meditation, the spirit | Amethyst |
| Pink | Love, comfort, gentleness | Rose quartz |
Decorating a whole room or altar? Our guide to the spiritual meaning of colours for a sacred space goes deeper into room colours.
How to use colour therapy for healing: 5 basic techniques
You need no special equipment. Each technique takes five to twenty minutes.
1. Colour breathing and meditation 🌙
This is the easiest way in. You simply breathe a colour into your body.
- Sit comfortably with your feet flat on the floor and your hands on your thighs.
- Choose your colour from the guide above. Blue for calm is a lovely first choice.
- Close your eyes. As you breathe in slowly, picture that colour pouring in like soft light, filling your chest and then your whole body.
- Hold the breath for a moment. As you breathe out, picture a grey mist leaving you, carrying the tension away.
- Keep going for five minutes. Finish with three ordinary breaths before you open your eyes.
Hold a stone in the same colour if you like. Our guides to crystals for breathwork and mindfulness exercises add more ways to practise.
2. Coloured light 🕯️
Coloured light is the classic colour therapy treatment. You let a colour wash over you instead of imagining it. Dim the main lights, switch on a coloured lamp and sit in its glow for fifteen to twenty minutes. Some people call this a colour bath, because you bathe in light rather than water.
A mini selenite lamp with mood change lighting is a gentle place to start. Its light moves through soft colours, so you can watch for the shade that settles you. A Himalayan salt lamp gives a warm orange-amber glow, the colour of comfort and cosy evenings.
Two kind notes for your light sessions. Choose a steady glow and skip any flashing or strobe setting, because flashing lights can bring on a seizure in some people with epilepsy. Rest your eyes on the light around the lamp, not on the bulb itself. Selenite is a form of gypsum, which dissolves in water, so dust your lamp with a dry cloth.
3. Crystals by colour (colour crystal therapy) 💎
Crystals are colour you can hold. In colour crystal therapy you choose a stone for its colour, then keep it close: in a pocket, on your bedside table or resting on your body while you lie down. When feelings sit heavy, our gemstone techniques for emotional release show you how to let them go with a stone in hand.
Each stone in the guide is a true colour of the earth. Carnelian is a glowing orange-red chalcedony. Citrine is yellow to orange quartz, and rose quartz is always a soft pink. Green aventurine is quartz with tiny glittering crystals inside. Lapis lazuli is so deeply blue, flecked with gold, that the Roman writer Pliny called it "a fragment of the starry firmament".
Try a rainbow lay-out. Lie on your back and place one stone on each of the seven chakras, from your hips to the top of your head: red jasper, carnelian, citrine, green aventurine, lapis lazuli, amethyst and, at the crown, clear quartz. Rest for ten minutes, breathing each colour in turn. The Chakra Stones set gives you exactly these seven tumbled stones.
Prefer one stone? A green aventurine tumble for balance or an amethyst tumble for rest makes a fine start. Our guide to the surprising benefits of amethyst tells you more about this purple favourite. Purple amethyst can fade in strong light, so keep it off a sunny windowsill. Our sunlight charging guide lists the other stones that fade.
4. Wearing colour
Your clothes are colour therapy you carry all day. Decide in the morning what the day needs, then dress for it.
- For confidence and energy: a red or orange top, scarf or bracelet before a big meeting.
- For focus: a touch of yellow for a sharp, sunny mind.
- For calm: blue or navy on a stressful day, and soft green when you need to feel steady.
- For a gentle heart: pink when you want to be kind to yourself.
Start small. A colour you notice on your wrist works as well as a whole outfit. A carnelian chip bracelet brings orange warmth, a citrine chip bracelet brings sunshine, and a blue lace agate bracelet brings pale-sky calm.
In a New Zealand winter, when the evenings close in early, warm reds, oranges and yellows are the favourite pick-me-up. In the long, bright days of summer, cool blues and greens feel fresh.
5. Colour in your space
The colours around you work on you quietly, all day. You do not need to repaint: a cloth, a bowl of stones or one glowing lamp can shift a room.
Make a small colour corner. Lay a cloth in your chosen colour, add a stone or two to match, and light a candle when you sit there. Blue and violet suit a bedroom or reading chair. Green suits a desk. Warm orange suits the kitchen and the places where people gather. Always blow the candle out before you leave the room.
A rainbow Turkish mosaic lamp throws little pools of every colour across the walls, a whole colour bath in one corner. You will find more glowing pieces in our Turkish lamps range.
A simple daily colour therapy routine ☀️
Colour therapy works best as a small daily habit. This routine uses all five techniques.
| Time | Technique | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Morning | Wearing colour | Choose one colour for the day's mood |
| Morning | Colour breathing | Five minutes of warm yellow or orange |
| Afternoon | Crystals | Hold a green or blue stone for three slow breaths |
| Evening | Coloured light | Fifteen minutes in soft violet or amber light |
| Bedtime | Colour in your space | An amethyst on the bedside table |
Notice how you feel after a week. Keep the colours that lift you, and swap the ones that do not. If you enjoy reading colour in people as well as places, try our guide to seeing your aura colour.
Colour therapy in New Zealand: choosing a piece
You can practise colour therapy anywhere in Aotearoa with a few simple pieces. Here is what they cost in our shop, with prices checked in October 2026:
- Pocket crystals, under $10: a green aventurine tumble is about $5, a rose quartz tumble about $7 and an amethyst tumble just under $10.
- Colour on your wrist, $8 to $10: carnelian and blue lace agate chip bracelets are about $8. Citrine and lapis lazuli chip bracelets are about $10.
- A full rainbow, about $12: the Chakra Stones set of seven tumbled stones.
- Red to wear, about $17: a red jasper tumble necklace.
- Coloured light, $40 to $50: the mini selenite mood lamp is $40, a 1–2kg Himalayan salt lamp about $40 and the rainbow mosaic lamp about $50.
Shipping is free in New Zealand on orders over $99. You can also visit our shop at Westfield Manukau in Auckland, where you can see the lamps glowing in every colour before you choose.
Find a lamp to bathe your room in colour →
FAQ
What is colour therapy?
Colour therapy, or chromotherapy, is the practice of using colour to restore balance in body, mind and spirit. Each colour is believed to carry its own healing energy. You work with it through coloured light, colour breathing, crystals, clothing and the colours in your home. It is gentle, and you can start today.
How do you use colour therapy for healing?
Choose the colour that answers how you feel: blue for calm, green for balance, red for energy, violet for rest. Then use one technique each day. Breathe the colour in for five minutes, sit in coloured light, hold a crystal in that colour, or wear it. Give it a week and notice the shift.
What is the best colour for healing?
Green is the colour most often chosen for healing. It is the colour of the heart chakra and of new growth, and it is said to bring balance and renewal. Blue is the favourite for soothing stress, and violet for rest. Try green first, with a green aventurine in your hand.
What is colour crystal therapy?
Colour crystal therapy is colour therapy with stones. You choose a crystal for its colour, then hold it, wear it or lay it on your body. A rainbow lay-out uses seven stones, from red jasper at the hips to clear quartz at the crown. Crystal lovers say the stone holds the colour's energy close all day.
Does colour therapy really work?
People have used colour to feel better for over a thousand years, from Avicenna to Goethe. Some people call it simply mood, and that is fine too. The people who practise it feel much more: calmer under blue light, brighter in red, steadier with green. So do we. Try one colour for a week and judge for yourself.
Which colours help with sleep and anxiety?
Blue, indigo and violet are the colours for a calm mind and restful sleep. Breathe blue when anxiety rises. In the evening, swap bright white lights for a soft violet or amber glow, and keep an amethyst by the bed. Our calming crystals guide has more stones for stress.
Sources
History: "Cured by colour", Tate Etc. (2005), and Wikipedia on chromotherapy and Newton's seven colours. Crystals and care: the International Gem Society and GIA. Light safety: Healthify NZ. Prices and stock checked on 5 October 2026.