Colour Therapy, Psychology & Experience: Why the Same Colour Feels Different to Everyone

Colour therapy is often spoken about as if colours have fixed meanings, red equals passion, blue equals calm, green equals healing. While these associations can be useful starting points, they’re only part of the picture.

In reality, our response to colour is deeply personal.

Colour Psychology vs Chakra Systems

There are two commonly blended, but very different, ways of understanding colour:

Colour psychology looks at how colour affects mood, behaviour, and the nervous system. It’s shaped by biology, culture, memory, and lived experience.

Chakra systems come from ancient spiritual frameworks that associate colours with energetic centres in the body. These systems are symbolic and archetypal, not diagnostic.

Neither is “right” or “wrong, but they are not the same thing.

Problems arise when colour meanings are treated as universal truths rather than flexible frameworks.

One Colour, Many Reactions

Take red as an example.

For one person, red may feel:

• Passionate

• Energising

• Sensual

• Grounding

For another, the same colour may trigger:

• Anger

• Anxiety

• Aggression

• Emotional overload

Why? Because colour interacts with personal history, not just theory.

A colour linked to love, safety, or confidence in one life may be linked to conflict, danger, or loss in another.

Your body remembers, even if your mind doesn’t.

The Nervous System Matters

Colour doesn’t just affect how we think, it affects how we regulate.

Bright, high-contrast colours can be stimulating to the nervous system.

For someone already overwhelmed, that stimulation may tip into agitation. For someone feeling flat or low, the same colour may feel enlivening.

Muted or softer tones may feel calming for one person and dull or draining for another.

This is why colour therapy works best when it’s responsive, not prescriptive.

Why There Is No “Correct” Colour

There is no universally healing colour.There is no colour you should like.And there is no colour you must avoid.

What matters is:

• How your body responds

• What emotions arise

• What memories or sensations are stirred

Your response is the information.

Using Colour Therapy Gently

Rather than following rigid meanings, colour therapy can be approached as a form of self-listening.

You might ask:

• Which colours do I feel drawn to right now?

• Which colours do I avoid and why?

• How does my body feel when I’m surrounded by this colour?

These questions are often more valuable than any chart.

A Holistic Perspective

In holistic practice, colour is best used as a support, not a rulebook.

It can complement other therapies, support emotional awareness, and gently influence mood but it should never override lived experience.

Your relationship with colour is personal.Your body leads.The colour follows.