Coloured items have been used therapeutically since the earliest times. The general principles followed by colour therapists are that energies can be stimulated by encouraging everyday exposure to certain colours. This can be achieved through clothes and accessories or in the decoration and furnishing of living and working environments, and by eating certain foods.

The principle of resonance is used to determine which energies are expressed most by an individual. A person who usually wears a lot of red is assumed to be resonating with that vibration, and so may benefit from adding other colours, notably the ‘cooler’ calming shades of green and blue, if he or she tends to become ‘overheated’ or overexcited, or suffer from ailments associated with an excess of red energy. By contrast someone who suffers from not having enough of this energy and avoids wearing red may benefit from doing so. Benefits may also be gained from being in red surroundings, as well as from eating red meat, and food such as tomatoes, radishes, red-skinned fruits and spices such as cayenne, cloves and capsicum pepper. These should all be avoided by those with an excess of red energy.

This awareness forms the basis of Ayurveda, the traditional medicine of the Indian sub-continent, and one of them oldest systems of healing in the world. Similar principles are also fundamental to traditional Chinese medicine.