Think Orange for Creativity

Think Orange! Create Orange!

In feng shui, orange is a yang (the masculine aspect of the yin-yang theory) color that provides enthusiasm, motivation and inspiration.

The Hindu culture says creativity can be promoted by balancing the sacral chakra, which is located near the body's navel, through surrounding yourself with the color orange.

Orange stimulates the mind and has an invigorating, creative effect. The color doesn't need to be bold or loud to produce a creative response. For example, you may favor a pale, creamy orange color over bright, pumpkin orange.

Orange combines the energy of red and the happiness of yellow. It is associated with joy, sunshine, and the tropics. Orange represents enthusiasm, fascination, happiness, creativity, determination, attraction, success, encouragement, and stimulation.

To the human eye, orange is a very hot color, so it gives the sensation of heat. Nevertheless, orange is not as aggressive as red. Orange increases oxygen supply to the brain, produces an invigorating effect, and stimulates mental activity. It is highly accepted among young people. As a citrus color, orange is associated with healthy food and 3stimulates appetite. Orange is the color of fall and harvest. In heraldry, orange is symbolic of strength and endurance.

Orange has very high visibility, so you can use it to catch attention and highlight the most important elements of your design. Orange is very effective for promoting products and toys.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could just flick a switch and turn on your creativity? Sadly, at times, tapping into your creativity can feel like trying to squeeze water from a stone. The good news is, there are ways of encouraging creativity and one of these ways is through balancing your sacral chakra.

Chakra is the Sanskrit word for moving wheel; the chakras are vortexes of energy present in the ethereal body and in corresponding locations of the physical body. There are seven major chakras and they function as pathways for energy to be taken in.

Luckily, there are many tools to help balance the chakras. I’ve listed some of the correspondences for the sacral chakra together with guidelines on how to use these tools to balance this chakra and hence enhance your creativity.

Color: Orange
Surround yourself with orange. Wear it, eat it (preferably in the form of food) or paint your studio or workspace with it. If you meditate, visualize orange around the area of this chakra.

Music: sensual flowing music with passionate rhythms (think Marvin Gaye’s “Sexual Healing”) Dance, using your hips. Gyrate, baby, gyrate!

Gemstones: any orange stone — carnelian, orange jasper, fire opal, moonstone You can wear these stones as jewelry or carry them in your pocket or purse.

Essential Oils: sandalwood, jasmine, ylang ylang, clary sage, bergamot, orange blossom Burn oils in an oil burner. Combine 10 drops or use singly in a bath. (This is particularly effective as water is the element governed by the sacral chakra.). Put some drops on a handkerchief and sniff it when you need inspiration. Make yourself a massage oil by adding a few drops of essential oil to almond oil.

Now you know what to do to get your creative juices flowing; go take a bath whilst eating a mango, come out and drape yourself in orange clothes and jewels and start swaying those hips to a cool groove.

Then, go create!