Compassionate Colours

By Murray Mackenzie

The use of compassionate imagery to calm the nervous system is an ancient practice. In the West, proponents of compassion focused therapy, such as Paul Gilbert, have promoted the use of specific imagery based exercises to help trigger our soothing system. This is the parasympathetic nervous system commonly known as the “rest and digest” which helps dial down our threat system, also known as the fight, flight or freeze response. 

We can practice these imaginal exercises proactively at times of calmness to help strengthen our resilience for when life is stressful and turbulent.

One such exercise is the compassionate colours practice, which requires identifying a colour which for you conveys kindness, safety and compassion. My own favoured colour for this exercise is the vibrant yellow associated with the work of Vincent Van Gogh. When I admire paintings like the Sower or Cafe Terrace at Night I can play with the image of him using the sun as his paint well.

Having read about Van Gogh’s life and learned directly about his vision of life through reprints of letters he wrote, I have come to see him as possessing a spirit of exquisite love and compassion. This is deeply personal and anyone doing this exercise can follow their own instincts in identifying their own compassionate colour.

Directions

Establish a comfortable posture where you can commit to breathing in a relaxed, mindful way for the next few moments.

When you are ready, begin to imagine a colour that you associate with compassion, or a colour that conveys some sense of warmth and kindness. Depending on your own style of imagery, it may be a fleeting sense of colour more so than a polaroid representation of the colour, but when you are ready, imagine this compassionate colour surrounding you.

Then, imagine this entering through your heart area and slowly permeating your body. As this happens, try to focus on this colour as having wisdom, strength and warmth, with a key quality of total kindness. Adopt a facial expression of kindness on your own face as you do this exercise. Imagine that this colour wants to help you.

Imagine that its sole intention is to heal you and that it wishes for your happiness. Focus on sensing that intention. Continue to breathe in this mindful, intentional way as you allow the energy of this compassionate colour to suffuse your being. Continue this practice for as long as it feels useful.

The more you practice and hone imagery based exercises like these, the more effective they tend to become.