New Developments in Color Therapy:

Acupuncture Meridians Facilitate the Body’s Absorption of Light

By Anna Cocilovo, PA-C, Dipl. Ac, and
Ron Rosen, OMD, FNAAOM

Acupuncture Overview
Acupuncture is well known worldwide as an effective treatment to facilitate healing. The traditional theory of acupuncture and Oriental Medicine is a complex and coherent one, unifying all body systems, and the physical with the mental/emotional. Scientific studies verifying the effects of acupuncture abound, although scientific explanation for the mechanism of action remains elusive. Popular interest in acupuncture is growing, particularly spurred by the National Institute of Health Office of Alternative Medicine, and the positive report from the October 1998 NIH consensus panel. Traditional theory states that Qi (energy) is the animating force behind life and the cosmic forces of nature, and is the root of all things. If one stays in touch with Qi, one’s life will be healthy in all its phases.

Traditional acupuncturists apply the simple and yet complex theories of Qi to treat a wide range of ailments from pain to chronic illness and functional problems through insertion of very fine needles at the acupuncture points, thereby creating a disturbance in the energetic field. Stimulation of acupuncture points, being more electrically conductive, produces a polarity or electrical gradient, facilitating electromagnetic conduction, or movement of Qi.

History of Colored Light Therapy
Just as acupuncture is a very old system of medicine being rediscovered, so is light therapy, or phototherapy, a “new old” system, which promises to come further into the limelight. Phototherapy was practiced in ancient Egypt, Greece, China and India. The Egyptians utilized sunlight as well as color for healing. In the past 120 years, great strides have been made in research and development of colored light as well as full-spectrum light therapy. In 1876, Augustus Pleasanton stimulated the glands, organs, and nervous system with blue light. In 1877, Seth Pancoast used red and blue light to balance the autonomic nervous system. In 1878, Dr. Edwin Babbitt published The Principles of Light and Color. He elucidated a system for applying colored light to the body, and used solar elixirs, which are colored bottles containing water charged by the sun. He was able to successfully treat many stubborn medical conditions, unresponsive to conventional treatments of the time.

Dinshah Ghadiali, PhD, MD (India), an American who emigrated from India, was highly influenced and inspired by Babbitt’s work. In 1897, the course of his life and views on medicine were forever changed when he saved the life of a woman dying from intractable dysentery. Under conventional treatment, she continued to have 100 diarrheal stools per day. As a last resort, Dinshah proceeded to shine indigo light on the patient’s body. By the end of the first day, the number of evacuations was reduced to 10. By the third day she was out of bed.

By 1920, after 23 years of research and clinical observation, Dinshah, as he came to be known in America, had refined a sophisticated system of color phototherapy he called Spectro-Chrome. Influenced by a strong background in mathematics and physics, he reasoned that the physiologic effects of individual colors would correspond with the action of the mineral which exhibited that color on spectometry. He thereby determined in detail specific attributes of the colors, i.e., the specific effects of the colors on the physiology. He further determined precise and predictable formulations of applying colored light directly to the body for the gamut of physical injury and illness. He was the first to develop a system of healing utilizing all the colors of the spectrum: red, orange, yellow, lemon, green, turquoise, blue, indigo, violet, plus purple, magenta and scarlet. (Editor’s Note: Dinshah modified these colors from the actual visible-light spectrum of violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange and red.)

Spectro-Chrome is based on three principles: 1) that the human body responds to light; 2) colors relate to physiologic function; and 3) color tonation (broadcasting specific colors to the body surface) aids bodily function. Dr. Kate Baldwin, a highly respected physician, AMA member, and chief surgeon of the Women’s Hospital of Philadelphia, became a student, practitioner and strong proponent of Dinshah’s techniques both in her private practice and within the hospital setting. Case histories abound of the successful treatment with Spectro-Chrome. Unfortunately, then as now, political forces of high-tech, elitist, expensive, profit-motivated medicine embarked on a crusade to discredit and repress Dinshah’s simple but effective low-technology healing system.

Dinshah was subjected to decades of indictments, court battles, fines and arrests which in 1947 culminated in being forced to burn his personal collection of all printed material (valued at $250,000) pertaining to colored light therapy. Only a single copy of personal notes was spared. Six years later, after completing probation, Dinshah persisted, restructuring his institute for educational purposes only, and making no claims as to the therapeutic value of projected colored light. Although Dinshah lived out his life under these permanent injunctions secured by the FDA, his system of color therapy, Spectro-Chrome, survived and is today, 30 years after his death in 1966, beginning to enjoy a renaissance. Dinshah, though little recognized to this day, is without a doubt one of this century’s great luminaries. (Editor’s Note: Dinshah’s son, Darius Dinshah, carries on his work.)

Internationally, alternative approaches to healing did not meet with such resistance. Dr. Niels Finsen, a Danish physician, pioneered light therapy in the 1890s. He noticed that tubercular skin lesions were much more common during the long dark winters, but rare in summer. In 1892 he began treating this condition, lupus vulgaris, with light. Later he would use red light to prevent scar formation from smallpox, and eventually established a light institute for the treatment of tuberculosis. His work was so successful in the treatment of skin tuberculosis with ultraviolet light that he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1903.

Physics Of Colored Phototherapy
Drs. Babbit, Pancoast, Pleasanton, Baldwin, Finsen and Dinshah provide us with ample empirical evidence of the value of colored light in medicine. The scientific explanation for this rests in quantum physics and color theory: the photoelectric effect first discovered by Hertz, and the theory of light elucidated by Einstein. By the photoelectric effect, when light strikes any material substance, electrons are discharged, creating a current. In other words, light interacts with matter as the energy of the light is transferred to electrons.

In 1905, Einstein offered an explanation for this phenomenon with his Corpuscular Theory of Light, for which he was awarded his only Nobel Prize. He proposed that light is composed of corpuscular units called photons. A photon is the smallest unit of light and has a dual nature, being both particle and wave at the same time. A photon travels at the speed of light and its energy is related to the frequency of radiation. The energy of the photon is transmitted to the electron. The shorter the waves of light the greater the energy of the photon, which results in stronger acceleration when that energy is transferred to the electron. The intensity of the light determines how many photons strike a given surface, and likewise, how many electrons are discharged. The higher the intensity, the greater the quantity of photons and the greater the number of electrons activated. The wave theory of light, held prior to this, was unable to account for the photoelectric effect.

Color Theory
Color is frequency. Specifically, color is frequency within the visible spectrum of light, which composes a very small band of the total electromagnetic spectrum, from violet at 400 nanometers (higher energy photon) through red at 780 nanometers (lower energy photon). Beyond violet in increasingly shorter wavelengths are ultraviolet light, x-rays, and gamma radiation, which contain tremendous amounts of energy. Infrared and radio waves are longer wavelengths outside the red end, with very little energy.

Each color of the spectrum is composed of a band of frequencies. Therapeutic application of light to the body is accomplished by applying a single monochromatic wavelength within that band. It has been said that when the body is healthy, it may be able to filter out, from white light or sunlight, whatever color frequency it needs. But if a person’s health is compromised, the necessary color must be supplied. As stated by the photoelectric effect, the frequency of radiation determines the energy of the electrons emitted. This supports the rationale behind Dinshah’s empiric system of color attributes: individual frequencies have specific effects.

Bridging Color Therapy And Acupuncture
There is much work going on these days in the use of full-spectrum and colored light for mind/body healing. There is no doubt that light is necessary for health, and even life itself. The term “malillumination syndrome” has been coined to explain the vegetative effects on health from being undernourished by light. We now understand that individual sensitivity to diminished full-spectrum light underlies seasonal affective disorder. Dr. Dan Oren, at the National Institutes of Mental Health, has brought colored light into this equation, finding that green light is more effective than red in the treatment of SAD. Colored-light therapy through the eyes, and applied to the body, is being utilized in the fields of psychology, optometry, chiropractic, medicine and acupuncture.

Colored light has a particular ability to balance the autonomic nervous system, which is crucial in most chronic and functional disorders as it regulates all of the automatic processes of the human body: breathing, the beating of the heart, the functioning of the digestive tract, the stress response. Light as an environmental stimulant is second only to food in its impact on controlling bodily functions. Interestingly, light through the eyes reaches not only to the visual centers of the brain, but also the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus is the brain’s brain. It organizes information from our external and internal environments, initiates the stress response, and regulates immune function, reproduction, thirst, hunger, temperature, emotions, and sleep patterns. It houses the body’s biological clock, controls most of the functions of the pituitary gland, and controls the autonomic nervous system. Light from the hypothalamus is then sent to the pineal gland, the body’s light meter and the only gland in the body not controlled by higher neurological centers. It transforms retinally perceived light waves into neuronal impulses and hormonal messages through melatonin production.

Melatonin is both created and released by the pineal gland in response to light and darkness. The pineal gland and melatonin are our physiologic and hormonal connection to our environment and the universe. In Oriental medicine, we say that the human being is created when the Qi of Heaven and the Qi of Earth come together. I postulate that the Qi of Heaven continues to enter the formed human body through the pineal organ in the form of light.

So we are just starting to recognize, investigate and understand the integral and profound role light plays in regulating and maintaining health in the body/mind. Its application to acupuncture is natural.

Russian researchers at the Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine have shown that light applied to the human skin penetrates the body between 2 and 30mm, depending on the color frequency (another explanation for the individual color attributes). They were able to track the light by magnifying it with a photomultiplier, and measuring it with a photometric unit. The researchers found that only certain areas of the body were able to transfer light beneath the surface, and that these areas corresponded to the acupuncture points. Not only that, the light was conducted within the body along the acupuncture meridians.

Although light penetration may be superficial, deeper physiological processes may be stimulated. It seems that the meridians are a light transferal system in the body somewhat like optical fiber. Just as light through fiber optics is being used to store information in computers, and transfer it almost instantly around the globe, perhaps the meridian system as a conductor of light provides the coherent unified theory of a subtle-energy information system within the body. This could be the missing link, uniting materialistic medicine with subtle-energy healing modalities and bridging the gap between physics and metaphysics. The transmission of photons, which you recall travel at the speed of light within the meridian system, may be a more fundamental aspect of Qi than electromagnetic energy, which deals with relatively inert ions or electrons.

Dr. Tiina Karu, PhD, with the Laser Technology Center in Russia, and affiliated with the University of California at Berkeley, has researched the effects of light on the cell since the 1980s. She has found that there are photo-receptors at the molecular-cellular level which, when triggered, activate a number of biological reactions: DNA/RNA synthesis, protein and collagen synthesis, and cellular proliferation. The result is rapid regeneration, normalization and healing of damaged cellular tissue. In essence, light is a trigger for the rearrangement of cellular metabolism.

Coherent Vs. Incoherent Light
Light therapy and acupuncture have most popularly interfaced through the use of laser technology. Laser is an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. Hot lasers are used in surgery to cut, cauterize and destroy tissues. Lower power lasers, referred to as “soft” or “cold” lasers, are used in clinics, research facilities and hospitals around the world to produce therapeutic effects through photobiostimulation. Soft lasers are classified by the FDA as Class III, nonsignificant risk medical devices for investigational purposes only.

Research from Cornell University also supports this supposition that the body absorbs light through the skin, and that this light has physiological action. Chronobiologist Scott Campbell found that the biological clock could be reset by shining light on the back of the knee. Prior to this it was believed that the light had to be transmitted through the eyes. This has important implications for the treatment of seasonal affective disorder and sleep disorders linked to aberrations in circadian rhythm.

Laser is simply light which is coherent. Coherent light beams have minimum divergence and maximum parallelism over distance. This is as opposed to incoherent light, which is regular visible light beams which scatter.

There is a vast amount of research documenting the biological responses and efficacy of laser biostimulation, much of which is applicable to incoherent light. It has a homeostatic effect: promoting skin regeneration or reducing scar tissue, decreasing pain, promoting enhanced sensitivity in numb areas, reducing swelling and irritation, improving circulation and enhancing the immune system. However, soft laser treatment is not without risk. It can be overused in intensity and duration. It is harmful if it comes in contact with the eyes. There is also thought that if used for a prolonged period, it can damage acupuncture points, leading to reduced effectiveness, as taught at acupuncture seminars at the University of Washington.

In all the excitement over laser, sight has been lost of the prior work done with incoherent light. Dr. Karu contends that coherent light is not necessary and that incoherent light is equally effective at producing clinical results. Furthermore, she found that coherent light is converted to incoherent light in the body. The exact effect depends on the wavelength, dose and intensity. In Israel, medical doctors utilize incoherent light transmitted by light-emitting diodes (LEDs) in the practice of neurology, dentistry, dermatology, physiotherapy, and in cosmetic applications to promote collagen and elastin formation.

As often happens in life, we became intrigued with the use of colored light in conjunction with acupuncture by circumstance. A friend introduced us to a penlight device for applying colored light to acupuncture points, but the device was clumsy and the light was not intense enough. Shortly after, we became acquainted with the work of the noted French physician Dr. Paul Nogier, who is most well known for developing auricular acupuncture and the Vascular Autonomic Signal. He had first experimented with the autonomic nerve wreath in the iris to help establish the light connection to the body’s sympathetic nervous system. Nogier and his colleague Dr. Rene Bourdiol co-authored a book on the subject in 1975 (Treatise on Iridodiagnosis). Later, Bourdiol, in his book Auriculo-Somatology, described how Nogier used colored and pulsed light on the ear to affect the body’s energy systems. This information, along with the knowledge of Dinshah’s work, peaked my interest in photostimulation of acupuncture points.

Using Light in Our Practice
We have been using colored light therapy in our practices for two years. As with any healing system or modality, light therapy is neither a magic bullet nor a cure-all. But it has clearly shown itself to be an invaluable asset. We use it in combination with standard acupuncture treatment or rely on it for the sole treatment. It is wonderful to use with children and with patients who are needle-phobic or are hypersensitive. Some patients use it at home on themselves and their family, as it is safe and simple to apply.

The Dinshah system of color therapy dovetails nicely with traditional Oriental medicine theory, relating colors to the internal organs and meridian system. Yellow builds the pancreas and improves digestion, red is hot and stimulating, magenta strengthens the kidneys and adrenals. The warm colors (red, orange, yellow, lemon, scarlet) strengthen and tonify, while the cool colors (turquoise, blue, indigo, violet, purple) sedate, calm, and ease pain and inflammation.

What has been most notable from the beginning of this exploration is the rapidity with which healing can take place with something as seemingly simple and noninvasive as light. It compels one to stop and reconsider what our true nature is—that we are in a very literal sense light beings as ancient mystical teachings profess. There is new scientific evidence to support this. Fritz Popp, a German physicist and chemist, published research in the mid 1980s documenting that the cells of all living things radiate light. He further hypothesized that photons are carriers of information in living systems. Dr. G.J. Hyland, of the Department of Physics at the University of Warwick, UK, published research in 1998 demonstrating that living systems spontaneously emit biophotons. Findings of this type seem natural and expected to those who accept the energetic nature of reality. At the same time, it validates the concept of Qi, which has been such a stumbling block to the acceptance of Chinese medicine in the West.

The efficacy of this particular light therapy device has also led us to reconsider the nature of light. Perhaps not all light is created equal. Dr. John Ott’s work on the benefits of full-spectrum light, and conversely, the deleterious effects of fluorescent lighting on both physical and mental health and well being, is well documented and prolific. Psychologist Dr. Warren Hathaway investigated the effects of full spectrum lighting on the performance of 300 ten- to twelve-year-olds in the Canadian school system. Compared to those exposed to cool white fluorescent or sodium vapor lamps, the full spectrum group excelled physically and academically. They had fewer sick days, greater gains in height and weight, and made greater academic progress. His findings were reported at the 1992 meeting of the American Psychological Association.

This research indicates that light has positive or negative effects depending on which frequencies of the electromagnetic spectrum are present. Peter Bros, in his book, Light, goes a step further. He postulates that light is actually made of what gives it off, by emission of electrons from the source. So the light emitted from a full spectrum fluorescent bulb would be different in nature from the full spectrum light emitted by one of the noble plasma gasses, and certainly different from that emitted by an incandescent bulb. Xenon, being a nonreactive gas, has no deficit of electrons, and thus plenty is available for creating the light frequencies. Many elements are loathe to give up electrons. Perhaps, by accident, this explains the overall effectiveness and sometimes amazing results which have been observed. It is to be noted that the original Rife device employed radiation generated from another noble gas, argon.

Therapeutic use of colored light is in its infancy. There are more questions than answers. The field is wide open for research which, I am sure will, secure the invaluable role of light in medicine of the 21st century.

About the Authors: Ron Rosen, OMD, FNAAOM, has been in Oriental medicine practice, which he learned through lineage tradition, for over 30 years. He is also a martial artist of over 40 years experience. He practices in Denver, Colorado, and conducts classes for Maya barefoot doctors in Guatemala. Ron also teaches seminars nationally on many subjects including color therapy and injury medicine.

Anna Cocilovo, PA-C, Dipl.Ac., has been a physician assistant for 20 years and a practicing acupuncturist for 11, with experience in allopathic medicine, traditional Oriental medicine, research and integrative medicine. She received her acupuncture training at Kototama Institute in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She practices acupuncture and complementary medicine in Prescott, Arizona, and teaches seminars integrating colored light therapy into acupuncture practices.

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Reprinted with permission from Lightforms Inc., Prescott, Arizona