Guest post from Yoga Centers at Bellevue, Washington

Another drop in the better delayed than never bucket. This post came to me a bit ago, but languished in my Inbox. With my apologies and a delayed posting, here is a guest post from Aadil Palkhivala of Yoga Centers at Bellevue, Washington. And, of course, his blog.

retro woman in colorful dress    Wearing Happy Bright Colors!

What shall I wear today? What am I going to do and who am I going to see? What’s in the laundry and what’s not?  Do I have enough of anything in my closet to put myself together?  Do I care?

Dressing yourself for the day is quite influential whether you are aware of it or not. Our moods often dictate what our bodies end up wearing.    If you defer to wearing dark colors because it’s easy, or it’s all that’s in your closet, we would like to share some food for thought with you and your nervous system.

When you look in the mirror after you dress, train yourself to notice how you feel when you see yourself.  Notice your mood.  If you are feeling flat, or not yourself, could it be the color of what you are wearing or is the fabric irritating your nervous system, and you never noticed that before?

It’s a myth that dark colors are flattering. They can make you look and feel older than you really are. There is a reason baby clothes never come in dark colors. There is a reason the spring colors are always bright and happy.  It’s a time of blossoming.  A new baby comes into the world and we want to encourage its growth and happiness in all ways hence soft light pretty fabrics.  A freshly planted flower is given every opportunity for growth because of the joy it’s color gives us when it blooms.  Bright cheery colors and happiness go hand in hand.  Blossoming occurs at any age.

To the mind, dark colors seem easier and appear to hold power, but to the heart and feeling level, our shadow and ego rely on us wearing dark colors. To the mind neutrals “make sense and go with everything”, but on the feeling level they don’t help your heart to open.  Wearing all white and beige are where the white shadow hides out and says “see how pure I am.”

Bright happy colors open your heart feeding and calming your nervous system.  We require a variety of colors in our wardrobe just like we require variety in our daily foods.



colorful flower.jpg
Other considerations are:

©       If you work around people who wear black, immediately try to find a happy color to look at to replace the picture of dark colors in your mind.

©       At night, wear soft light colors to help your nervous system calm down and smooth it out, preparing yourself for sleep.

©       Refrain from dressing children in dark colors and rough fabrics because their nervous systems are just beginning to feel. Dark colors and rough fabrics like denim undo this delicate growth process.

Plaid is just ok on the body.  It can cause a little chaos on the nervous system in general because it’s very angular.  Plaid was historically used as a cover up before battle prior to “camouflage fabric coming into existence.   Refrain from dressing your children as well as yourself in camouflage.   Your nervous system will be so much happier

Your skin color changes as more Light comes out from within.  You will notice as you age how lighter softer colors are much more flattering to your skin and help you look and feel younger.

Experiment with color by having one shirt or t-shirt from every spectrum of color or every shade of the rainbow in your closet. It’s an inexpensive way to see that you can wear almost every color, just fine tune the shade of it.   Then use one shade of light gray or a warm beige as a base color.

Spring is around the corner.  For bright colors, consider Land’s End, or Fresh Produce online.
Experiment with new bright colors in a top or shirt to start.  Feel the difference it makes in your level of happiness.  Enjoy!

For your sequence of the day, lately I've been reading Maria Cristina's Moving through my Vinyasa blog for ideas and wisdom. She has great sequences posted almost every day as well. I hope you enjoyed the article and find great things Maria Cristina's way!


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