A Dose of Orange for the Creative Soul

I spend many a week sitting alone with my laptop, iPod earbuds pressed hard into the soft cartilage of my ears while a mix of singer-songwriter tunes and hip-hop beats work their magic trying to get those words flowing. I often find myself at a loss for ideas and after scouring the natural health world for ideas big and small, I finely tuning my ears for snippets of conversations that could turn into research for an article and experiment with organic cures on my own. Even if I know what to write about, blank pages still haunt me. It’s a writer’s life that the first sentence is always the hardest one to write but it seems that research has shown that the humble color orange could be the answer to my prayers by spurring creativity.

If yoga is supposed to align the chakras (the energies of the body), then orange is supposed to balance the creative energy known as the sacral chakra. Meaning “moving wheel” in Sanskrit, there are seven chakras are assigned to different parts of the physical body in order to promote the energy and wellness of the spiritual body.

The sacral chakra is also called the navel or spleen energy because of its position in the lower half of the abdomen (around two inches below the bellybutton). The sacral chakra has the power over self-worth, creativity, and sexuality—meaning that the emotions of desire, passion, and pleasure are contained within the sacral energy. It is said that the more the sacral is balanced, the better fulfilled your life is.

Besides getting positive self-esteem and a pure sense of confidence, the chakra boosts sexuality for well-rounded gratification. Obviously, if the sacral is blocked somehow, both sexual and creative frustration sets in immediately. You may still have ideas, you may just not have the ability to get them out in any artistic or satisfying outlet. Physically, a blockage of the sacral chakra (or any chakras for that matter) can affect your muscles and cause sciatica, lower back pain, reproductive problems, stress, urinary problems, and lowered sex drive.

To enhance your creativity using orange, there are several different ways that healers suggest that help open the energies related to the sacral chakra. The color orange can be infiltrated in your life through various outlets, although orange-colored foods are supposed to help the most. If you don’t like the strings of orange pulp getting stuck in your teeth or can’t eat cantaloupe because of an allergy (like me), you can paint your walls orange, or wear orange clothes instead.

In terms of music, listening to slow and sensual music and get your hips swinging to boost your self-confidence and keep your creativity flowing. Gems also have restorative powers and wearing any of the following orange gems can be helpful: carnelian, fire opal, moonstone, or orange jasper in jewelry or as loose stones in a pocket or purse and kept close to the body to help their powers radiate through the body. If you would rather meditate and breathe in the powers of orange to get rid of that writer’s block, burning oils or dropping some into a warm bath will invite the scent into the body. Essential oils like orange blossom, ylang ylang, clary sage, bergamot, jasmine, and sandalwood are effective in opening this particular creative chakra. For a special treat, steep washed orange peels into hot water, slice up oranges among other citrus fruits in iced tea or ice water for a refresher, or after you are done eating an orange put those extra peels in the garbage disposal to freshen up your kitchen smell.

Whether you dig into a mango sorbet in order to write a paper, make a nectarine tart to help you study for a midterm, shred a carrot stick in your teeth like our old friend Bugs Bunny, or drink some tangerine juice for inspiration, keep a little orange in your life so that blank laptop screen doesn’t scare away your creativity.