Gold-yellow: centre of individual life force and positive body energy.
When gold is not shiny, it appears yellow. Because gold is associated with the sun, it is particularly easy for us to feel shine, energy and warmth when yellow appears in a round shape, like crêpes, flatbread or crême brûlée. In the body, golden yellow is associated with the centre, middle of the body and the navel. It is the centre of individual life force, which is also described as “Manipura” [Sanskrit: city of jewels] and is connected to the solar plexus. Gold-yellow supports the absorption of food and ideas as well as the control of visual processes and sight. The yellow area of the light spectrum that can be perceived by humans is associated with the eyes as a sense organ and the sense of sight connected with it. Being self-aware is therefore closely related to the connection between the sense of sight and the control of vision.
Gold-yellow: identity development, self-awareness and self-control
Gold-yellow controls the unfolding of the self, the achievement of personal goals, fame and recognition as well as self-esteem and how individually anchored we feel in the world. Staying true to ourselves and finding our own place in the wider world is something we learn especially between the ages of fourteen and twenty-one, during puberty and adolescence. The development of identity as well as the display of self-confidence and self-control find expression in gold-yellow, for example by liking gold-yellow particularly or not at all in food and clothing as well as in rooms. If we do not succeed in dealing with gold-yellow in a balanced way, we seek protection, build up thick layers around ourselves, eat a lot of yellow-gold foods – or avoid them quite consciously – and detach ourselves, even if unconsciously, more and more from what is happening in the world. The result is dissatisfaction and depression, accompanied by withdrawal outside and inside at the same time. The exclusion of sun in life can lead to nutrient and vitamin D deficiency. This deficiency promotes immobility of body and mind as well as the weakening of the connection to oneself and the environment as well as social relationships. A consequence of this weakening can be vulnerability to outside influences.
Vitamin D, the sun hormone, and the importance of design
In his 2018 lecture, Prof. Dr. Jörg Spitz1 explains that in nutritional and preventive medicine, it is established how closely health is linked to the environment and environmental influences. With dwindling accessibility to nature, especially in densely populated metropolitan areas, the importance of design and the need to consciously pay attention to wellbeing, healthy indoor climate and a pleasant atmosphere is increasing. The environmental characteristics of feel-good spaces differ from conventional architecture in that they reflect the needs of the users in the best possible way. The more suitable the colours and materials of the room surfaces are and the more nurturing qualities they have, the more natural the room feeling becomes – almost as if one were in the great outdoors. Spatial surfaces that match the feeling of being alive can have a similar effect here as taking vitamin D. Colours and materials are the physical equivalent of biochemical reactions in the body: as colour-based frequencies they might evoke a similar effect consuming the sun hormone vitamin D visually as the do as nutrition supplements. In the visual process, light impulses trigger colour sensations that the organism – consciously or unconsciously – perceives and processes. These connections were first examined on a scientific basis in Dr. Ines Klemm’s dissertation “Colour Energy and Wellbeing: the Lessons of the Orient”. In architecture and design, recognition of the scientific connections is currently still in its infancy, but in medicine, too, the change of mindset between symptom treatment and holistic healing concepts is still young.1 Why vitamin D is so important from a medical perspective was summarised by PD Dr. med. dent. Christian Tennert:
“Although “D” in a nutritional context does not follow any specific derivation of the letter, it is an established term. The sun hormone vitamin D is absolutely essential for good health. Vitamin D has several functions in the body:
- Regulation of calcium and phosphate metabolism (maintaining healthy bones and teeth).
- Maintaining the health of the brain and nervous system
- Support of the immune system
- Regulation of insulin levels, lowering the risk of diabetes
- Supporting lung function
- Reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease
- Reducing the risk of cancer
An optimal serum (blood) level that is beneficial to health is 75 g/l. Vitamin D can be absorbed, but only in small amounts, through food (e.g. sea fish, mushrooms, spinach, cabbage, yeast). By far the greater part is converted from a precursor formed in the liver into the active form in the skin by means of UV-B radiation. A good vitamin D supply becomes problematic in the latitudes of Central Europe and further north, because here the sun is not high enough, especially in winter, and we cover our skin almost completely with clothing, which prevents the formation of sufficient quantities of vitamin D. Well over 90% of the population in Germany falls into a deficiency in winter. Vitamin D deficiency is one of the most common nutrient deficiencies worldwide. Therefore, supplementation with a vitamin D preparation is absolutely necessary. Studies have shown that in Germany supplementation with 4000 international units (IU) of vitamin D leads to vitamin D levels that are beneficial to health. However, it is recommended to have the vitamin D level in the blood determined by the family doctor in summer as well as in winter in order to be able to make an exact statement about a necessary supplementation.”
PD Dr.med.dent. Christian Tennert. Nutritionist DAEM/DGEM
Senior physician, University of Bern. Clinic for Dental Preservation, Preventive and Paediatric Dentistry, Alumni of the German National Academic Foundation.
Find more on the remarks by Prof. Dr. Jörg Spitz on Vitamin D: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEU7Hb8KrpM
On the connection between colours, self-regulation and vitamin D.
Sunlight promotes growth and metabolic processes as well as a healthy bone structure. Just like vitamin D in nutritional medicine, colours in design migt provide people and spaces with energy. Colours provide information about the state of energy and indicate the condition of the inner and outer energy depots. The more self-regulated the personal energy cycle is, the more balanced, comprehensive and powerful health, performance and holistic wellbeing become.
Self-regulation means being able to maintain and gain energy from one’s own strength and to manage without an external energy supply. Self-regulation also means taking responsibility for one’s own life. Control from outside and via external influences is taboo here. Self-regulation presupposes that there is a connection between at least two systems. This connection regulates how people and the environment interact – spatially and socially. This relationship begins with the individual. The human body and organism form a system that interacts and resonates with something or someone. The system with higher energy gives energy to the system with lower energy. Since energy is a constant, everything is a process of transformation and energy conversion. In stable and self-centred systems, these processes are correspondingly self-regulating. External influences and interventions are not resonant.
On the connection between colours, self-regulation and vitamin D.
Sunlight promotes growth and metabolic processes as well as a healthy bone structure. Just like vitamin D in nutritional medicine, colours in design provide people and spaces with energy. Colours provide information about the state of energy and indicate the condition of the inner and outer energy depots. The more self-regulated the personal energy cycle is, the more balanced, comprehensive and powerful health, performance and holistic wellbeing become.
Self-regulation means being able to maintain and gain energy from one’s own strength and to manage without an external energy supply. Self-regulation also means taking responsibility for one’s own life. Control from outside and via external influences is taboo here. Self-regulation presupposes that there is a connection between at least two systems. This connection regulates how people and the environment interact – spatially and socially. This relationship begins with the individual. The human body and organism form a system that interacts and resonates with something or someone. The system with higher energy gives energy to the system with lower energy. Since the total energy is always constant, everything is a process of transformation and energy conversion. In stable and self-centred systems, these processes are correspondingly self-regulating. External influences and interventions do not find resonance.
Earth, clay and sand
Gold-yellow in the form of clay, natural earths and sand promotes calm, grounding and earth-connectedness. Earths have a calming effect, enable grounding and connection with Mother Nature. To balance the heaviness of the earth, one finds different shades of blue: from sky-striving summery light blue to the intense dark blue of the star-sparkling night sky. The combination of gold-yellow with blue finds numerous equivalents both in nature and in the design of clothing, products and rooms. Combinations such as golden-yellow beach and deep-blue sea are just as common in the various regions of the world and in all of them as, for example, in royal palaces with lapis lazuli blue ceiling skies and wall ornaments and decorative elements interwoven with gold.
The composition and quality of earth and water say a lot about the state of a geographical region and its cultural, political and economic landscape and value systems. “Built on sand”, for example, means that stability and earth heaviness are replaced with the volatility of small quartz particles. Arid desert landscapes with shifting sand dunes have a different climate than moisture-regulating clay soils – in nature as well as in built space.