I have used color to affect my health for many years - I repainted my house about ten years ago with bright primary colors to give it more life and improve my mood. (Before it was offwhite with black trim inside). More recently I have used colors in clothing and jewelry to change my energy and improve my health. And my acupuncturist Maureen Quinn sometimes using colored lights to help heal me. So this week's Sandbox on Aura-Soma Color therapy looks very interesting!

Here in Peru I am on a tour with two shamans of Macchu Picchu and other sacred sites near Cusco. I didn't realize that many of these sites are pre-Inca and may be 10,000 years old or more. One site we visited today was the Temple of the Sun which was in the old center of Cusco. During the spanish invasion of Peru in the 1500s the Catholic church build a cathedral on top of the temple and destroyed most of the  Inca spiritual pieces including a star gateway many thousands of years old. All the gold art and spiritual work was shipped to Spain and to The Pope in Italy where a few pieces remain in vaults at the Vatican. The rest was melted down... I guess the church wanted to take over the spiritual energy of the site and convert the natives to catholicism. However the natives while pretending to convert actually changed many of the catholic symbols - for example the Virgin Mary looks very like Patcha momma of Mother Earth!

While we were at this sacred site there was a photoshoot for Miss Peru going on there. Lots of pretty young girls in skimpy dress and underwear parading around in very high heels. The thought came to my head - is the photoshoot sacrilegious to the Catholic church? Or is building a Catholic church on top of a thousands of years old Inca spiritual site the bigger sacrilege? To add more food to this thought there was an earthquake 20 years ago here in Cusco - the 400 year old church walls fell down but the 5000 year plus pre-Inca walls were undamaged - perhaps a sign of want Mother Earth wants here? (Side note most other buildings in Cusco were undamaged. And the church rebuild their building on top of the Inca site again. Perhaps by 2012 it will come tumbling down again...)

This entry was posted on May 19, 2011 at 11:02 PM and has received 737 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

This Wednesday Sandbox gathering we join Anka Banks to learn how to Enhance Your Wellbeing with Color and activate our light bodies with Aura-Soma Color and Angel Therapy. How can we take care of ourselves with color? How can color possibly have a beneficial effect on a health condition? Let’s take the example of a stiff neck.

The neck is in the blue area of the body, which is also called the blue chakra, the throat chakra or the center of communication. This is the domain where our throat, vocal cords and mouth are located and from where we communicate with the world. For instance, when we hold onto some words to avoid conflict and we know we should or could have said something, our energy field - in this case the area of the throat chakra - can get jammed, causing tensions which can show up as muscle aches, cramps or a stiff neck on a physical level. (Image from Elizabeth Feisst website)


Actually sometimes we are incapable of letting go in our minds for a long time after the event. We get depressed over our failure to speak out. We let our shoulders hang, add more tension to our already tense body and look quite desolate. We are stuck.


To prevent tensions in the shoulder and neck area we can support ourselves with a blue scarf, a blue gemstone or, more effectively, a blue pomander from the Aura-Soma color care system. The blue allows us to be more confident and feel an inner strength that gives us courage to say or write what needed to be said or written in a more peaceful way, thus reducing the cause for jams and tensions in the neck and shoulders.

Aura-Soma is a color-care system that helps to harmonize and activate the light body. It also stands for our state of being. Color is a way to support our being’s needs and brings balance to our bodies and lives.

Everybody can do it. One simply has to pick four color combinations. These selections reflect who we are and what we need.

Anka will help you balance and the building of your light body using self-care with color energies, Aura-Soma, attuning to the higher vibrations of Angels and the ascended Masters.

The ancient Romans had talked about the importance of “a healthy mind in a healthy body”. Nowadays there is an ever-growing awareness that mind and body are closely connected and that we can influence our wellbeing with our way of thinking. Depending on our state of mind, we are tense or relaxed, we feel worried or happy or we are upset or thrilled and this has repercussions on our muscles, nerves and more. With color we have the possibility to influence our thoughts and, as a consequence, our wellbeing.


Color can be used just like a language and enable us to identify our needs and interpret our state of mind. Red, for instance, is a resonance of energy and passion, blue of inner peace and authority, yellow of happiness and the intellect. Color can be used as a tool to take care of ourselves, change our state of mind, get more clarity, relax and see the broader picture. Our choice of color combinations describes and addresses our needs. (From our Health Magazine, February 2010)

Anka Hellbach Banks is an Aura-Soma Practitioner and Teacher. Here is what she says about her journey:

"My name is Anka Hellbach Banks and I was born in the year of the rabbit. After finishing high school in Germany, I went to college in France where I studied languages – French, English and German. I worked with both languages and finance in both France and Germany.

In high school, I became interested in the healing effects of essential oils. I continued my study of essential oils, and learned nutrition as a way of healing. As an adult, I studied Anthroposophy, the philosophy of Austrian Rudolph Steiner, and his movement art, Eurythmy.

After I moved to the U.S. in 1998, and following the birth of my second child, I became aware of my gifts as a healer. I found I had the capacity to put myself into other people’s situation and to become aware of their feelings – and, more recently, their pain.

In 2003, I began studying the Aura-Soma color-care system and subsequently became a practitioner. I use color as a tool to support people expand their awareness.  I am now an ASIACT [Art and Science International Academy of Color Technologies] certified teacher of the Aura-Soma system. At this point I am particularly interested helping people reach out to angelic energies for support."

You can reach Anka at 240-529-4311 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            240-529-4311      end_of_the_skype_highlighting Silver Spring, MD AnkaBanks (at) starpower.net or http://www.beingoflight.net

The workshop begins after dinner at 8pm. I invite you to join us, though as always what ever choice you make you will be honored in.

This entry was posted on May 19, 2011 at 10:59 PM and has received 2957 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

For me ginger tea helps when I feel low energy from detox or cold coming on. Also flushing nose with salt water in shower - I use a cup but a netty pot works too.

And if you are detoxing I recommend an Aura Bath,  which is also great to do any time your aura feels yukky.

You might also try thumping your spline points for 20 seconds as that boosts your immune system. (They are in a line below nipple one rib below your breasts)

This entry was posted on May 19, 2011 at 9:37 PM and has received 1121 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.