Col­orists, inte­rior design­ers and other experts know how to influ­ence moods and atti­tu­di­nal state by the col­ors that sur­round peo­ple at work, at home or at play. I was reminded of the power of color at yesterday’s Anusara yoga class.

Before class, we were all buzzing about the energy we feel in Seat­tle Yoga Arts’ new venue (shown above).

The stu­dio is vibrant, alive with heart-warm­ing hues: reds, oranges, pinks, mus­tard yel­lows, and pur­ple accents. The play­ful inte­rior offers a huge (and wel­come) con­trast to the orig­i­nal stu­dio a few blocks north. While this ener­giz­ing palette may not be opti­mal for inspir­ing med­i­ta­tion or con­tem­pla­tion, it fires our asanas. An appro­pri­ate choice for Anusara’s heart-cen­tered phi­los­o­phy.

As one color expert writes,

…Red sug­gests the very ebb and flow of life. It is the most vis­cer­ally alive hue, the sym­bolic color of the heart, strong-willed and express­ing strong emo­tions. It may com­mand us to stop but at the same time encour­ages move­ment. Phys­i­o­log­i­cally, red is a call to the adren­a­line glands to get the body and senses acti­vated.

—Leatrice Eise­man, Color: Mes­sages and Mean­ings

Dri­ving home, still pon­der­ing the impact of color, I recalled two starkly dif­fer­ent office envi­ron­ments from ear­lier in my career, back in my Sil­i­con Val­ley days.

Apple’s col­or­ful, care­fully designed office envi­ron­ments were a play­ful but ener­giz­ing con­trast to HP’s drab office spaces and linoleum floors. HP’s office always made me think of a house that was func­tional, but unloved. Although sep­a­rated by only 2 miles, they were oceans apart in terms of cor­po­rate cul­ture and design sen­si­bil­i­ties. Apple’s envi­ron­ment stim­u­lated my brain and inspired me to do my best; HP’s depressed me into a low-energy, dull and plod­ding state — one I couldn’t wait to leave.