how art heals
The fact that art heals is still an unknown fact for the majority of people.
When I was an undergrad art student, art as healing was an idea that sparked great debate.
Art was art. It was serious business.
But healing?
Healing was some soft and fluffy thing that floated out around the edges of consciousness.
Healing was for therapists and nurses and woo-woo people.
I was reminded of this recently when I saw a post on a Facebook forum that said something like, "How do you encourage creativity at your church while still respecting the professional artists in your congregation?"
As if the professional artist is somehow harmed when the amateur artist creates.
There's art and then there's Art.
If this trips you up, if you find yourself nodding in agreement, I invite you to set this hierarchical thinking to the side just for a moment, and remember who and what you really are -
A creator, made in the image of a loving creator.
Of course there are people who have a natural ability for image-making. There are people who will work as artists and people who will not. There is an endless variety of art-making and art-makers.
But creative expression is not just for special, trained, or "talented" people.
Creative expression is the Holy Spirit moving through you.
You have a right to it and what's more, there's a reason for it.
Art heals.
Neurophysiologists know that art, prayer, and healing all come from the same source in the body.
They are all associated with similar brain wave patterns and affect every human cell.
When you enter the interior world of emotion and imagination, you enter the domain of your own deep healing - and healing that comes not from an outside source, but from within your personal open system of neurons.
When you free ourself through creative expression and immersion in the arts, you enable your immune system to work at its optimum.
The stress-related hormone cortisol lowers significantly after just 45 minutes of art creation.
When you speak the ancient language of creation, you re-align yourself with what is deep and true within you. You tap into the source of ever-flowing life force energy.
The medical profession has come a long way in recognizing the healing benefits of art. My hope is that someday the arts will be considered as significant in everyone’s lives as breathing fresh air, eating clean foods, and performing physical exercise. — Renée Phillips
Creative expression is empowering.
When you engage your imagination and journey the landscape of creation, you unlock buried emotion, you release old stories.
When you reclaim your voice, you reclaim yourself.
In the freeing energy of creation, you access the unconscious.
As a way of confronting what he felt was a constant inner pressure, psychoanalyst Carl Jung constructed a little village of stones on the banks of a river. Using mud for mortar, he replicated his childhood passion for playing with building blocks. This enabled him to reconnect with childhood feelings.
"It was a turning point in my fate,” he wrote.
At the deepest level, the creative process and the healing process arise from a single source. When you are an artist, you are a healer; a wordless trust of the same mystery is the foundation of your work and its integrity.— Rachel Naomi Remen, MD
I want to help you access the healing nature of art. I want to help you step into the river of creation that belongs to you. I want you to experience the nourishment and renewal that comes from expressing yourself.
Art (in its many forms) is how you take care of yourself.