Lately I've been wondering how I can use art to help heal the rift in our (human) connection to the Earth.
I'm on to the second chapter: Merging Your Inner Artist and Healer. "The artist and healer are one, just as the rhythm of a heartbeat is one with the rhythm of the earth". The creative process and the healing process come from the same source; that's why many indigenous cultures practice dance, ritual, and charm-making as part of healing ceremonies.
They continue with a section on the intelligence of the heart, how new research shows that you can learn to master the variable rate between your heartbeats to decrease your stress and improve your healing. Basic heart practices include breathing into your heart, living from your heart center, and gratitude and appreciation practices. "The heart then syncs with the rhythm of life and the universal heartbeat that pulses within each human, each animal, and even the earth itself."
The take-away this week is that we can apply the lessons of the healing rituals of ancient cultures, that you must participate in the process - it's not something that is done to you; and that the art and healing cannot be separated - they are one thing, and together they are transformational.
ThIs week's assignment was to write, draw, paint, or collage what came in the guided meditation about my Inner Artist-Healer, specifically any image of this being that I had, and any feelings I had during the meditation.
Agenda:
1. Read "Healing with the Arts"
2. Weekly lesson
3. Guided meditation
4. Medicine art
1. Read "Healing with the Arts"
I'm reading "Healing with the Arts" by Michael Samuels and Mary R. Lane. This is a "12-week program to heal yourself and your community." The basic assumption is that everyone is an artist and everyone is a healer and that using art frees your healer to heal. The book is framed for all kinds of healing, and my hope is to, first, heal my own relationship with the earth, then teach others how to heal our community connection to the earth.
I'm on to the second chapter: Merging Your Inner Artist and Healer. "The artist and healer are one, just as the rhythm of a heartbeat is one with the rhythm of the earth". The creative process and the healing process come from the same source; that's why many indigenous cultures practice dance, ritual, and charm-making as part of healing ceremonies.Today art and healing are mostly separated, but it's time for them to be re-united; we can all take back the role of artist-healer, and use the transformational process in our lives. "Our bodies, homes, communities, and earth need everyone to become artist-healers".
The authors also list out the scientific research on the physiology of art as a healing force, how your automatic nervous system responds to art-making and guided meditation by creating new synapses. When you give all of your attention to art-healing activities like painting, journaling, gardening, playing music, or dancing with your children, they "produce a deep level of healing concentration and mindful muscle movements. ... the whole physiology changes. ... It happens automatically."
They continue with a section on the intelligence of the heart, how new research shows that you can learn to master the variable rate between your heartbeats to decrease your stress and improve your healing. Basic heart practices include breathing into your heart, living from your heart center, and gratitude and appreciation practices. "The heart then syncs with the rhythm of life and the universal heartbeat that pulses within each human, each animal, and even the earth itself."And they describe a devise that measures the electromagnetic field of the heart, which radiates 3-5 feet away from your body.
2. Weekly lesson:
The take-away this week is that we can apply the lessons of the healing rituals of ancient cultures, that you must participate in the process - it's not something that is done to you; and that the art and healing cannot be separated - they are one thing, and together they are transformational.This week I'm instructed to:
- Continue to make time; create a routine around each week's lesson and be consistent. "Make this simple act as important as anything else you do in life".
- Look for inspiration in older traditions of healing art: Painting and meditating on images, listening to sounds, making amulets, dancing, drumming...
- Pay attention to healing energy building within me as I work.
3. Guided meditation:
I am instructed to go to my sacred art again, a spot in my front Sanctuary Garden, with supplies, a lawn chair, and my cup of coffee.
I'm instructed to relax, slow my breathing, sit in silence; then ask a higher power to come to me. Here's my prayer:
I call on the Creator of all life to be with me, and bless me. And I ask Nature to guide me, give me images, and insight, as I seek to heal myself, my community, and the Earth.
Next, the authors have written a guided meditation to follow, Merging Your Artist-Healer. I decided re-write it and tape it, and the audio files are here:
We are instructed to repeat this meditation often, to merge Artist and Healer a little better each time.
4. Medicine art:
ThIs week's assignment was to write, draw, paint, or collage what came in the guided meditation about my Inner Artist-Healer, specifically any image of this being that I had, and any feelings I had during the meditation.I started painting with my grandson's paint sticks, then added other paints and scratching, and the result was this mandala.
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