Art and Healing
“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is a symbolic as well as actual beauty in the migration of the birds, the ebb and flow of the tides, the folded bud ready for the spring.
There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature–the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after the winter. The lasting pleasures of contact with the natural world…are available to anyone who will place himself under the influence of earth, sea and sky and their amazing life.”
~Rachel Carson (1907-1964)
Healers healing artists … artists healing the world. Why do healers heal and why do artists paint? Empathic calling perhaps, a need for expression for the good of humankind.
Healers and artists share an affinity with beauty, and a desire for truth and happiness. Beauty is necessary to every culture, and in every culture is defined differently. Beauty inspires. Beauty heals.
“ART & HEALING
… are One and the Same …”
Treating mind, body, and spirit holistically to achieve harmony is the goal of the healer. In the artist’s work, such harmony exists in the essence of the art, it’s elements of freshness in its originality. Unique expressions living entirely in the moment, aspects of a larger knowing. No two snowflakes, flower petals or tree trunk the same. Yet all are living organisms joined by a common thread, part of a larger plan.
Art and healing are one and the same. Like healing, art transforms our experience, leaving us forever changed. The healer inspires inner transformations of body, mind, and spirit. Shifting the energy from pain to life-force energy. The artist, like the healer must heal themselves, before they can transfer that healing energy to heal the world.
In this way both artists and healers are visionary. The process begins there, then moves beyond itself to others. We look to art, music, dance, whatever the art form for inspiration, guidance and healing in our lives. What magic!
Physical conditions and what is seen on the surface can be changed, once you discover the underlying reasons for your discomfort. Transforming suffering by learning to harness the energies to create wellness. The final outcome will amaze you.
In creating, a way must be found to free the inner spirit. When the spirit is freed through expression of artistic beauty, then healing can begin. Pain exists as a result of old wounds which create energy blocks. These blocks prevent the creative flow of life and can result in self-sabotage.
When an artist has trouble with expression on the canvas which sits before them it is not because there is a problem with the art. The problem lies in the fact that the artist cannot connect to the energy flow required for expression of that which is under the surface, and cannot allow it to flow through them.
The solution is for the artist to heal themselves so they may produce the healing vibrations which will be transformed into healing energy henceforth documenting the process for others to understand and to absorb.
The artist who has healed them self, can in turn create art which can heal others. The healed become the healers. In terms of art the creative process heals, both the creator and the recipient.
Orchid Painting
Acrylic/Canvas 16 X 20
© DL Robinson
If we are unable or unwilling to free those blocks, then serious illness can result. Creativity and expressive living is halted as we sucuumb to the downward spiral of dis-ease. Healing can help to unblock this pain, but first must be identified, allowing yourself to touch it, then learn to release. Art can be instrumental in achieving this state of being. Colour, musical tones and vibrations are healing, becoming especially powerful when combined.
Silence between notes creates artistic tension. Forms adjacent to point then line, and colour sequences complimenting and opposing each other, all make up both concrete and abstract. Brought to life by conjoining elements one cannot exist without the other. Opening the senses, increasing awareness of the internal landscape is where healing begins. It works from the inside out.
By focusing on the positive energies, we catapult ourselves into a new level of consciousness. No longer being held back, we spare ourselves the discomfort which blocks the natural flow. By doing this, we achieve a powerful state of being. That power is available to us anytime we want to tap into it. Taking back our power, following a state of vulnerability which illness creates, will change us down as deep as the cellular level.
It is well known music & art can take us into to a deep form of relaxation. In this state, changing your perception and your physiology with the healing forces becomes possible. All that is required is that you be open to the flow. In pursuit of truth, beauty, justice, truth and wellness we find fulfillment. Healers healing the earth. Artists healing the world. The wounded spirit which heals, becomes the healer.
Your life is a work of art. Decide what you want on that canvas, then paint it. All life is creation. Just as each piece of art the artist creates something never before in existence, you can create a new life by healing. When art and healing merge, all nature, earth and humankind can be healed.