As the sweet melodies of Mozart filled the elevator I realised that my body was beginning to relax and my mind was moving into a stillness, a bliss… I began to consciously relax… this brought about a flood of intentions, artistic in nature. But, of course I was in an elevator, Me and Mozart.
I couldn’t grab my paintbrush, so I began to belt out some terrific lyrics from the depths of my throat chakra.
The elevator had suddenly stopped and the doors were open. I was at the passport office. Some guy looked at me as though I was meant to be at the mental ward. So, I asked “Is this the psychiatric ward.’ I looked around and answered the question myself. “Yep, looks like it, Thanks”. Which brings me to…
Even the ancients knew art was vital to well-being
We see that the “healing power of art and music has been known throughout history. In fact the first healing was music and dance in hunter gatherer cultures freeing what the Kalahari Bushman called healing boiling energy.
Each night people of the tribe would dance wildly and go into a trance or meditative state. The people believed that the dance itself freed the persons own healing energy.
Eventually, music and dance were combined with costumes and storytelling and with objects and paintings in the creation of a ritual that we would now call theater or performance art. But in ancient times this ritual was sacred and it was part of the cultures medicine.” – Art and Healing
Modern therapies and the Art of catching up
In recent years, as the education systems of the West ( and now the East) have focused on the left brain and we have seen a rise in depression and anxiety, the arts have become a reputable form of therapy. With much research being done to help this branch of mental health to be more widely understood and accepted.
Perhaps a return to our true nature or our ancient ways. The Way, The Tao. The balance between the opposites. The left and the right. The Yin and the Yang. The Harmony.
“a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being rather than merely the absence of disease or infirmity. “
– the (1946) World Health Organization’s (WHO) definition of holistic health :
Art healing and Art Therapy
are slightly different. In Art Therapy it is assumed that something is wrong with the person and therefore they need fixing. In Art healing it is more about seeing the person themselves as fundamentally Ok, but the imprints of trauma or conditioning’s that require transformation. It’s an important distinction.
So my scene in the elevator didn’t in fact suggest I was crazy or mentally unstable, it actually meant i was open, receptive and probably a little uncomfortable with the environment I was about to go into. I mean high-rises, cubicles and stressed out government agencies have Mozart playing for a reason. Don’t they? Simply put, it worked for me. Hopefully the guy getting in after me relaxed a little too. Which brings me to…
4 Ways art heals us
1.Music Engagement
Probably the most well known and widely used model of art as therapy is Music. It is certainly the most researched. We are back to Mozart, he seems to have a way to make himself present when it comes to Music and Therapy (I mean he was a little mad as I recall).
In a recent research project it was suggested that mozart’s music was by it’s very nature ‘healing’ . In his book on this matter author Don Campbell goes as far as coining the phrase ‘The Mozart Effect‘ which concludes that “his music is able to spark creativity, soothe our emotions, jump-start learning, and even heal our bodies.”
Music Heals
Furthermore, in more academic studies music is proving to be a master of healing, with discoveries showing that ‘music can calm neural activity in the brain, which may lead to reductions in anxiety, and that it may help to restore effective functioning in the immune system partly via the actions of the amygdala and hypothalamus.’ See article here.
Hypothalamus’s aside, we’ve all experienced Bette Midler’s ‘Beast of Burden’ penetrating our heartbreak, as we’ve fallen to the kitchen floor, with fabulous gyrating leg movements, as the lentil soup boils over. Haven’t we?
2. Visual Arts
Commonly, artists tend to focus on techniques, shades and aesthetics of art, whereas art healing or therapy uses the emotions or feeling to express something stuck or hidden. It’s considered a form of communication “to promote personal growth, self-expression, conflict resolution, emotional understanding, and transformation.” – Cathy Malchiodi – states in her book The Art Therapy Sourcebook.
Art Heals
Cathy Malchiodi further articulates that Visual arts help in the following ways:
Visually deals with traumatic emotions can feel safer then dealing with them in words.
Lets us express things we cannot express in words.
Is helpful in releasing emotions.
Is a powerful therapeutic process that has meaning and comes directly from our own feelings and imagination.
Allows us to know ourselves better.
Is available to everyone.
Enhances our lives and reduces stress.
Personally I have found that I can come in closer contact to my feelings and unconscious thought patterns through using my fingers, hands or body to paint onto paper; it helps me navigate life and sometime heal.
3. Dance and Movement Healing
It seems the next obvious thing really. Music and Visual arts, body and mind, expression and nonverbal creative activity. It makes sense. Theater and dance have been a part of society since, well even before society; bringing great benefit to the performers and the audiences alike.
We see children begin to move their bodies spontaneously, without thought, the moment Lady Gaga starts expounding upon’ bad romances’, with no idea ‘yet’ what her words mean.
Dance Heals
We’ve seen traditional culture’s using dance and movement as fundamental ways of healing and living since day dot.
But, luckily we now have left brain researchers showing us that if we ‘shake our booty’ we might relax the brain also and have a major realisation that ‘oh my, it’s good to move your body, move your body” and that it relieves stress and often helps us to express or release emotional or mental energy. Not dissimilar to Yoga asanas.
4. Expressive writing
Symbols are fundamental to our psychic well being. Creative writing uses the symbols of language to express our emotions, repressed or suppressed traumas or painful feelings and thoughts. Much research has been done on this, yet not a lot of conclusion has been drawn as to ‘how’ this helps yet shows that it does.
I know for myself that when I let go of all my conditioned writing rules and grammatical ordinances, something opens up and flows and I am able to access a deeper part of me that often unlocks an unconscious or repressed emotion or hurt. Also, it can draw up some beautiful feelings that benefit my perspective around a relationship or an event in my life.
Writing Heals
Mystics and poets throughout the eras have helped us develop insights and transformative moments by sharing their expressive writings with us and many people have been transformed or opened up by reading books.
Each of us has our different ways of expressing ourselves and as we move into the effects of the age of technology, climate change and overpopulation, we are seeing an increase in mental health issues.
As Freddie Mercury used to say we are “Under Pressure”. It’s really important for us to let go of some of the left brain activity and feel into our bodies, our minds and our spiritual centers and allow whatever needs to arise to arise.
You never know, you may even experience that ‘crazy little thing called love”
“I pay no attention whatever to anybody’s praise or blame. I simply follow my own feelings”. – Mozart.
Musically this may have been beneficial but I’m not so sure how the #metoo movement feels about it.
If you would like to learn more about Art as therapy and transformation I recommend a book by my friend and expressive art therapist Sally Adnams Jones – Art Making and Refugees
Warm Blessings
Megan Jackson runs meditation and yoga retreats for women. She has been immersed in spiritual practice and study for 15 years, living it fully, with humility and compassion as her backbones for progress. She lives a quiet life reflecting on the dharma, being with nature and helping others who are wanting change, transformation or spiritual wisdom.
Join her on the Women’s Art & healing retreat in Ubud Bali December 2019
- Music Engagement
- Visual Arts
- Dance and Movement Healing
- Expressive writing