Art and Healing: Using Expressive Art to Heal Your Body, Mind, and Spirit [Paperback]

Barbara Ganim (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 7, 1999

Artists have always known intuitively what science is just beginning to discover: that creating a visual image through any medium can produce physical and emotional benefits for both the creator as well as those who view it. Most important, you don't need to think of yourself as an artist or even believe you have any "talent" to tap into the healing powers of art.
        
In this remarkable testament to the power of creativity, Barbara Ganim shows step-by-step how to use art to heal body, mind, and spirit. By using guided meditation and artistic techniques, you can gain insight and clarity into depression, anxiety, rage, and even illnesses, including cancer, arthritis, and AIDS.
        
At once inspirational and instructive, Art and Healing will teach you how to connect with negative, painful, and even repressed emotions, and then express them through drawing, painting, sculpture, or collage. Releasing these feelings through the creative process frees up the immune system and clears the mind, allowing the body to fight off disease and begin to heal emotional wounds. Filled with actual stories from those who have triumphed over adversity and with more than a hundred different pieces of artwork created using this groundbreaking method, Art and Healing is sure to provide the tools needed for healing body and spirit.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Artists have always known intuitively what science is just beginning to discover: that creating a visual image through any medium can produce physical and emotional benefits for both the creator as well as those who view it. Most important, you don't need to think of yourself as an artist or even believe you have any "talent" to tap into the healing powers of art.
        
In this remarkable testament to the power of creativity, Barbara Ganim shows step-by-step how to use art to heal body, mind, and spirit. By using guided meditation and artistic techniques, you can gain insight and clarity into depression, anxiety, rage, and even illnesses, including cancer, arthritis, and AIDS.
        
At once inspirational and instructive, Art and Healing will teach you how to connect with negative, painful, and even repressed emotions, and then express them through drawing, painting, sculpture, or collage. Releasing these feelings through the creative process frees up the immune system and clears the mind, allowing the body to fight off disease and begin to heal emotional wounds. Filled with actual stories from those who have triumphed over adversity and with more than a hundred different pieces of artwork created using this groundbreaking method, Art and Healing is sure to provide the tools needed for healing body and spirit.

From the Back Cover

"The most important form of communication is visual. Our dreams, visions, and drawings speak the truth to us. They communicate the true thoughts and feelings of our mind, body, and spirit. Read this book and you will start on a journey of enlightenment."        
--Bernie Siegel, M.D.,         author of Love, Medicine, and Miracles and Prescriptions for Living

"Barbara Ganim's multidimensional book is a significant contribution to the therapeutic field of expressive art. Based on her experience and obvious dedication to clients, Ganim takes the reader on an inward journey to reach the emotions that might cause illness. Her book builds toward an inspirational conclusion, like the peak of a pyramid, with the chapters 'Healing the Soul' and 'Healing Others.' Here, Ganim reveals her wisdom by linking our soul's purpose and altruistic intentions with Art and Healing."        
--Mary Carroll Nelson, author of Artists of the Spirit

"Barbara Ganim is a major chronicler of responsible comprehensive medicine. It is my pleasure to emphasize that Barbara is the best of the best in this cogent field of work."        
-- Edward Taub, m.d.,         author of Dr. Edward Taub's Seven Steps to Self-Healing

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press; 1 edition (June 7, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0609803166
• ISBN-13: 978-0609803165
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #293,296 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful guidebook for non-therapists!, January 4, 2000

By 

Lili Costa (Massachusetts) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Art and Healing: Using Expressive Art to Heal Your Body, Mind, and Spirit (Paperback)

This is a great book for lay people. Many books of this type are too academic, densely written or boring to the average non-professional reader who might be interested in this topic. The writer makes the concept so easy to understand. It's filled with examples of interesting (and often beautiful) art work with words and stories by the creators. Very powerful to have the individuals who themselves have gone through life-threatening illnesses and traumatic situations talk about the healing power of art. Particularly fascinating to see examples of how art can be used globally and with the environment. Kudos to the all the people who shared so honestly their intimate stories and viewpoints, and congratulations to the author for compiling such a compelling body of work.

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The next best thing to taking a workshop on Art and Healing., September 3, 1999

By 

M. Pierce (Rhode Island USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Art and Healing: Using Expressive Art to Heal Your Body, Mind, and Spirit (Paperback)

This book is an inspiration! The material is presented simply, clearly, and in a logical progression. Ater reading the first few chapters, which talk about how to use the art and healing process, and the differences in expressing emotions verbally and through imagery, I felt I had a much better understanding of the topic and the confidence to try the process for myself. One of the things I especially like about it, is that it contains plenty of anecdotal work with clients and includes the artwork that came out of their process (which helped relieve the insecurity I felt about my own art ability). At the end of each chapter, Ganim gives the reader exercises to try at home, along with guided visualizations to help relax you into each exercise. Then she provides self-dialoguing questions to help you understand what your images might mean. I found this book the next best thing to taking a workshop on Art and Healing. The only thing that would make it better would be to offer audio tapes with the guided visualizations on it, which would make it that much easier to work on this at home.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Excellent illustrations, but falls short, August 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Art and Healing: Using Expressive Art to Heal Your Body, Mind, and Spirit (Paperback)

Art and healing-- such an intriguing topic and title. The author has pulled together a wealth of images and stories about artists who "heal" and how art has the capacity to do the same. But I was extremely disappointed that the author stooped to claims beyond what has been researched about art as a healer-- many claims about art, imagery, and visualization are made that are not substantiated by research other than anecdotal claims. The introduction claims there is neurological evidence of art, prayer and healing all coming from the same place; if this is so, please share the research reference because that would be a major find in this century. Also, an innordinate amount of time is spent emphasizing how to process art images-- how does this or that color feel, what does this or that mean, etc. There are many other books that do this much better -- Trust the Process by McNiff, Art is a Way of Knowing by Allen, The Art Therapy Sourcebook by Malchiodi, and Mission of Art by Grey. The author has apparently missed these or chosen to ignore their messages, and also by-passed the entire field of art therapy that has for 40 years explored the material the author offers as new and ground-breaking. On the positive side, the images may inspire the reader to make art and that is what is most important.