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

~ (Author) "There is a growing movement nationwide among contemporary artists and nonartists alike to use art to heal the body, soothe the mind, and transform the..." (more)
Key Phrases: healing artwork, imagistic messages, imagistic impressions, Mary Carroll, Carl Simonton, Rhode Island (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

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 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.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 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.com Sales Rank: #507,406 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 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 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.

32 of 35 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 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.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Detailed yet readable, inspirational and helpful, June 18, 2001

By	Donald L. Parker, MD "[e-mail]" (West Salem, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews

Ms. Ganim's wealth of experience, fluency in art, and intuitive understanding of the human experience comes through in this book. Case studies and excellent color plates help to put life into the points and exercises she gives. There is a tendency to hyperbole and sometimes what seems too good to be true may be just that. But I concede that tendency to anyone who is enthusiastic about their work. This book is made to be used. The exercises are doable and procede in a logical, stepwise fashion. No one needs to be an artist to benefit from these exercises. Ms. Ganim's definition of healing as opposed to cure puts this work in perspective and gives it validity. I would highly recommend it to anyone seriously looking to experience healing in mind, body, and spirit.