Healing with the Arts

September 16, 2013
“In our art and healing method, you are the artist-healer; you learn how to do the process yourself,” assert authors Samuels (The Well Body Book) and Lane (Creative Healing). Their program requires no theory or therapist—“Art truly becomes your medicine”—though their statement, “Just as everyone is a healer, everyone has an Inner Artist,” is both hopeful and daunting. With a week-by-week breakdown, the authors encourage “guided imagery” exercises; profile pioneers in the field of arts-in-medicine like dancer Inna Dagman; and share inspiring stories of people who’ve gone through their programs—including Samuels’s own “sculpting the cancer away” story, and a heartbreaking tale of a mother who learned to dance with her dying daughter. They also suggest weekly projects. Though the authors illustrate how their program can be uplifting, the “science” remains subjective and New Age-y—they claim that making “art with the intent to heal” shifts the practitioner from a physiology of stress and anxiety to one of healing. Still, their call to use the arts—and an open heart—to relieve suffering may be a useful adjunct for healthcare workers and anyone else who wants to explore alternative approaches to treating illness.

November 1, 2013
One's self, one's family, and one's community can bloom with the practice of creativity and self-expression for health and healing. Medical doctor and best-selling author Samuels and Lane, a professor, nurse, and painter, explain in great detail how to conduct their acclaimed 12-week program aimed at helping individuals, caregivers, and even troubled neighborhoods foster new perspectives and enact healthy change. They offer instructions for using anecdotes and artistic activities designed to activate both the inner artist and the inner healer and to share creative pursuits with others. With lots of background information and solid advice, Samuels and Lane elucidate the healing potentials of a variety of art forms, including music, dance, writing, and drawing, and suggest rituals and ceremonies to inspire and support creative awakenings and development. Instructions for diverse projects and exercises are accompanied by stories about people who have been healed by art. These two enthusiastic experts in the burgeoning arts-in-medicine movement guide readers toward achieving positive energy transformation and many other benefits in this practical and inspiring how-to for improving one's physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual life.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)