Hi again

The focus of this newsletter is creative expression as a means of healing. In the Stress Management section, I have listed a couple of essences that can be taken at times when you are feeling stuck or experiencing a creative block.

In other news, I am going to be working from the Nature Care Wholistic & Medical Centre on Tuesdays for the next 3 months. Whilst there, as well as my usual sessions, I will be running a colleague's (Ann Joel) Crystal Light Healing Bed while she is off travelling the world! If you would prefer to see me in Crows Nest or experience the wonderful Crystal Light Healing bed, please contact the Centre directly for bookings:

Nature Care Wholistic & Medical Centre
2nd Floor, 118 Willoughby Rd
Crows Nest
Ph 02 9966 8666

Warm wishes
Alison

Creative Expression as Healing
Meditation
Stress Management Tips
Something Interesting...

Creative Expression as Healing

Being able to tap in to our creativity helps us to activate or release the healer within us.

Art (in its broadest sense), healing and prayer all come from the human soul. The brain wave patterns, physiology and consciousness of a person engaged in each are the same. Creative expression strengthens us on all levels of our body, mind and spirit. It can help heal illnesses, reduce symptoms alleviate pain, and improve the quality and attitude of your life.

Doing something creative and activating the creative force within us provides us a direct link to our soul. It is something deep and primordial. People often feel the sense of oneness that they achieve through meditation, but for those who may not have experienced such a feeling before, it can be extremely powerful. The spirit is able to enter and we feel the connection to others and the earth. The creative process enables us to directly manifest our thoughts, emotions and spirituality into the physical world. In effect, it is teaching us the nature of life and the lessons we need to learn about connecting with our souls and taking responsibility for the creative power we hold in choosing the life we lead.

We don’t need to be good at art, or a particular art form, in order to allow creative expression. It is all about the creative process, NOT the end result. The best way to do this is to allow yourself just to play. Play with paints, pastels, music, movement, sound, colour or cutting and pasting. The important thing is to silence or ignore your inner critic, who will saying you can’t do it or it’s not good enough. Pretend you’re a child, if it helps you to truly let go.

The creative process can be quite meditative in that it is totally involving and calming once you allow yourself just to play and not have to produce a “proper” piece of art. From an energetic healing perspective, the creative process stimulates all of our chakras in some way, although particularly our 2nd and 5th chakras, which help increase our awareness and consciousness. It can shift the blocks we hold in these chakras. It also helps us connect in a gentle way to our inner child and higher self, which for many is very hard to do otherwise.

The benefits are finally being recognized by medical practitioners and there are hundreds of creative programs that are being run in clinic healing settings throughout the US, UK and even in some institutions in Australia. Visual art, music, dance, theatre, story-telling, poetry are being taken into hospitals and to the bedside of patients for their own healing power rather than for interpretation or therapy.

Put a couple of hours aside one weekend and have a play! Engaging in some form of creative process can show us a way ahead. Once creative essence is released, it spills into all other areas of our lives.

If you want to read more on healing and the creative process, below are some good books on the subject:

• Samuels, M. and M. Rookwood Lane. Creative Healing: How to Heal yourself by Tapping Your Hidden Creativity. HarperCollins Publishers, 1988.
• Cameron, J. The Artist’s Way. Pan Books, 1995.
• Cassou, M. and S. Cubley. Life, Paint and Passion. Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, 1995.

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Meditation

I explained above about the meditative nature of doing something creative, like drawing or painting. So for meditation in this newsletter, I would like you to experience this.

Buy some paints or pencils and some paper. You don't need to get proper artists paint (unless you choose to), just the stuff you can buy at the supermarket for children will be OK for this exercise.

Find a quiet space where you won't be interupted and spend half an hour (or more) painting or drawing.

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Stress Management Tips

Having a creative block?

This is a wonderful time of year to shift things around a bit at home or work, especially if you are feeling a bit stuck in any area of your life. Rearranging some your furniture, pictures or belongings is a symbolic act of showing preparedness for change, but it also helps to shift the energy in a space. Give it a try!

Turkey Bush Australian Bush Flower Essenceis is helpful for situations of “creative block” for artists and writers. However, it is useful in any situation where you are feeling blocked or stuck. This remedy helps release your inner creativity so you can function more effectively in their everyday life.

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Something Interesting...

If you feel you are sensitive to energy and sometimes wonder why you have no motivation or energy to do things, feel you don't fit in anymore, and suffer from odd aches and pains, you may be experiencing some of the symptoms associated with the effects of planetary shifts in vibration. You may interested to read the latest "energy alerts" on the website "What's Up On Planet Earth" for more explanation.

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