Some images from ATH healers who create, who work with healing and creativity. Also included is Jessica who did this lovely painting of Happiness when she was 6. A reminder for all of of the importance of Happiness and creativity in whatever form it takes.

Using Imagery for Healing and Meditation

ATH Core Group member Delcia McNeil introduced this topic with a pre-prepared brainstorm of ideas, and these were developed by those present (six ATH members):

• Use of visualisation eg. chakras/Human Energy field/creative visualisation – inner journeying
• Use of visual symbols, eg. Reiki symbols
• Physiological affect of colour within a painting (directly on the viewer) – and colour therapy
• Art therapy – processing emotions through drawing/painting, 
• Use of images for psychology projection
• How particular paintings and the work of different artists affect our mood and physical body (visceral). 

Individuals shared their experiences of working with visualisation, both professionally and as an internal narrative, and there was a discussion around how some members of the public do not necessarily visualise, or think they don’t.  The different senses dominate differently. 

Participants shared who was their favourite artist and/or a particular painting and we discussed why this was so and how certain paintings affect us viscerally.  Artworks communicate something, and can have a healing effect.  Some painters use art as a therapy for themselves (eg. Frida Kahlo, Tracy Emin).  Creativity and therapy are parallel processes. To complete the session Delcia used one of her paintings ‘Holding the Light’ as a focus for a group meditation. See below.

Mindfulness & The Natural World by Claire Thompson

Leaping Hare Press ISBN 978-1-78240-102-5

SHARING NATURE

Take a moment to think about the idea that nature is flowing through you all the time.  Think about everything that is solid within your body. Bring to mind your bones, your muscles, your teeth, your skin and hair. Consider that they all come from the natural world. They are all made from the elements that, before becoming part of your body were part of the rest of the natural world. And they will be returned sooner or later. Consider that these elements never belonged to you, you are sharing them with the natural world.

Think about the water in the world around us. Water is found in our sea, lakes, glaciers, rivers, streams and clouds.  It is also found in our bodies. We have water in our cells, our blood, our saliva, our tears and our sweat.  Recognise that we are sharing this water with the rest of nature around us.

Air is all around us, we can feel it against our skin and hear it moving through the leaves of trees.  Plants release the oxygen we breathe, and the air we exhale is used again and again by the plants.  We are an integral part of the natural world.  Air is continually entering and leaving the body as we breathe in and out, we can’t hold on to the air, any more than we can hold on to any of the other elements we share.

By kind permission of author Claire Thompson

BODY and AWARENESS (Ways of Being a Body Vol 3) Edited by Sandra Reeve

Triarchy Press ISBN: 978-1-909470-16-3

I thought you might be interested to know about this book. It is a collection of pieces about the experience of working with body and awareness, written by 20 different therapists, artists, writers etc. 

I have written a chapter for this book called the Emanation Body that uses a buddhist model to show how I work with my clients using psychotherapy and movement therapy (Rhythmic Healing). So far I have read about half of the other chapters and have really enjoyed them, they are both accessible and informative. I thoroughly recommend it. 

“The field of embodied awareness is transdisciplinary and multi-faceted: it has no academic subject listing, but is of central importance to those seeking to understand art, dance, the psychology of health, trauma, learning & development, the psycho-ecology of extinction and climate change, proprioception and interoception, ecological awareness, meditation, and the need for societal transformation in an age of multiple convergent crises. Here 20 practitioners bring a wide range of perspectives to bear on the subject”

Warm wishes, Anna Murray Preece ATH member

an Apple a day…….

Listen Hear by Rachel Howfield Massey a podcast about Creativity,Nature, Mindfulness & Wellbeing.

Find her podcast on Spotify, Pocketcasts, Googlepodcasts

You can also check out Rachel’s website here: https://otherwaystowalk.co.uk

The Craftivist Collective

The Craftivist Collective is “an inclusive group of people committed to using thoughtful, beautiful crafted works to help themselves and encourage others be the positive change they wish to see in the world

Contact https://craftivist-collective.com

Wild Healers

Do not define what is or is not healing.  They support and network with those who aspire to have a pure heart and whose common goal is to explore healings infinite possibilities and intelligence.

Wild Healers hold in common certain immutable principles.  These include integrity, honesty, a non-judgemental respect for all, the need for self-understanding and genuine enquiry.

Wild Healers consider that the vibration and purpose of Love & Compassion form the intent that is central to their work and lives.

Wild Healers hold to the view that an essence of our quest is the travelling, not the arrival.  As a result, they do not see any fixity in the manner of their healing, in the manner of their teaching. Or in their beliefs and are thus open and flexible in pursuit of their quest.

Wild Healers automatically acknowledge the right of others to freedom of expression, to follow intuitively the path that is right for them and to use their healing, whichever method or combination of methods they use, in a way that they believe is in the very best interests of their clients.

Wild Healers are dedicated to finding the best way of helping and guiding others, and being aware that this goal is not reached by only one route.  It is honouring the path of others and acknowledging that healing happens in many ways and no one knows what is the best way in every circumstance.

Wild Healers aim to encourage the acceptance of the innate natural healing abilities which each individual possess, and encourage their expression in all aspects of life.

Nigel Carter 24/5/42 – 24/3/21

Nigel was a member of a small group who called themselves Wild Healers and who produced the above principals. Nigel along Joan Kendal co-chaired ATH.

“It is lovely to know that Nigel’s spirit is present in the Healing and Creativity of ATH.  I recall a healing group at Lowther Hill where he talked about the Wild Healers.  They had chosen the emblem of the Dandelion.  For them it represented wildness pushing up through the concrete of any rigid approach to healing.  He was disenchanted at the time with the formality of doing healing in strictly ritualised ways: any insistence, for example, that one must have ones hands in a specific pose, or that the healer and recipient must be in a particular position to “do” a healing.  Not that Nigel ever wanted to dispense with the absolute responsibility in the way that healers practice.  That mattered to him immensely.  He and his Wild Healing colleagues simply felt that there was more to healing than a specific set of gestures and postures.  He had been in dedicated service at the healing centre in Bromley for many years and I know he deeply respected his fellow healers there, but I think he was watchful of anything that felt like dogma: any school of thought that says “this is the only way to do it”.  I remember how free and happy he was talking about this positive movement towards something innate in himself and his healing.  The word “wild” carried meaning for him beyond cutting loose from rigidity.  It expressed awe at the astonishing structure of nature, such that a tiny dandelion, dismissed as a weed, can forge its way up to the light.” Barbara Dryhurst