Art Is a Way of Knowing: A Guide to Self-Knowledge and Spiritual Fulfillment through CreativityAn expert in art therapy offers this “wonderful” guide “for anyone, artistic or not, who is interested in using art to know more about himself or herself” (Library Journal) Making art—giving form to the images that arise in our mind's eye, our dreams, and our everyday lives—is a form of spiritual practice through which knowledge of ourselves can ripen into wisdom. This book offers encouragement for everyone to explore art-making in this spirit of self-discovery—plus practical instructions on material, methods, and activities, such as ways to: • Discover a personal myth or story • Recognize patterns and themes in one's life • Identify and release painful memories • Combine journaling and image making • Practice the ancient skill of active imagination • Connect with others through sharing one's art works Interwoven with this guidance is the intimate story of the author's own journey as a student, art therapist, teacher, wife, mother, and artist—and, most of all, as a woman who discovered a profound and healing connection with her soul through making art. |
From inside the book
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... allowed me to reclaim some of what was lost in growing up, the ability to have feelings fully and in the moment. I don't believe that art cures or fixes; rather it restores the connection to soul, which is always. Preface.
... allowed me to reclaim some of what was lost in growing up, the ability to have feelings fully and in the moment. I don't believe that art cures or fixes; rather it restores the connection to soul, which is always. Preface.
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... allow it to be more flexible, to learn how to see more options. The major problem for most of us is that we allow fear to stop the imagination before it really begins to work. Shaun McNiff says that the image never comes to harm us, and ...
... allow it to be more flexible, to learn how to see more options. The major problem for most of us is that we allow fear to stop the imagination before it really begins to work. Shaun McNiff says that the image never comes to harm us, and ...
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... allow the image to take form. The first step is simply to become aware of the endless stream of images that are available during a day. There are visual images, everything from the rumpled bedclothes, your face in the bathroom mirror ...
... allow the image to take form. The first step is simply to become aware of the endless stream of images that are available during a day. There are visual images, everything from the rumpled bedclothes, your face in the bathroom mirror ...
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... nature. If your energy is depleted, try focusing on flowers, trees, plants, the sky. Allow yourself to rest in the beauty of what you see, and let that perception replenish your energy. These are very simple means of achieving awareness.
... nature. If your energy is depleted, try focusing on flowers, trees, plants, the sky. Allow yourself to rest in the beauty of what you see, and let that perception replenish your energy. These are very simple means of achieving awareness.
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... allowed me a return trip, back upstream to where I began, a wondering child sitting in a garden playing as my mother watered flowers and grew tomatoes, before she got sick. Back and back, sitting under a towering maple tree watching ...
... allowed me a return trip, back upstream to where I began, a wondering child sitting in a garden playing as my mother watered flowers and grew tomatoes, before she got sick. Back and back, sitting under a towering maple tree watching ...
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Art Is a Way of Knowing: A Guide to Self-Knowledge and Spiritual Fulfillment ... Pat B. Allen No preview available - 1995 |
Common terms and phrases
active allow archetypal art therapy artist attention baby beast become begin bird body child choose clay color comes consciousness consider contain create critic dark death decide don’t drawing dream emotions energy experience explore express eyes face father fear feel feminine figure finished give hand head hold idea imagination important inner intention keep light living look mask materials meaning memories mind mother never Notice objects once pain painting pastel person picture piece play possible powerful present realize relationship remember resistance river role says scribble sculpture seems sense share simply sometimes soul space story struggle surface teaching therapist things thought turns understand wish witness woman women write