Last Saturday, our Family Lecture Series was a workshop on Art Therapy.
Art what? I know, I know.
At first, my mind couldn't comprehend how in the world did Family Medicine cover art therapy? I know from my undergraduate course that you can use art to teach and as a therapy to some behavioral and psychological conditions. To actually heal a physiologically ill patient with it is another matter.
With a skeptical mind and very little knowledge on art, we tried to grasp as much as we could from the half day workshop.
This post is not enough to cover what we did (and learned) from the workshop. And this post is NOT about that! But suffice it to say that it's an entirely different field of Medicine that I am not yet comfortable with but a field worth considering.
We were made to paint our 'safe place' as the last activity for that day. Starting with the background, we used pastels and crayons. The facilitator then made us look at our 'background' paintings and let the figures come out. She told us to let our hearts define the painting; let our hearts bring out the figures in the painting. I did.
It's only now that I realized the old adage 'home is where the heart is' stands true. The safe place for me is not what I used to think it was: my room, our house, the beach. It is actually where my heart is.
It is wherever Chuy is.
I just realized at the end of the session that maybe, art is really therapeutic. At least, for my longing.
P.S. I will post my painting tomorrow. By the way, this is incidentally my contribution for Em Dy's 29thd ed. of The Blog Rounds. I missed TBR!
Art what? I know, I know.
At first, my mind couldn't comprehend how in the world did Family Medicine cover art therapy? I know from my undergraduate course that you can use art to teach and as a therapy to some behavioral and psychological conditions. To actually heal a physiologically ill patient with it is another matter.
With a skeptical mind and very little knowledge on art, we tried to grasp as much as we could from the half day workshop.
This post is not enough to cover what we did (and learned) from the workshop. And this post is NOT about that! But suffice it to say that it's an entirely different field of Medicine that I am not yet comfortable with but a field worth considering.
We were made to paint our 'safe place' as the last activity for that day. Starting with the background, we used pastels and crayons. The facilitator then made us look at our 'background' paintings and let the figures come out. She told us to let our hearts define the painting; let our hearts bring out the figures in the painting. I did.
It's only now that I realized the old adage 'home is where the heart is' stands true. The safe place for me is not what I used to think it was: my room, our house, the beach. It is actually where my heart is.
It is wherever Chuy is.
I just realized at the end of the session that maybe, art is really therapeutic. At least, for my longing.
P.S. I will post my painting tomorrow. By the way, this is incidentally my contribution for Em Dy's 29thd ed. of The Blog Rounds. I missed TBR!
5 comments:
Thanks for joining Che. I'm looking forward to seeing your painting.
Happy Valentine's Day!
awww... :-)
i've also learned first hand the true value of art as therapy...while blogging is usually my therapy, when you're at a loss for words, my drawings go to the very core of me! enjoy it!!!
hi, che! that sounds so interesting. i think that our career paths force us so vehemently into the pragmatic world of science that we tend to neglect that creative part of ourselves. it's very freeing to have it unleashed!
i can't paint to save my life, but i am looking forward to learning how to take good pictures. :)
i've tagged you in my blog - hope you're not too busy with your more structured life now to do it! i look forward to reading about your "sevens." I'm so bummed that i missed Em's "Love" edition, too! Pero try pa rin humabol - if only i had some inspiration. :)
art can really soothe a tired soul as it may cure human ailments. after all, most of our diseases are caused by our ill feelings. you got a nice artwork there. are you a doctor? you can pass as an artist.
i guess juicing up the artistic side of our brain stimulate the body to somehow heal.
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