Creativity Is Healing

Creativity is Healing. That’s what this site is all about. Whether it’s a question of enacting your impulse to draw, sing, play an instrument, dance, act or make things, or joining with a group of like-minded friends — or strangers — to share the unique joy of communing through the arts, creativity can be profoundly healing. There is a whole family of disciplines known as the Creative Arts Therapies, including Music Therapy (my own profession), Art Therapy, Drama Therapy, Dance/Movement Therapy, and Poetry Therapy. In the last few years, conventional medicine has increasingly come to acknowledge the impact that engaging in creative and artistic activities with a credentialed professional can have on the health and well-being of patients. Both through the lived experience of clinicians and clients, and through an increasing body of experimental evidence, it’s becoming ever clearer that the practice of the Creative Arts Therapies can offer significant measurable benefits to people living with a wide variety of psychological, physical, cognitive and spiritual challenges.

But the healing effects of artistic expression extend well beyond officially sanctioned practices and activities. The very earliest known examples of human artistic activity date back over 40,000 years; discoveries of cave paintings and bone flutes from this era have been verified. Given the close relationship between acts of creative expression, spirituality and healing in shamanic cultures past and present, it seems quite likely that these early artistic activities were similarly connected to the practice not only of early religion but, importantly, of medicine.

Many people, including those who do not in any way consider themselves to be artists or even “artistic,” have experienced a surge in well-being after dancing, singing, drawing or writing, whether in the context of social groups or individual self-exploration. We’ve all said, or heard other people say, things like “That album saved my life,” or “That book made me who I am today,” and sometimes we have meant these statements quite literally.

We can experience the healing power of creativity not only by creating art, but also by consuming art, by taking it in. “Consuming,” after all, is a synonym for eating, which, when you think about it, is an active process. I like to think of consuming art as a way for us to absorb emotional nutrients into ourselves in order to grow, and thrive and develop as human beings.

We can use the arts as a tool to move us towards authenticity and balance. Acts of artistic creation, whether solitary or social, can help restore a sense of vitality, meaning and connection — things which often seem to be missing from modern life. This living, organic process can enliven and enrich our day-to-day lives, infusing them with depth, and warmth, and texture. By realizing our deep-seated internal drive for creative expression, we can feel more fully human, and learn not just to experience health, but to embody health, in all its rich and vibrant dimensions.

In this blog and podcast, I will explore the multiplicity of ways in which people have strived and continue to strive towards greater health through aesthetic and creative expression, from cave paintings to work songs, from talking drums to street murals.  In the coming weeks and months, look here for everything from casual journal musings to in-depth analysis, music, poems, experiential exercises, book reviews, interviews and panel discussions, all focused on the healing power of creativity.

All over the world, in smoky cafés, in secluded cabins, in church services and public protests, on subways and in soup kitchens, in classrooms and hospital rooms and bedrooms, in city parks and on cross-country drives, people have and will continue to experience the healing power of creativity, because creativity is healing.

Art Therapy, Creative Arts Therapies, Creativity, Dance Therapy, Drama Therapy, Healing, Music Therapy