May Visual Journaling and Studio Work

What happens when art is used as a tool for self-exploration and growth? For healing and insight?
Is art peripheral to life? These are questions that motivate me to research the value of the arts in learning (from the earliest age) until the moment we die. Not just visual art, but music, dance, writing, and the art relationships

An injured knee, a sore hip, difficulty relating to anther person, .pregnancy, stuck in a job we don't like, taking time to relax, fear of living fully are some of the subjects we work with in Visual Journaling class sessions. A group's insights and vulnerabilities contribute to each participants sense of understanding and learning. Change happens as we open up. Even though we may take breaks from looking within, once we've begun journaling, we've started the movement and change we seek.

Our bodies hold memories. We can use VJ to access those cellular memories and heal. It may seem uncanny, unreasonable, and impossible, but it happens. Tension held inside as numbness, heaviness, pain, tightness, shaking, aches, and restlessness can be accessed and worked with.

I've tried to ignore my body's needs and ended up flat on my back in bed. It's common in our fast-paced society to keep going when we need to slow down. Even an hour a week can change our connection to ourselves, to have a dialog with the miraculous vehicle called the "body".

If you want to try this process, I'll send you an introduction just to see how I approach it. New classes start in Seattle on Westlake Avenue on May 16, Sundays from 11-1 and May 21, Friday evenings from 6:30-8:30. The purpose of VJ is to connect with sensations and images in our unconscious. It's a contemplative, non-judgemental process of quieting the mind with meditation and opening the heart to emerging awareness. The purpose is to cultivate self-expression and discovery for life changes. It also helps in integrating inner and outer worlds. If you're working with a therapist, this an excellent way to go deeper into issues with which you're working.

Namaste, Gail B