Arts Heals: How Creativity Cures the Soul by Shaun McNiff, Shambhala Press, 2004.
There are many ways to be creative. Whether you paint, play a musical instrument, arrange a vase of flowers, or put together your own recipe, it seems that all of these activities free the mind from daily troubles or sooth a deeper emotional wound. Shaun McNiff has devoted his life to studying how artistic and creative endeavors heal the soul.
Art Heals is a collection of essays which reflect McNiff’s 30 years of work in the field of art therapy. Covering a broad range of topics from creativity in the work place to stimulating the imagination to a study of shamanism, this is a book to savor, a book to pick up and put down, one to think about as you go about your way.
Some may think that the association of healing and art is New Age. McNiff points out throughout Art Heals that cultures have been using the healing power of the arts since ancient times. It was Socrates who said that “Curing the soul is the first and essential thing.”
Comments are closed.