Art washes away from the Soul the dust of Everyday Life.
Pablo Picasso
This second aquatic therapy blog carnival (see the first here) celebrates the art of healing and the healing in art, and the way water flows between these for the people profiled here. Inger says, for example: 'Art for me is healing and like a gift that reverberates, like water'.
The word 'therapy' doesn't capture the playful inspiration behind what many aquatic bodyworkers do in the water. For me, this skill has always seemed more an art form than anything else. You can see art reflected in the websites of many independent aquatic practitioners too (a post on some of these coming soon).
Just as a spoonful of honey makes the medicine go down, conveying this sense of art when you are doing therapy in the water may make the experience even more accessible and effective. And, for the receiver, expressing the experience through art can help capture something otherwise difficult to articulate.
Water and creativity
In February, I created a group on the Aquatic Therapist network called Water and Creativity - 'for exploring creative ideas in the water for their own sake ... many of which have great healing potential'. Several members of the network are also professional artists and I wanted to set up a place to explore this crossover.
I'd love to see more aquatic bodyworkers blogging about their art - blogs can be a combination of words and images with the emphasis on either or both. The above network includes a blog for each member but few people use it to express their creativity. I hope this post will help inspire that.
I met Inger Whist on another social network, Facebook, and we've enjoyed exchanging links and thoughts about water. She is a photo-artist who works with sound and image and is currently undertaking an MFA in Documentary Media Studies focusing on water issues at Ryerson University, Toronto.
Inger's blog of images is described best in her own words: 'My blog is an octopus of tentacles reaching out all that I find that is sacred on water, and the input of artists I find working with water to some politics of water, especially within the linked videos. I really like the indigenous ideas on how we should treat our water.' See more of Inger's water art here.
At the moment she's working on turning her water videos into moving mandalas, two intersecting mandalas with the interpretive third being the viewer. The circular form of a mandala is evocative of water too. One of my aquatic teachers, Alexander Georgeokopoulos, talked of creating spatial mandalas in the water.
Mandala art therapy which has gained popularity as a tool for personal growth, may be a valuable way of encouraging artistic and 'non-artistic' clients to extend their water sessions - the round shape of a mandala being reminiscent of a pool and also the natural curves of the human form.
Inger recently joined the Aquatic Therapists network, and I wonder what the experience of being floated in water would bring out in her artwork. So many of the videos of aquatic therapy uploaded on that network are visually beautiful to watch as the water dance plays out, and some do focus on the art of the work.
Another photo-artist is Linda Troeller who has been inspired by the aesthetic of human movement in water. I met Linda when I visited Toskana Therme in Bad Sulza for a workshop about floating and dreaming in water. She has created some stunning dreamlike photos of people drifting in water.
Linda now offers such images for spas and other health-related settings. Some of her water-related photos are collected in her two books: Healing Waters (1997) and Spa Journeys, 2004. These kinds of images probably convey far better than words ever will, what merging with water might feel like.
Nature as artist
Back in 2001, I attended an International Science-Art event, The Language of Water, in Bath, UK, where I came across the water art of the co-organizer Alan Rayner. An accomplished naturalist and ecological thinker, Alan also produces and exhibits colorful oil paintings that reflect his rapport with the natural world.
Many of them include water. About the one shown here, 'P tear drops', he says: 'The boundaries of a conscious, bright-eyed awareness of pear blossom and fruit dissolve into a deeper world of pools, riven by disjunction where cascades descend, splash and refocus, caught in a frozen moment.'
Another ecologist-artist who celebrates water is Coco Gordon, who came to my previous retreat center and experienced aquatic bodywork when she was attending a bioregional congress in the Ozarks. Coco is interested in permaculture, especially permaculture water systems.
Since the late 70s, she has published her Water Mark Press, W-Space press, and TIKYSK Press poetry books and artist-books, many made by hand in-house. She is an international practicing poet, land artist, art-performer, and healer - water is often featured in her art. She blogs on the Colorado Transition network.
Water and visionary art
Water has been associated with the creative unconscious, and being floated in warm water often triggers this in receivers. One way to reflect such images and insights is through artistic expression and I have always thought it would be wonderful if this work were recognized as a valuable tool for creativity.
I suspect that, as Inger suggests, the art associated with water will often have a spiritual quality to it; and, since many find the experience of aquatic bodywork to be quite numinous too, the artwork likely to come out of receiving this might well have some of the magic of Alex Grey's visionary art.
Alex Grey has created stunning images of the human body. He says: 'work on our own souls and our own spiritual practice has to be a component of the art-making process' ... [we need to] 'go on a spiritual journey in order to encounter the states of being that will translate into authentic works of spiritual art'.
Seeking inspiration from water
Just as Inger, Linda, Alan and Coco delight in water to find artistic inspiration, aquatic bodyworkers might explore water to find healing inspiration. Reading water-related poetry and literature, looking at art created from water, and listening to water music can only enrich and deepen your practice.
Here is an example of a blog by a small community of artists who make art from water. They 'like to sketch, draw and/ or paint water - the sea, the coastline, beaches, rivers, streams, waterfalls, fountains - in all contexts, styles, genres and media.'
In their blog Watermarks, they 'display works in progress as well as completed art, highlight other artists (past and present) whose art involves water, and discuss various media matters and tips and techniques for creating art out of water'.
How about a collective blog for artists inspired by aquatic bodywork?
Last year, the blog master for the American Water Resources Association asked followers to send their favorite water songs and films. Not all water music works well for water sessions but some truly enhances the experience and some musicians have created music specifically for and inspired by this.
I've started my own music-for-sessions collection and will share this here soon. If you'd like to share your own favorites here, and especially if you know of music derived from the aquatic bodywork experience, please do add a comment below or contact me directly.
The next blog carnival is scheduled for June, and will probably be hosted on one of my other blogs or on your own water-related blog - contact me if interested. To read more about the aquatic blog carnival go here.
I invite you also to visit my other aquatic blogs:
Diving Deeper: An Adventure Inspired by Water
Vision Spa Retreat: Reflections on Spa, Soul, and the Role of Water
Inger's blog of images is described best in her own words: 'My blog is an octopus of tentacles reaching out all that I find that is sacred on water, and the input of artists I find working with water to some politics of water, especially within the linked videos. I really like the indigenous ideas on how we should treat our water.' See more of Inger's water art here.
At the moment she's working on turning her water videos into moving mandalas, two intersecting mandalas with the interpretive third being the viewer. The circular form of a mandala is evocative of water too. One of my aquatic teachers, Alexander Georgeokopoulos, talked of creating spatial mandalas in the water.
Mandala art therapy which has gained popularity as a tool for personal growth, may be a valuable way of encouraging artistic and 'non-artistic' clients to extend their water sessions - the round shape of a mandala being reminiscent of a pool and also the natural curves of the human form.
Inger recently joined the Aquatic Therapists network, and I wonder what the experience of being floated in water would bring out in her artwork. So many of the videos of aquatic therapy uploaded on that network are visually beautiful to watch as the water dance plays out, and some do focus on the art of the work.
Another photo-artist is Linda Troeller who has been inspired by the aesthetic of human movement in water. I met Linda when I visited Toskana Therme in Bad Sulza for a workshop about floating and dreaming in water. She has created some stunning dreamlike photos of people drifting in water.
Linda now offers such images for spas and other health-related settings. Some of her water-related photos are collected in her two books: Healing Waters (1997) and Spa Journeys, 2004. These kinds of images probably convey far better than words ever will, what merging with water might feel like.
Nature as artist
Back in 2001, I attended an International Science-Art event, The Language of Water, in Bath, UK, where I came across the water art of the co-organizer Alan Rayner. An accomplished naturalist and ecological thinker, Alan also produces and exhibits colorful oil paintings that reflect his rapport with the natural world.
Many of them include water. About the one shown here, 'P tear drops', he says: 'The boundaries of a conscious, bright-eyed awareness of pear blossom and fruit dissolve into a deeper world of pools, riven by disjunction where cascades descend, splash and refocus, caught in a frozen moment.'
Another ecologist-artist who celebrates water is Coco Gordon, who came to my previous retreat center and experienced aquatic bodywork when she was attending a bioregional congress in the Ozarks. Coco is interested in permaculture, especially permaculture water systems.
Since the late 70s, she has published her Water Mark Press, W-Space press, and TIKYSK Press poetry books and artist-books, many made by hand in-house. She is an international practicing poet, land artist, art-performer, and healer - water is often featured in her art. She blogs on the Colorado Transition network.
Water and visionary art
Water has been associated with the creative unconscious, and being floated in warm water often triggers this in receivers. One way to reflect such images and insights is through artistic expression and I have always thought it would be wonderful if this work were recognized as a valuable tool for creativity.
I suspect that, as Inger suggests, the art associated with water will often have a spiritual quality to it; and, since many find the experience of aquatic bodywork to be quite numinous too, the artwork likely to come out of receiving this might well have some of the magic of Alex Grey's visionary art.
Alex Grey has created stunning images of the human body. He says: 'work on our own souls and our own spiritual practice has to be a component of the art-making process' ... [we need to] 'go on a spiritual journey in order to encounter the states of being that will translate into authentic works of spiritual art'.
Seeking inspiration from water
Just as Inger, Linda, Alan and Coco delight in water to find artistic inspiration, aquatic bodyworkers might explore water to find healing inspiration. Reading water-related poetry and literature, looking at art created from water, and listening to water music can only enrich and deepen your practice.
Here is an example of a blog by a small community of artists who make art from water. They 'like to sketch, draw and/ or paint water - the sea, the coastline, beaches, rivers, streams, waterfalls, fountains - in all contexts, styles, genres and media.'
In their blog Watermarks, they 'display works in progress as well as completed art, highlight other artists (past and present) whose art involves water, and discuss various media matters and tips and techniques for creating art out of water'.
How about a collective blog for artists inspired by aquatic bodywork?
Last year, the blog master for the American Water Resources Association asked followers to send their favorite water songs and films. Not all water music works well for water sessions but some truly enhances the experience and some musicians have created music specifically for and inspired by this.
I've started my own music-for-sessions collection and will share this here soon. If you'd like to share your own favorites here, and especially if you know of music derived from the aquatic bodywork experience, please do add a comment below or contact me directly.
The next blog carnival is scheduled for June, and will probably be hosted on one of my other blogs or on your own water-related blog - contact me if interested. To read more about the aquatic blog carnival go here.
I invite you also to visit my other aquatic blogs:
Diving Deeper: An Adventure Inspired by Water
Vision Spa Retreat: Reflections on Spa, Soul, and the Role of Water
