It has been life-altering to say the least. Fears and terrors faced and befriended, feeling exposed and vulnerable and raw, thrown into chaos and new community, provoked and shaped by group process, my world continues to expand. Some days I don’t recognize myself, the layers shift rapidly and slowly. I do miss my hermit artist life something terrible and I’m walking, dancing, slithering between the two. For now, I’m answering a call heard in 2006 on the road back from my first trip to New Mexico to become more visible which, step by step has led me to this life as artist, student, training practioner and peer.

This is a full-time scholastic endeavor based on a self-directed adult learning, circular and experiential model and is undoing all manner of notions about education and more. In my educational requirements are required hours in Expressive Arts Therapy sessions with a recognized teaching professional in the field, required hours of study with an authorized Master Artist in an art form that is not my own as well as required hours of practicum work in the community with assigned supervision in two different locations long-term.  I’ve chosen to work with Mary Reich, a reknowned Dancer/Choreographer and co-founder of Lower Left Dance Collective a graduate of EAISD and Expressive Arts Therapist, first since movement has been key in my life and health in the last 3 years and to help me in relationship to this renewed body I have. I continue to learn what an excellent choice I made as therapist/teacher, what a gift she is. For the Master Artist requirements, I studied with nationally recognized modern Painter, Reed Cardwell, for a period of time before choosing to pursue Performance Art, the most terrifying and the strongest attractor, adhering to the directive “Follow the Attractors” and “How will the study of an unfamiliar art form inform and influence my own art?” In this vein, I am now studying with Kathrin Keune, renowned German singer/performer and a recent EAISD graduate, in Voice Movement. I found my body’s love of singing in school this past year and am currently working on an arts based research project of Laurie Anderson, performance artist supreme, which I will present for my Level One exams.

I am also an active member and player in the Minstrels of Story Playback Theatre group in San Diego under the artistic direction of Taru Rivera. Playback Theatre was developed in 1975 by Jonathan Fox and Jo Salas, who still run the School of Playback Theatre. Playback Theatre is an original form of improvisational theatre in which the audience members tell stories from their lives and watch them enacted or played back immediately in a safe and supportive environment. Storytelling remains the most ancient of arts, told around campfires and circles for thousands of years.

I attended and successfully completed my first level of three at EGS this past summer and look forward to returning next July. The summer program in condensed, demanding and challenging and the spectacular Swiss Alps provided me with the nature hikes to balance the long hours of daily class work. 23 days in a row, no days off, most days from 9am-10:30 at night. I came home thoroughly exhausted to a point I’ve not experienced in years, if ever. Next year, I will schedule a week off afterwards to recuperate!

My practicum work has consisted of the ALBA school, working with at risk teens in Drama to develop healthy and appropriate social behaviors so they can hopefully return to the schools they were removed from; Expressive Arts Therapy groups (including my evolving Doll Workshops) at an eating disorder treatment facility; Expressive Arts Therapy groups for San Diego Youth and Community Services (SDYCS) which have included art groups with homeless teens at the SDYCS Storefront Shelter and currently with at risk youth ages 5-8 with behavioral and socialization issues.

In the meantime, among the reading and paper writing, I am from time to time practicing the piano, which I took up just before leaving for Switzerland, or writing melodies to accompany the songs I’m creating, or painting or dancing or puppetting or practicing stilt-walking or even once in a while paying attention to some in work dolls who are very, very patient.

What is Expressive Arts?

Expressive Arts (EXA) is a therapeutic field in which the arts—dance, music, visual arts, theatre and poetry—are used as a catalyst for change in an individual, organization or community. EXA works by activating the imagination and stimulating the senses, expanding cognition beyond the logic of the intellect.

Simply put, EXA helps us move from limitation to possibility. As we engage our creativity we develop confidence in our ability to produce and manage change in our lives and in the world. EXA is appropriate for clients of all ages and abilities. No arts experience is needed.

How does Expressive Arts help in therapy?

The arts enable us to give expression to pain and distress that is beyond language—to move it from the abyss within into a physical form that can be examined, acknowledged and released by the sufferer, clearing the path to change.

The arts also give a physical presence to hopes and dreams; as we shape our images they in turn shape us. When we depict with a drawing, collage or sculpture, or enact a new way of being in the world, it is empowering. Practicing a new behavior in the imaginal realm paves the way for a shift in the physical world.

EXA is often used in conjunction with, or as an alternative to psychotherapy. Among many applications, it is highly effective in the treatment of eating disorders, substance abuse, depression and mental illness. It is helpful, too, for clients who are dealing with loss, facing a life-threatening illness, and for those who have experienced trauma.