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Healing with the Arts

132 ratings

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University of Florida

Healing with the Arts

132 ratings

Through art projects—including visual arts, dance, writing, and music—along with spiritual practices and guided imagery, Healing With the Arts gives you the tools to heal what you need to heal in your life: physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual.

From the lesson

Visual Arts

Spirit Animals6:38

Student Example with Chelsea3:06

Meet the Instructors

Mary Rockwood Lane, PhD, RN, FAAN
Associate Professor
College of Nursing
Michael Samuels, MD

So, for the guided imagery for the spirit animal,

I found I had a hard time at first.

Sitting down and quieting my mind and

kind of reading along while I went along with the guided imagery.

But, once I read over the guided imagery a couple of times,

I was able to process what I needed to take my mind to.

So, I could close the book and I closed my eyes and I pictured myself walking down

a kind of dusted path towards an open forest.

And, before I could get to the forest,

I realize I wanted to just sit down and what became a meadow.

So, I sat down in the meadow and as the guided imagery asks,

I just waited until I started to feel a presence approach me.

And, it's interesting, it's as if I felt the same apprehension that

the spirit animal felt towards me because I sat there in the meadow in my mind.

And I just sensed that there was something near me on my side.

But I was too afraid to turn and look at it.

And, whatever that being was, was too afraid to really come closer to me.

And so, it was kind of shared understanding that

we know of each other but we don't fully know each other yet.

So, I left the guy the imagery of my mind feeling really excited but

also curious, wondering what was that cute creator?

And, I really wanted it to be a dog or a wolf.

I was hoping that it would be a wolf.

But again, I didn't want to put any label on whatever this being that I felt was.

So, before sleeping, I tried opening my mind saying, well,

spirit animal if you decide to come to me in my dreams, I'm open and I'm waiting.

because at that point I was so curious after doing the guided imagery.

And, I went to sleep that night and I had the most lucid dream where suddenly,

out of nowhere, this big giant blue polar bear, it was blue,

came straight at me in my face [SOUND].

And I thought in my dream, this is my spirit animal.

And then, I realized I had to hurry up and wake up to remember that,

that was my spirit animal.

So, I woke up and thankfully because I had done the guided imagery just before

sleeping my journal was by my bedside and so, I quickly wrote in my journal like,

I saw this blue polar bear and I think it's my spirit animal.

I'm not sure but I'm just going to put it for memory.

And, to be honest because I have been wanting it to be a wolf or

a dog, I didn't fully accept this polar bear spirit animal friend.

But I'm on my journey to potentially meet them again,

I have not dreamt of the spirit animals since then.

But I also have not opened my mind to that yet.

[SOUND]

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