Art coaching, emotions and alchemy: Seeing beyond the eye - First steps towards a paradigm shift

By Sonia Boni

Art for looking within, art for the soul. Consciousness sees no separation; science and art are companions, united by a single truth, guiding us towards a paradigm shift, towards an encounter with the secret language of art.

Have you ever thought that art and art history could be an alchemic tool for the evolution of consciousness? Have you ever wondered what value art could have beyond being purely aesthetic? What if seven small steps were enough to change those assumptions about art that limit its true expression and prevent us from making full use of it to get closer to our souls and listen to and understand what it whispers in our ears? This book is intended to stimulate a change of perspective in order to return art to its true emotional language that is able to touch deep chords and reach inside to “heal” the soul. The intention is to take you on a fascinating journey between art and science where the disciplines converse and complement each other, and to induce you to explore a concept of art therapy that stems from listening to a work of art. Through the exercises I propose, you will learn to “feel” what the work of art arouses in you.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Anima Edizioni
• Release date: Feb 2, 2023
• ISBN: 9788863656763

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

In these pages you will discover with me a different way of understanding art and art history. We will delve into the mystery of art’s secret language and you will realise how compelling its narrative can be and how powerful its message is.

I only ask you to put aside and forget everything you know or that is commonly said on the subject and allow yourself to re-accustom your eye to real seeing, which is based on a profound connection to your emotions and sensations. A way of seeing that passes through the eye but reaches directly inside you, transforming itself into feeling.

I will talk to you about what I call listening to the art work as a fundamental approach to be developed in order to fully enjoy its language until it actually touches our essence.

If you allow it to do so, it will enter within you through the emotions with which it has a privileged bond and it will take care of you, revealing its incredible, and often underestimated, maieutic dimension.

Then we will talk about emotions and how they can transform our lives.

We will discover how art is connected to freedom and how much it has determined, and still determines, the gradual estrangement of mankind to the point of making us forget the greatest gift it embodies: a link with the divine and the sacredness it holds within. The mechanisms that make the expression of creativity possible interest and fascinate me and, at the same time, allow me to explain how important liberating creativity is in order to recognise our talents.

I will take you to a dimension where knowledge knows no separation, where disciplines dialogue with each other, where science and art are companions, accomplices, united by a single truth.

We will understand the importance of artistic culture for a person’s well-being.

You will learn about the history of profound art through the work of contemporary artist Cristina Silletti and be given some insights into the work of the great Frida Kahlo.

We will approach a coaching model that uses art as a privileged tool to reach our emotions, beliefs and convictions and to train us to recognise our talents and pursue the intentions towards which our Essence guides us.

We will understand and experience why and how we can begin the process of personal growth from works of art.

In short, an art world unlike anything you have ever known.

ART COACHING, EMOTIONS AND ALCHEMY

SEEING BEYOND THE EYE

CHAPTER 1

First steps towards a new paradigm on art

Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth

with your eyes turned skyward,

for there you have been,

and there you will always long to return.

— Leonardo da Vinci

1.1. Art and well-being

The School of Athens, a painting by Raphael Sanzio for the Stanza della Segnatura (Signing Room) at the Vatican and dated 1509-1511, is the symbol of the union between scientific and humanistic disciplines, which was later transformed into the dichotomy that led to austere separations, if not clashes, between these two fields.

The dialogue between humanistic and scientific disciplines, between art and science, is of fundamental importance for me, a sort of DNA that underlies each of my projects and proposals, as well as the integrated ARTEVIVA Life method. Art therapy, in my opinion, is an opportunity to combine not only art and well-being, but also, as we shall see, artistic culture. Interest in quantum physics, neuroscience, alchemy and spirituality is part of this need to bring together what has long been divided, hopefully making a considerable contribution to the person’s well-being and, by derivation, of what is around them.

1.2. Art, culture, care and well-being

If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.

— Derek Bok

I deeply believe in the value of culture and, specifically, of artistic culture, as it embodies values such as awareness, freedom, love and care. Medical science also examines the link between art, culture and health. In the last 15 years, art and culture have, in fact, been defined as one of the most important factors of well-being. Scientific literature of the last twenty years has produced around three thousand studies providing the base for more than 900 publications on the subject of health. There is a growing interest and ever-greater awareness in the scientific field in terms of dialogue and interpenetration with the artistic and cultural sector. An example is the recent university course on Culture and Health, in collaboration with the University of Lugano (USI) and the City of Lugano’s Culture Division, in which prof. Enzo Grossi, course coordinator and author of the book Cultura e salute, la partecipazione culturale come strumento per un nuovo welfare (Culture and Health, Cultural Participation as a Tool for a New Welfare), asserts that the role of the arts and culture in the field of health prevention and promotion is increasingly confirmed by scientific evidence and could encourage new welfare policies, and that cultural participation, in an ideal ranking of wellbeing factors, comes right after absence of disease.

In 1948, the WHO wrote that «health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. The enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being.» In his Manifesto of the biopsychosocial model, published in the prestigious journal «Science» in 1977, Engel had already declared that the factors determining health were non-health factors, stating that health is more than the absence of disease and can be improved even in the absence of disease and that mental health and physical health influence each other. This latter point was further explored by Lars Olov Bygren in one of the first important studies published in the «British Medical Journal» in 1996. After following up and monitoring a group of Swedish citizens with a high cultural level - in the sense of interest in the cinema, theatre, reading, exhibitions, concerts, museums, sporting events, or the practice of activities such as singing, dancing and music - for nine years, he ascertained that the death rate was extremely low.

Moreover, Daisy Fancourt, British researcher and Associate Professor of Psychobiology and Epidemiology at University College London, published a report in 2019 entitled The role of the arts in improving health and well-being, in which it was observed that the pre-mature death rate in those with Art Engagement is almost three times lower than those without. The discovery of mirror neurons also led to a significant breakthrough and explained how feelings are contagious. This clearly defines why certain activities are more effective when carried out in company rather than individually and endorses the idea of workshop experiences, which I will elaborate on later. Nowadays, doctors in Canada and England prescribe free visits to museums. In terms of health, it has been concluded that the greatest return is in the quality of life, for which culture rightly ranks among the most relevant factors. So, as Grossi states, on a social level, we can assert that not investing in culture and art causes harm to individuals and, consequently, to public spending. Even Pericles back in 5th century BC, invested more in art than in the fleet. He gave money to the poor so that they could participate in the Dionysia, where the greatest playwrights competed with their works. And what did Greek tragedies represent? They portrayed emotions - even the most foul and terrible - as the efficacy of catharsis (κάϑαρσις) was well known in Greece, in other words, the purification of emotions by venting them, which was achieved by experiencing them intensely, letting them rise to the apex of their curve and then releasing them. We will see later how the movement of emotions can be compared to that of a