Photography Therapy?

I noticed a big interest in photography therapy out there! I don't know a lot about the subject, but as a former music therapist, I do know that more unconventional and holistic therapies such as these can really have a strong and positive effect on a soul in need of repairing.

My experience with what I called photography therapy was very uplifting, and that was exactly what I was in need of. From what I have been reading on the subject, there have been 3 ways in which to implement photography therapy:

1) to have the client collect meaningful photographs from his/her past, and associate the feelings with looking at them, and the memories with their current situation

2)to have the client learn photography, which in turn can increase the use of muscles and nerves that were previously thought to be unusable, and can provide a means of expressing feelings and emotions through a non-threatening medium

3)to have the client pose for pictures which "tell his/her story", and let their inner beauty and light shine, so as to improve self-esteem, self-acceptance

I found a quote pertaining to this last method - "When the soul wishes to experience something, she throws an image of the experience out before her and enters into her own image."

How true! It almost reminds me of the law of attraction- how we are supposed to visualize the things, life, level of happiness we want, and then believe we will have it. Well what better way to help with the visualization, than to have someone actually take a picture of what we want to manifest in our lives?

This is what my post, "Photography Therapy" (a bit farther down in the blog) was all about. My friend Lee Ann agreed to help me out with my own self-acceptance and self-concept, which has taken a beating over the years due to various unpleasant experiences, and relationships in my past. I had total faith in her ability to do this for me, as her artistic ability to take insightful and meaningful pictures is always evident in her many other projects, whether it has been taking pictures of newborns, or expectant mothers, scenes in nature, or of her own children at home. I think her sensitivity to the world around her, and her sense of purpose in this life, and in every interaction here allows her to take pictures of something more than the obvious. This is the kind of individual who should be practising Photography Therapy.

I really hope I hear more about this field. It sounds very exciting! And when I look at the pictures that my friend took of me, for the purpose of building me up, I know that this therapy really works, based on how they make me feel. It is obviously a treatment that has merit! I really am in favour of all the new therapies coming out that touch on the soul in a meaningful way such as this. It's about time that we, as souls who have come to this classroom to learn valuable lessons here, take care of the part of our health that matters the most. When we take care of that, I think everything else will follow suit!