Healing through Playing with Art: Art Therapist Joan Stanford (vegan), Part 3 of 3

Today, Joan will continue to elaborate on how this treatment modality assists individuals to achieve better lives and how creativity is associated with our physical wellness. “Whenever people talk about wellness, they talk about diet, nutrition, exercise, meditation, and relaxation, but very rarely do they talk about creativity as being an essential pillar and I think it really is because when we tap into our creativity, it's so enlivening enlightening; it’s energizing.” The World Health Organization defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” Joan teaches a class called “Artful Nutrition” and explains how the creative process she teaches in this course can help remove negative thoughts. “My part in that is to get to the underlying saboteur that tends to get in the way of your good intentions. So I've usually had them make some representation of that voice inside them that says, ‘Oh, you'll never do it, or you're not worthy of being healthy, or you're too this, or you're too that,’ that very nasty, nagging voice that stops our good intentions. Again, it's a very emotional process for a lot of people because it's a message they heard from someone else usually that they're not good enough or whatever and I'll have them make some representation of that voice or that critic, that I call the inner saboteur, because to me it's the underminer and it stops you from doing what you say you want to do.” In terms of nourishment, a vegan diet is recommended by doctors and been proven in numerous scientific studies to be the most healthy and energizing lifestyle choice. By not consuming animals, our mental wellness is also uplifted as our conscience is clear. Joan and her husband Jeff are both vegan, and she now shares with us why they chose plant-based eating as well as how it benefits them. “We did a lot of radio interviews, and we both said it was like we essentially see it as eliminating a huge conflict. And I think whenever you can eliminate conflict in yourself, inner conflict, two voices, you're more at peace and when you're more at peace, you're healthier, and you're happier.”