May 24, 2016 – Healing places, healing spaces

[Note: I’ll resume recording when I’m back home from vacation – at the latest.]

Joe and I are over on the island of Kauai. This year I’m here for 15 days – a good long time (by most of our standards). Even though we are here to rest, and painting is work for me, I always paint quite a bit over here. It’s a real treat to paint in the moist air – it just works differently. Though the paper feels dry to the touch, there is a softness about it that makes for easier blending. And because it’s so warm, it dries pretty quickly too. A couple of days ago, as I started to paint on the covered front porch, of the little place we are staying in, I had an inkling to look for something to listen to, as I did. I took a peek at the On Being site, and stumbled upon an episode that seemed perfect. Krista Tippet interviewed Esther Sternberg, an immunologist, who is looking at the impact that our physical surroundings have, on healing our bodies and has written a book called, “The Science of Healing Places.”

If ever there is an environment that I experience as healing, it’s this beautiful island. The first thing we hear every morning, when opening the French doors, is the sound of the all the birds – many of them quite distinct – Hawaii bird sounds. There’s almost always a breeze moving the soft, balmy air over our skin. Plants seem to grow before our eyes, the life-force is so unleashed here. The owners of the little house where we are staying, have some tomato plants, in some big pots along the driveway. Joe swears they’ve grown a foot since he arrived (a week before me). The smells and tastes are amazing too – the fruit and the flowers are exotic and intoxicating even, so not like home.

And then don’t get me started on the colors! There are, of course, all the greens and the vibrant colors of the flowers, but even just the ocean here is more colorful than at home, it reflects so many hues of blue and turquoise. Floating around in it, as we are every day, is its own kind of heaven. It’s just the right temperature and so salty, that we stay afloat without a lot of effort. We also seem more connected to the rhythms of nature. We hardly ever talk about going to see a sunset at home. But here, every evening we are tuned in to when the sun is going down, often making a trip just to go watch it, as it descends below the horizon. This is an amazing place, that brings us to a whole other experience of being.

Krista Tippet asked Esther Sternberg, about her definition of the word “healing.” Calling it a verb, she described healing as a movement that takes us from illness to health, restoring us to balance. Life is a constant barrage of injury, illness, cell oxidation that would quickly lead us to our death without healing, to return the cells of our bodies to their proper function. When Joe was having chemotherapy for lymphoma, the drugs zapped his immune system so badly, that a tiny little red spot around a hair follicle on his thigh the next day, became a red infection the size of a silver dollar. It was scary to see how fast bacteria can eat at us, without our capacity to heal ourselves.

Intuitively, it seems obvious that being surrounded by beauty and nature, seeing color and light, being inspired by what we see and hear, would aid in our healing. It’s well known, well studied, and well documented how stress causes disease and inhibits healing. But Esther Sternberg is pointing to her findings – scientific studies – of the opposite – how certain physical surroundings, cause measureable differences in recovery from surgery and illness, and how architects and planners are focusing on building hospitals, work places, urban development even, that support our healing.

There is another aspect of what I heard, that I’m tuning into. The conversation touched a couple of times, upon how cathedrals, with their soaring spaces that are often filled with the spectacle of sunlight, shining through colorful stained-glass and how they inspire and uplift us, causing a healing effect. Not only are we artists appreciators of color and light, but we create these experiences for others. Hearing this was a welcome affirmation of the impact of our work. So often, people evaluate artwork for how it works in their décor – which I completely understand. But it’s not nearly as meaningful as the idea, that we are potentially aiding in someone’s healing with our creations. Looking at what I paint, anyone can see how drawn I am, in particular, to color and light. I’ve said that if I didn’t paint watercolor, I’d want to work in stained glass. Color and light are the whole point for me.

I’m so very grateful that I have the great fortune, to be able to come visit this particular piece of paradise quite often – we come here pretty much once a year, sometimes twice. And a week from tomorrow, we’ll be on a plane to come home. Though where we live is a pretty nice place, it’s not Kauai and the experience of being here, will be in our memories. Esther Sternberg ends her book, by talking about how we can create healing places, through our minds and our memories. Though the places humans build – healing-oriented hospitals, public gardens, beautiful spaces in our homes, when we recall experiences of being in places like where I am now, our brains are flooded with positive emotions, which support our healing.

I have to wonder if this isn’t, in part, what we are up to with the art we make. My sense is that beauty, flowers, the color and light that many of us are drawn to paint, are in partnership with us, to create and spread healing experiences for others. Last summer, we had an exhibit of 99 watercolors of flowers in the corridors of the exhibit hall, at the Marin Civic Center. The staff that worked in the offices adjacent, said that the whole building felt different with our art there; they said it was both calming and inspiring. Seems like healing energy to me.

There is another healing going on here too. Having art become central to our lives, heals us. I’ve seen this in my own life, as well as some who have come to paint with me. Not only are we healing ourselves, but with our use of color and light, we create vignettes that spread healing into the world. How great is that?

With my wish, that this helps bring a bit of the healing I’m experiencing to you.

Aloha,
Cara