Art Therapy

by Fiona Channon

I have always been artistic and always loved drawing but my art as it is today didn’t emerge until about 10 years ago just after the birth of my son.

I was feeling a bit lost and frustrated though I didn’t know why as I was living in Greece with my husband and children and we had a good life. However, a friend introduced me to a Healer and Runemaster called Doug Ashcroft who became my teacher. He seemed to understand what I needed and said he could help.

I spent a week with him and he taught me how to meditate and open up to the Universal Energy to allow it to come through me. I sat with pad and pencil and went into meditation again and again. I was amazed that with closed eyes I could draw pictures I couldn’t have produced with my eyes open! They had such movement and energy in them and I was hooked.

I spent the next 10 years developing this technique. What I realised very early on was that people were having very emotional responses to my work and I came to understand that the energies I received were being transferred to the painting and that therefore they had a healing effect. I was able to “draw” for people who were troubled, to uncover issues they had that needed working on and healing. The results never cease to amaze me. I have now gone on to develop this technique further and am now working with vibrant coloured inks. Again, I can ask for a painting to come through me for a specific person to enable healing.

I have converted a bedroom in my house to a studio. My family know that when I go in there not to come in! I have a small bureau with candles on and some of my paintings on the wall. It's usually pretty messy in there but I go in and light a candle and offer it to the Universal Energy. I tend to communicate with "Isis". She is my muse and my direct link. I just feel an affinity for her since she appeared in one of my meditational drawings.  I always light an incense stick too - it helps me to go to that other place. I don't play music whilst meditating but I do play it when I 'm in the process of painting if I'm in there for a long time.
 
I take my awareness through my body until I'm fully in tune and then I either ask a question or just sit and wait for communication or a drawing to come through. It depends what I went into the studio for. I'm getting to the point now where I no longer need to ask the questions - I have the answer as soon as I've had the thought, so the process is getting quicker and I'm finding my intuition is much better than ever before.
 
I met the Barefoot Doctor about a year ago at a Charity event. I didn't really know who or what he was until afterwards when I looked him up on the internet, but he was very nice and I liked his human-ness if you understand what I mean. He seemed sincere and was interested in my art. I explained to him how I do it and what I'm doing and he was intrigued and so we arranged for him to see the paintings. He really liked them and was able to tap into them so easily. We decided to work on a collaborative project - words to go with the paintings as a tool to healing and meditation. I'm producing it myself to sell at exhibitions. He has written a foreword for the book too.
 
I'm now starting to teach workshops - how to open up to the Universal Energy and let your real self emerge. It is not so much about art – more about discovering yourself and opening up to let the energy in and out. It is very calming and will help to release blockages. It’s all about letting go and allowing the mind to be flexible yet steady.

For more information, please visit my website

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