Synopsis
Attunement in Expressive Arts Therapy: Toward an Understanding of Embodied Empathy addresses how the arts in practice and in therapeutic contexts offer expanded ways of being attuned to emotional states and life conditions with individuals, relationships, groups, and communities. Each chapter clearly articulates how to utilize the arts in order to tune in to self, other and a larger mystical, sacred or spiritual presence. This book allows the reader to intimately enter into the core essence of what artists and arts based therapists experience in their studios and in the practice of expressive arts therapy. Through a solid theoretical grounding that draws on an interdisciplinary understanding of how rhythm, resonance, improvisation, relational-attachment, intimacy, developmental play, transpersonal psychology and multiple intelligences contribute to an embodied experience of empathy, poignant stories from the author's 35 years as an artist and therapist come alive, allowing the reader to experience the spirit and essence of how the arts have been used throughout history to maintain healthy physical, emotional and spiritual well-being. Spontaneity, heightened sensitivity to inner states, deep connectivity to self and other, and an awareness of energetic and embodied shifts in consciousness are some of the common links that are explored. This book is a must read for anyone who is interested in how to create shared communal spaces that can help to transcend individual and community trauma, malaise and anxieties, leading to more integrative and meaningful experiences in order to creatively find ways to collectively engaging with the complexities this life continually offers.
About the Author
Mitchell Kossak, Ph.D., LMHC, REAT, is an associate professor in the Expressive Therapies department at Lesley University. Previously he was the Division Director, 2006-2013 and academic coordinator for the Lesley University Israel extension campus 1999-2006. He has been the executive co-chair/president of the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association (IEATA) since 2010. He has been a licensed mental health counselor since 1994, and a registered expressive arts therapist (REAT) since 2009. He is the associate editor of the Journal of Applied Arts and Health and fellow of the Institute for Arts and Health at Lesley University. His clinical work combines expressive arts therapy and body-centered approaches. Dr. Kossak has trained in a variety of mind body modalities and has studied and practiced energy- based healing forms such as Tai Chi, Chi Gong, Vispassana meditation, and Iyengar yoga for over 30 years. He earned his doctorate from the Union Institute and University in Interdisciplinary Studies with a concentration in Expressive Arts Therapy and Transpersonal Psychology. He has written about and presented his research on rhythmic attunement, improvisation, psychospiritual and community-based approaches to working with trauma and embodied states of consciousness at conferences nationally and internationally. Dr. Kossak is also a professional musician, performing for the past 30 years in the Boston area.
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