Nature-Based Expressive Arts Therapy

9

Foreword

Corrine Glesne

Several years ago, I lived in Oaxaca, Mexico where I began working
with a group of young people seeking to address environmental
issues in their community. When I met a teacher in a small indigenous
village in the Sierra Norte Mountains, I asked him how young people
in his village thought about the environment. He paused, then
replied, “We don’t really talk about the environment, we talk about
harmony.” Readings had informed me about the importance of the
concept of “harmony” to Oaxaca’s indigenous communities. I had
heard people talk about susto , or fright, and its effects on health, about
the nagual , or animal allies, and about nature spirits of many kinds.
Nonetheless, I kept assigning what I was reading and hearing and
experiencing to my Western categories of people, animals, spirituality
and environment. The teacher’s response suddenly illuminated my
categories and how some peoples of southern Mexico perceived
things in ways that did not segregate humans, nature, animals and
spirits as I had been doing. This experience comes to mind as I
read Nature-Based Expressive Arts Therapy. Throughout the text Sally
Atkins and Melia Snyder convey ecological and indigenous wisdom
and sensibilities that challenge compartmentalized thinking and
encourage engagement as caretakers for each other and the Earth—
for living in harmony.
I first met Dr. Sally Atkins at Wildacres, a retreat center nestled
in the mountains of North Carolina. We were there for different