Ceremony as medicine? Really? Yes.

Yesterday I had the great opportunity to hear a presentation by Dr. Anne Marie Chiasson here in Tucson. She spoke with such deep knowing and passion! I loved it. She held the packed room of 90 people totally captivated. The meeting was the first for the newly formed Arizona Integrative Wellness Coalition. (Of which I am becoming a member!)

Her message held many layers. Some ideas stirred my thoughts about ceremonial work quite deeply, plus stoked the fires of my passion for it. For instance- when she said ceremony is a “place where there is no time and we are all connected”. I am often amazed at the sense of transcendence experienced within moving ceremonies. She also spoke of how we each have our own mythology, our own stories. I honor that precise point during my work with clients at Sweetgrass.

Dr. Chiasson so artfully spoke about spontaneity and surprise in ceremonies, too. She spoke of how ceremonies “pop-up in ICU, to hold the things too big to carry alone” and how this is especially true for people crushed by grief. I so wholly agree, that ceremony helps us carry burden because we tap into a collective strength.

You can read the essence of her talk in her article “Ritual in Family Medicine – Ritual, Ceremony and Meaning“. It is in the San Francisco Medical Society June 2009 publication (free PDF), entirely devoted to “Ritual in Medicine”. She even brushes upon literature about brain wave research, showing how experiencing ceremony stimulates brain wave shifts (comparable to sound stimulation).

Yum. Amazingly delicious information. Do yourself a favor and check out Dr. Chiasson’s work and the June 2009 article. Her message is relevant for all of us.

In gratitude,

Kristine