BRYANT POND – A collection of images that demonstrate the beauty, power and spirit of a person’s self-worth is most fitting in describing local artist and author Arla Patch’s award-winning book, “A Body Story.”
The Bryant Pond woman said she was stunned to learn on May 19 that her first book was nominated for outstanding book of the year by Independent Publisher. It received an honorable mention award in the category of most life-changing.
“I submitted it under the category inspirational/spiritual,” Patch said. “They pulled it from there and nominated it for outstanding book of the year, and they sent me an e-mail which said it blew the judges’ minds.’ It was beyond what I would have imagined.”
Patch identifies herself as an artist above an author. As a teaching artist for more than 30 years, she has come to identify herself as a “creativity midwife,” which she describes as someone who facilitates the healing process through working with an individual’s creativity.
Patch supports people who have endured difficult times in their lives by helping them realize their self-worth through connecting with their creativity. She does this with several different artistic media, one of which is photographic projection, which is the technique she uses in her book.
“A Body Story” was created to support others’ healing while it also helped Patch transform. With a history of child abuse, Patch came to realize how her childhood years created a disconnection from her body. At the age of 48, it was her body that created the reconnection.
Patch said she developed a fibroid tumor the size of a baseball in her uterus.
“It was the wisdom of the body that really woke me up,” Patch said referring to how her tumor changed her life. “I asked it if it (the tumor) would be willing to shrink as I learned the lessons it came to teach. That’s when I started to address important changes in my life. Six months later I saw the fibroid tumor in my mind’s eye as the size of a walnut. A sonogram showed exactly that!”
The book is a celebration of the wisdom of the body, according to Patch. It also tells the story of how the mind and the body are linked.
“I am telling a story through these images,” Patch said. “It was a conscious choice to give birth to a book that would support other women and men in experiencing the healing that I’ve been lucky to experience. I feel obligated to pass it on.”
Arla Patch’s “A Body Story” is an inspirational story of self-valuing, integrity, strength and power. It was through her connection to the beauty of nature that the transformation was made.
“When you fuse yourself with the miraculous quality of nature, then you become miraculous,” Patch said. “It makes you see the divinity within yourself. You realize your value, and that you deserve to be treated with dignity.”
“A Body Story” may be purchased online at www.arlapatch.com, at Books Etc. in Portland, at Books-N-Things in Bethel and at Shoestring Books in Norway.
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