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The fine art of living well

Nov. 17 Art and Wellness Fair will explore connection of mind, body and spirit
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Above: Friends Embracing, by Rosemary Wallace. Wallace is organizing a day of Art and Wellness at the Langley Arts Council Gallery, 20550 Fraser Hwy., on Sunday, Nov. 17. For more information, call 604-534-0781.

“If it wasn’t for music and art, I don’t think I’d be surviving very well.”

For Rosemary Wallace, the past year has presented more than its fair share of challenges.

A municipal councillor with the City of Langley and the mother of seven grown children, Wallace recently finished a two-year term as president of the Langley Arts Council.

It was a combination of duties that not only kept her hopping — it also made her sick.

Over the past 13 months Wallace has suffered from a series of increasingly frightening health problems — problems she has only recently begun to understand and from which she is finally beginning to recover.

And, as she heals, Wallace is hoping to share some of the lessons she’s learned about the connection between mind, body and spirit.

That is why she is organizing an Art and Wellness Fair, which will take place at the Langley Arts Council Gallery on Nov. 17. The event, which will run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. will include a number of presentations and the opportunity for participants to connect (or reconnect) with their creative side.

It was only when she let her own creative interests — painting, singing and poetry — take a back seat while she focused on the busyness of her life, that things began to fall apart, said Wallace.

As she worked to meet deadlines and fulfill the commitments of the roles of parent, politician and arts council president, Wallace was also providing emotional support for her daughter, Ashley whose husband was dying of cancer.

Todd passed away at 26, less than a year after the couple’s wedding.

It was during this extended period of emotional upheaval that Wallace began to experience her own growing litany of health problems — each one more frightening than the last.

She developed tremors in her hand as well as muscle weakness, which forced her to walk with a cane. She felt numbness in her arms and pain in her legs and back.

“Everything started to fall apart and I couldn’t move,” she said.

Even climbing a single flight of stairs would leave the former runner out of breath.

“I went through almost a year of my body breaking down.”

And then the scariest development of all — she began to suddenly and without warning lose her ability to speak for long periods of time.

Although she had no idea what was happening at the time, Wallace later came to understand that her nervous system was shutting down.

Last spring, she spent four days in the hospital after losing her ability to speak.

It happened several times and each incident would last from a couple of hours to several days.

She was seen by numerous doctors and chiropractors who were unable to offer any solutions.

But it took a trip to the emergency room at Vancouver General Hospital to provide an answer.

The ER physician listened as Wallace’s daughter, Becky, described in detail how her mother tended to take on other people’s stresses and pain.

“Becky being my advocate, and what she saw in me — I was taking on the pain of Ashley and Todd and trying to make the gallery work,” said Wallace.

“I was ignoring my creative self.”

The doctor told Wallace she was exhibiting many of the telltale signs of conversion disorder.

Conversion disorder, as it is described by the Mayo Clinic, is a condition in which the patient shows psychological stress in physical ways.

The condition was so named to describe a health problem that starts as a mental or emotional crisis — a scary or stressful incident of some kind — and converts to a physical problem.

“As the second oldest of 12 children, having seven kids, I got used to being the caregiver that doesn’t look after herself,” said Rosemary.

She was compounding her own stress and emotional pain with that of the people she loves.

After not having been able to speak for five days, Wallace left the VGH emergency room and immediately burst into tears. Then she spoke. Then she began to shout.

“I’d always realized, but neglected (the notion) that our mind and body are connected,” she said.

“I think (art) can aid in healing. Some other part of the brain opens up and takes you away from your affliction.”

And that is how Wallace’s Arts and Wellness Fair came into being.

“This day is basically to bring arts and wellness into one facility,” said Wallace.

“It’s about connection of creativity — tapping into parts of our brain that we sometimes block because we’re living our lives.”

Several of the gallery’s artists in residence will be working there throughout the day, alongside a number of  wellness practitioners, who will offer Thai massage, Reiki, and reflexology, among other treatments.

There will even be a presentation from a woman who does horse massage.

Participants will be able to pay for abbreviated treatment sessions as well as explore their own creative side at table, where  they can “leave their mark.”

Using crayons, paints, pencils — whichever medium they choose — participants will be invited to write a word, draw a picture,  or simply leave a splash of colour on a piece of canvas.

“Connecting mind, body and spirit is the whole point of wellness. It’s what we’re made up of,” said Wallace.

“I believe in living from the heart.

“I’m to that point in my life that I’m accepting who I am. I’m an emotional being, I’m very empathetic and I’m in tune with a lot of things.

“I express myself through poetry, singing and painting.

“If you’re a hypersensitive person, it’s just who you are. It’s just your life,” she said.

“It’s been an emotional roller coaster but it’s opened me up to not caring (about what people think).

“It’s given me more information and more passion to help other people find their peace.

“And if it’s through art, why not?”