May 31

Therapeutic Potential of Lumonics

west wall of the Lumonics performance space
(photo of Jennifer Hughes/303 Magazine)

 

Therapeutic Potential of Lumonics

Through the years (over 5 decades now) people have commonly reported to Dorothy Tanner having profound spiritual and emotional experiences while contemplating the Lumonics art pieces. Some of these experiences have led to considerable symptom reduction in individuals with pre-established mood and anxiety disorders. This suggests a potential role for Lumonics in complementing evidenced-based treatments in the outpatient psychiatric setting as well as in mental health and overall well-being of the population. 

It is possible that Lumonics is exerting its effect by creating an immersive experience that feels safe and soothing, but also stimulating and expansive. The contents presented by Lumonics art works seem to have a harmonizing effect over the limbic system allowing for better synchronization with the prefrontal cortex and likely resulting in the creation of novel neural pathways that can help overcome maladaptive defense mechanisms within the individual. This could have particular implications in the treatment of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) which are major public health concerns reaching epidemic proportions. 

The therapeutic potentials of Lumonics need to be expeditiously investigated within an evidence-based medicine model that will likely necessitate input from a variety of techniques and disciplines such as biometrics, neurophysiology, structural and functional neuroimaging. As a board certified psychiatrist with special interests in clinical research, neuropsychiatry, as well as Integrative, Complimentary and Alternative Medicine (ICAM), I am actively seeking and eager to secure the proper funding needed to initiate these studies.  

 

JOMAR P. SUAREZ, MD

Dr. Suarez is an adult psychiatrist trained at the University of Colorado and a
diplomat of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. He has performed
research and completed courses at prestigious institutions such as Johns Hopkins
and the Memory and Aging Center at the University of California, San Francisco.

Dr. Suarez has a strong interest in neuroimaging and neuropsychiatry. He also
carries a strong background in molecular and clinical research. The research he
performed at the Memory and Aging Center resulted in a first author publication in
“Neurology” as well as an acknowledgement in a different publication in “Brain” – 2
of the most prestigious peer-reviewed journals in the field of Neurology.

Throughout his career, Dr. Suarez has received numerous academic awards and
scored on the top percentiles of his competency exams. Additionally, Dr. Suarez has
been awarded multiple scholarship and research fellowship opportunities including
the National Science Foundation Model Institutes of Excellence Scholarship, the
Doris Duke Foundation Fellowship and the Howard Hughes Medical Institutions –
National Institutes of Health (HHMI-NIH) Research Scholars Program.

Over the years Dr. Suarez has gained experienced in a broad variety of systems of
practice raging from academic, governmental, private practice and community
mental health settings. As a result, Dr. Suarez has become highly sensitive to the
needs of diverse patient populations and is extremely passionate regarding issues
of social advocacy and community development. 

May 30

“Your Brain On Art: How The Arts Transform Us”

“The blend of science and art is called neuroarts or neuro-aesthetics. The new book, ‘Your Brain On Art: How The Arts Transform Us,’ shows both the growth and importance of the field that connects the arts and our health. Jeffrey Brown of PBS visited the Johns Hopkins Medical School in Baltimore to see the progress for our arts and culture series, CANVAS.”

Susan Magsamen, Director, Center for Applied Neuroaesthetics:
“The arts are becoming more incorporated into medicine, and of a growing understanding of how art can literally reshape or rewire our brains. It connects different circuits, connects different systems and different mechanisms within the brain.

Magsamen is co-author with Ivy Ross, vice president for design at Google, of the new book “Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us.”  She gave Jeffrey Brown a day’s tour of ongoing examples at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where she directs the International Arts and Mind Lab.

Mr. Brown was introduced to Dr. Alexander Pantelyat, a neurologist and himself a violinist who’s studying the potential for improving memory loss experienced by Alzheimer’s patients and others.

Dr. Pantelyat, Co-Founder and Director, Johns Hopkins Center for Music & Medicine:
“And we know that music impacts multiple networks in the brain simultaneously. Simply listening to a song can activate much of the brain at once.”

Susan Magsamen: “The fact that there is science that’s really beginning to show the neuroplasticity, the changes in neurotransmitters, the physiological structural changes in the brain, and also the impact on the body, I think we’re starting to be able to provide an evidence base. We are really evolutionarily wired for the arts. And I think that, as the science continues to grow, I think we will have more applications and more ways to see that show up in our daily lives.”

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/how-a-blend-of-science-and-art-is-improving-neurological-health

May 29

This Machine Makes You Hallucinate by JOAO MEDEIROS

Prolonged exposure to strobe lights has a psychedelic effect, which researchers are investigating as a way to heal the brain.

LAST SUMMER, IN various cities in the UK, more than 40,000 people visited the Dreamachine, a large space designed to induce hallucinatory experiences with white stroboscopic light and electronic music. Twenty to 30 people were allowed into the room and asked to lay down and close their eyes. After the 30-minute session, participants would typically describe the experience with adjectives like vivid, kaleidoscopic, powerful, and magic. 

One of the aims of the Dreamachine project is to shine a light on something that Anil Seth, a neuroscientist at the University of Sussex and a collaborator on the project, which includes a team of artists, engineers, designers, and musicians, have investigated for more than a decade: the effect of stroboscopic lights on the brain. “It’s a phenomenon that’s still not understood,” he says. “The flickering light gives rise to really unexpected and powerful perceptual effects and conscious experiences that are kind of unrelated to what’s out there. It’s just white light yet people see colors and shapes.” This psychedelic effect might be key to understanding the neural basis of visual experience, because participants report having visual experiences even though their eyes are closed. “There’s something about experiencing the power of your own mind and brain to generate an experience that is really transformational,” Seth says.

Seth and his team have also started a project called the Perception Census, an online survey that aims to measure how different people perceive different dimensions like sound, time, color, and even expectations. “The idea is to understand the latent space,” he says. “The underlying organizational structure by which we all vary on the inside because it’s so hard to see. It seems to us that we see the world as it is, so it’s very hard to realize that other people might see it very differently.” Already, 20,000 people from more than 100 countries have taken part in the census, making it one of the largest experiments of its kind.

Editor’s Note:
You can have this kind of experience at Lumonics with your eyes open as you look at colorful light sculptures and experience visual music. Here is a link to Therapeutic Potential of Lumonics.

https://www.wired.com/story/dreamachine-anil-seth-strobe-light-therapy

May 28

Those who came up in the ‘move fast and break things’ era are learning to slow down and make things: The Maker Movement

 

A recent Washington Post article by Lisa Bonos, “They built the digital world. Now they just want to sew and make chairs,” focuses on new workshops that teach people how to work with their hands, and how gratifying the process is. Many attending are technology workers who sit in front of computer screens all day. Some companies set up classes to team-build.

Excerpts:
“Working slowly and deliberately can be difficult for people who are trained to focus on speed and efficiency.”

“The maker movement, where people use do-it-yourself techniques to construct things, has been flourishing in the Bay Area for about a decade. In the pandemic, some tech workers rekindled their Lego obsessions. Glass-blowing, welding, pottery-making and other art forms have also taken off.”


“It’s tremendously grounding, and it’s meditative…” 
“had this deep sense of accomplishment, and it was so incredibly satisfying…”
“I like learning how to be competent at something. At the end of it — look, I have this thing,”
“You’re tapping into a history of human craftsmanship that’s been around for the entire existence of our species.”
“As people spend less time commuting, they have more time for hobbies, and more of a need for connection.”
“Has a certain rejuvenating power for desk workers who spend most of their day staring at electronic devices.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/05/27/tech-workers-new-hobby-woodworking-sewing/


This kind of gratification is what Dorothy Tanner had in mind when she founded the Lumonics School of Light Art in 2018, shortly after she received the Denver Mayor’s award for Innovation in the Arts, and two years before she passed. A student makes a cube, electrifies it with an LED bulb, and then “artifies” it.

examples of completed cubes

“The Lumonics School of Light Art, the educational wing of light-art genius Dorothy Tanner’s Lumonics Studio”
Denver Westword

“Any human anywhere will blossom in a hundred unexpected talents and capacities simply by being given the opportunity to do so.”
—Doris Lessing, novelist and Nobel Prize recipient

 

Kelley and Keely working on their cubes

 

Mia and her cube

 

Foster and his cube

1-session, 2-session , and 4-session classes are available