Abstract

The conscious application of experiential beauty as a course towards health, healing, and well being forms the focus of this research. The study documents the effects of immersion in experiences of beauty as a modality for the recovery of a healthy sense-of-self in women. Conducted in a workshop environment, the results are based on the participant's self-assessment. The application of experiential beauty as a health giving modality remains outside the current conversation on health, wellness, and the western healing model. This study make strides towards establishing the ground on which the therapeutic experience of beauty can enter the discussion on health and wellness, becoming acknowledged as one of the contributors to healing. ;Situations that lead us to the knowledge that we have had an experience of beauty constitute experiential beauty. Not defined solely by the phenomenon itself, but by the response in the individual that leads to this "knowing" experiential beauty is often accompanied by the declaration "it is beautiful". Though some phenomena identified as beauty occurs cross-culturally, enculturation, depth, and breadth of individual experiences largely define experiential beauty. Examined here is the use of experiential beauty as a therapeutic modality, herein called Omorphatherapy, to influence wellness through the expansion or restoration of selfhood, identified here as a healthy "sense of self." An immersion experience in the form of a workshop incorporating ceremony, art activity, nature activity, and principles applied from philosophies of beauty throughout history, and cross-culturally, serves as the laboratory for the examination of the hypothesis. Nine women ages 32 to 71 participated in the study. Methods for exploration of the research question include action research, narrative study, aesthetic inquiry, and art-based research. The study is presented in the form of a contextual essay detailing the rationale for the hypothesis and the historical implications. A journal of the experience and narrative studies on selected participants accompanies. The limitations of the study and implications for further research are addressed