Meet Joseph Arnold

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Joseph Arnold. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Joseph below.

Hi Joseph, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?
Like many, I discovered my purpose through dealing with pain. I grew up playing violin and I went to music school in the hopes of becoming a professional concert violinist. This plan was interrupted by the onset of tendinitis in both arms. Neither my music teachers nor any of the dozens of doctors I consulted had any useful advice. A year and a half later, I was still in pain, barely able to play violin, and had no good solutions in sight.

Everything changed when I took my first Alexander Technique class. The Alexander Technique is a 100-year-old holistic method of releasing unwanted tension and moving more freely. In a class offered by my college, I discovered for the first time that I was holding an enormous amount of tension in my body as I played. I was simply so used to the tension that I didn’t feel it any more. Through the Alexander Technique I learned to play violin (and do everything else) with less tension, with the result that I was no longer in pain and, what’s more, my violin-playing improved dramatically. I was finally on the path to effortless mastery.

Inspired by these results, I decided to become an Alexander Technique teacher. It was during my training to become a teacher that my purpose first revealed itself. I remember watching the head teacher of the school give a lesson to one of my fellow students, a gifted pianist. First, the pianist played her piece to demonstrate what normally happened in her body while she played. She played her piece well, but she did also get tense. Our teacher guided her body to a state of ease, and then the pianist played again. We we all amazed! Her music became luminous.​ In other words, there was a whole new quality in her music, one full of life and enchantment, that suddenly burst forth. Importantly, this luminous quality wasn’t a result of the pianist going home and practicing for 6 months. Rather, it was something already inside her, just waiting to shine forth if she simply got out of the way of it.

I now call this quality “Soulforce.” It was in countless moments like the one above that I realized that my calling was to help musicians and other artists connect with their own Soulforce to create world-changing art.

The second piece of my purpose became clear when the International Panel of Climate Change’s 2021 report came out, declaring “code red for humanity.” This report hit me hard and I despaired, “What can I do about this, if anything? I’m only a musician with limited resources.” I realized that I was not the only artist wondering what place, if any, my art had in a world in turmoil. What was ours to do in the face of our collective challenges? At that moment, the puzzle pieces fit together and I realized that the answer was to create with Soulforce.

Soulforce is the transformative creative energy that comes from facing life’s challenges, creative and otherwise, from a place of wholeness, aliveness, and connection. It comes from Mahatma Gandhi’s “satyagraha.” It forms a connection point between what allows for the creation of the greatest art as well as what stimulates positive societal change.

These are the reasons I have now put my purpose into a form other artists can use to create transformative art and make a better world. I have since established the Soulforce Arts Institute to teach artists of all kinds and backgrounds how to channel their creative Soulforce in every aspect of their artistic life. This is also the topic of my forthcoming book: “Soulforce: How to discover your artistic purpose, create more freely, and make art that matters.” My hope is to spark a global movement to inspire artists to contribute to a more beautiful world.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
As Director of the Soulforce Arts Institute, I provide thought-leadership and online and in-person training to help artists discover their artistic purpose, create more freely, and make art that matters. I teach Alexander Technique to musicians and other artists to help them relieve the tension that causes discomfort and injuries. I also help them find a deeper reason for creating that goes beyond merely getting the mechanics of their art form “right.” In addition, I play violin professionally. I often play gypsy jazz with the Hot Club of Philadelphia, a string-based jazz band. I also love combining my music and my message of Soulforce Arts in house concerts that uplift and inspire my audiences.

Those who wish to embody Soulforce in their creative life can join my new Soulforce Arts Community, an online community and learning platform that brings together conscious artists of all kinds and abilities to help them discover a deeper artistic purpose, create free from physical and creative blockages, and thereby make a better world. Members will be able to connect with other like-minded and like-hearted artists, take part in weekly online Alexander Technique classes, and gain access to all my online courses for free. The first 25 members get a discount. SoulforceArts.com/community

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
The three qualities that helped me get to where I am today are courage, curiosity, and embodiment. My journey from physical pain to freedom required fully facing all my inner demons. There were many times I could have let go and given up, but I knew that doing so would only have led to a diminished life. I somehow always knew I was meant for more than that, and this is what gave me the courage to look inside and get to the bottom of the darkness and pain I often felt.

Curiosity was also vital to my journey. In addition to wanting to be free from pain, I simply love exploring personal growth and spirituality. Reaching the height, depth, and breadth of human potential fascinates me. I have a burning desire to know the secrets of the universe and I spend a great deal of time and energy focusing on these. As a result, I have an uncommon knowledge of human well-being that makes me an asset to my students and readers.

Similarly, embodiment is a core value of mine that has propelled me towards my purpose. Intellectual ideas are nice, but embodied experience is where real transformation happens. The Alexander Technique showed me that unforeseen well-being, creativity, and connection are possible through embodiment, which is why I love sharing this with other artists.

As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?
Charles Eisenstein’s books have shaped my life and thinking profoundly. From him I learned that our society’s mainstream worldview, which includes scientific materialism and reductionism, has outlived its usefulness. Materialism and reductionism invite us to regard ourselves, each other, and our world as *things* to be manipulated. Charles calls this the Story of Separation. Look into any of our personal and collective challenges and you will discover this worldview at work.

The answer is a new worldview, one that regards ourselves, each other, and our world as *beings* to be honored. This new worldview is only new to us moderns, but is actually very ancient. Charles calls it the Story of Interbeing. Any action taken from this new worldview brings healing, wholeness, and aliveness to the world. My own book puts forth a holistic arts pedagogy based on the Story of Interbeing.

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