The Therapeutic Writing Institute. 100 Excellent Art Therapy Exercises for Your Mind, Body, and Soul. January 9th, 2011 Pablo Picasso once said, "Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.
" It's no surprise, then, that many people around the world use art as a means to deal with stress, trauma and unhappiness – or to just find greater peace and meaning in their lives. If you're curious about what art therapy has to offer, you can try out some of these great solo exercises at home to help nurse your mind, body and soul back to health. If you like the experience, you can also seek out professional art therapy treatment in your area. Emotions Deal with emotions like anger and sadness through these helpful exercises. Draw or paint your emotions. Relaxation Art therapy can be a great way to relax. Paint to music. Happiness Art can not only help you deal with the bad stuff, but also help you appreciate and focus on the good. Draw your vision of a perfect day. Portraits Often, a great way to get to know yourself and your relationships with others is through portraits. Collaging Self. Feature Story: Writing to Heal: Research shows writing about emotional experiences can have tangible health benefits.
For nearly 20 years, Dr.
James W. Pennebaker has been giving people an assignment: write down your deepest feelings about an emotional upheaval in your life for 15 or 20 minutes a day for four consecutive days. Many of those who followed his simple instructions have found their immune systems strengthened. Others have seen their grades improved. Sometimes entire lives have changed. Pennebaker, a professor in the Department of Psychology at The University of Texas at Austin and author of several books, including “Opening Up” and “Writing to Heal,” is a pioneer in the study of using expressive writing as a route to healing. “When people are given the opportunity to write about emotional upheavals, they often experience improved health,” Pennebaker says. In his early research Pennebaker was interested in how people who have powerful secrets are more prone to a variety of health problems. “Emotional upheavals touch every part of our lives,” Pennebaker explains.
The Charlotte, N.C. I Went to Waldorf - Waldorf Watch. The Waldorf school I attended was a lovely place, with caring teachers, and pleasant, carefully selected classmates.
For the most part, I enjoyed my years there. The school was small: twenty or so students at each grade level. The ambiance was close and comfortable. As Steiner would have wanted, our Waldorf was a religious school, but with a twist: It hid its faith. The school projected the image of a nonsectarian, arts-intensive preparatory academy with a progressive curriculum. The mystical core of Waldorf was kept well hidden — only rarely did anyone get a clear glimpse of it. The scandal nearly ripped the school apart. JOURNALING BETWEEN WORLDS. Painting by Marika Banyacski As the human capacity evolves for bridging the ideal with given reality, it is possible to begin to consciously create new healing impulses in culture and society.
The role that education plays in this scenario is clearly very important. If a new cultural impulse is based on the concepts of peaceful discourse and helping to manifest ones true potential, then education of children would draw from what they have inside, rather than being a rigid system that molds them into something that benefits that system. Also, adults would need to have an opportunity for a sort of re-education or revaluing what they have learned, through sort of deconstructing the world that has been created.
This then could lead to finding the voice within that has been forgotten. Psychoanalyst James Hillman (1983) described that: Layers of Me Craft. My Favorites and Me Craft. Ms. López in the Art Room. The Creative Journal. Art Therapy... in English. Creative Art Therapy: Brain-Wise Approaches to Violence. How to be creative: re-create what's broken. The creative process is chock-full of hope.
Because it is an ever revolving door, even in the direst of moments when we feel backed into that dank and dead end alley, it invites us to re-create our brokenness. In the broadest sense of things, the creative process allows us to believe in that old adage that is said to come from Nietzsche: “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.” Because, really, what choice do we have but to make something out of our tragedy? In essence, there are no new projects. Don’t get me wrong–I’m not talking about repetition where there is the factory line of rubber stamping going on over and over again–endlessly.
What is your inner canvas inviting you to re-create? Here’s a story about Mandy. When we met, she thought she was a dead end. In our work, I kept asking the question, what is it that your inner canvas is inviting you to create? At first, she only recycled the old stories. 100 Excellent Art Therapy Exercises for Your Mind, Body, and Soul. Feature Story: Writing to Heal: Research shows writing about emotional experiences can have tangible health benefits.