ART THERAPY REFLECTIONS: Art Therapy and Knowing Ourselves

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Art Therapy and Knowing Ourselves

As we move through life, our opinions and ideas change. Sometimes we unconsciously or mindlessly operate from an older belief system when really we have shifted. We want to respond in one way, but we surprise ourselves by habitually responding in a different way. What do you believe, in the here and now? The following exercise gives you a chance to see what you believe now about some of the critical issues in your life.

1. My top three-life goals are___________________________________________

2. The things that give me the most joy are_______________________________

3. My biggest fears are________________________________________________

4. My strongest passion in life is _______________________________________

5. I worry most about ________________________________________________

6. I dream about ____________________________________________________

7. My top values are ______________________________________________

8. I am happiest when ______________________________________________

9. I view life as _____________________________________________________

10. Three people I admire most are _____________________________________

11. Relationships are _________________________________________________

12. I think my strengths are ____________________________________________

13. My view of money is _____________________________________________

14. Love is ________________________________________________________

15. My hobbies are _________________________________________________

16. My spiritual belief is ____________________________________________

17. What I admire most in anyone is ___________________________________

18. When I am my best self, I am _____________________________________

19. When I am my worst self, I am ___________________________________

20. I am ________________________________________________________

Art Therapy Exercise for Knowing Ourselves

Start by answering the questions above. Gather some art supplies, a sketchbook or paper and get comfortable. Do some centering breathing. Meditate for ten minutes or so. With closed eyes, draw for a few minutes. Stop and look at what you have done staying open without judgement and then expand on anything in your drawing that interests you. When you look done answer the following question.

I am __________________________________________________________________

1 comment:

Art Therapy London said...: This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.; June 12, 2012 at 9:28 AM

What is Art Therapy?

Art therapy is typically referred for situations in which words are difficult (ex: grief and loss), if there is a mind-body relationship to the nature of a person's trauma (ex: sexual abuse, PTSD), or for clients who are inept with words (ex: children, persons with a communication disability). Art therapy is also often sought out by clients who seek a more tangibly productive therapy (literally “rolling up your sleeves”), enjoy expressing themselves visually (artists, architects, crafters, etc.), or for whom talk therapy has not achieved the desired outcome and want to try something new. Art therapy is generally described as a highly illuminating, enjoyable, and unique experience.

In my work I see individual clients who are exploring issues such as depression, anxiety, stress, life transitions, abuse and trauma. I use psycho-education, cognitive behavior techniques, solution-oriented and expressive therapies.

I draw on a wide variety of theories to create an integrative approach. I am client centered and use techniques and theories which 'fit' the client. I am a practicing artist and combine theories in a very creative way in my practice to facilitate clients' journeys through change.

Some of the tools I use in my work are sand tray, all forms of art making, life mapping, goal setting, relaxation techniques, guided visualizations, journal and creative writing, movement, somatic experiencing techniques, stress reduction techniques, reframing, EMDR, Focusing, mindfulness meditation techniques and play therapy.

Focusing Oriented Expressive Therapy

Focusing Oriented Expressive Therapy
Do you want to learn how to:
· Be a better listener to yourself?
· Make clear choices?

· Be calm and compassionate to yourself?
· Support yourself through change?
· Feel relaxed and stress free?

Focusing helps you learn how to be Present and listen to yourself so that you can move ahead in your life in an empowered and safe way. Focusing brings you closer to wholeness and allows you to access your inner wisdom. This helps you move in the direction of your potential. It can help you move beyond blocks and get in touch with your goals. Focusing is a gentle and powerful way to develop a deep interpersonal healing relationship with yourself. Awareness of sensations in the body can be blocked through habits of dissociation and repression. This is because the sensation maybe uncomfortable or painful, and we are not trained to focus on this inner knowing and awareness of the body.

Learning Focusing to Help Free the Artist in You

Do you want to learn how to:
· Be a better listener to yourself?
· Make clear choices?

· Be calm and compassionate to yourself?
· Support yourself through change?
· Feel relaxed and less stressful?

Focusing helps you learn how to be Present and listen to yourself so that you can move ahead in your life in an empowered and safe way. Focusing brings you closer to wholeness and allows you to access your inner wisdom. This helps you move in the direction of your potential. It can help you move beyond blocks and get in touch with your goals. Focusing is a gentle and powerful way to develop a deep interpersonal healing relationship with yourself.
In this workshop we will work with:
· artist's blocks
· money issues that we may have around our art
· time issues that we may have for our art making
· why we can’t get into the studio

What is Focusing?
Focusing is "direct access to bodily knowing." It is a practice that takes a person towards a state of conscious perception that goes far beyond knowing something on a mere conceptual level.

As with Somatic Experiencing, Focusing refers to this bodily knowing as a felt sense. As the Focusing Institute's website explains, "You can sense your living body directly under your thoughts and memories and under your familiar feelings." Focusing happens at a deeper level than your feelings. Under them you can discover a physically sensed murky zone which is concretely there. This is a source from which new steps emerge. This murky zone "opens" as you learn to stay with it longer. Being with it increases the ability to sense feelings behind words or images, even when those are not yet formed. Eventually, you can learn how to let a deeper bodily felt sense come in relation to any problem or situation. It is a subtle process, hard to define in words. Focusing was developed by the philosopher Eugene Gendlin in the late 1960s and early 70s, while he was working with the famed psychologist Carl Rogers.

ART THERAPY REFLECTIONS

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Art Therapy and Knowing Ourselves

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