Art Therapy & Guided Drawing

Art has been a part of our life from the beginning of our species. Creativity and its expression have a great impact on your mental health and self-growth. Creating art has been linked to a more relaxed state of mind and an increase in a good mood.
Art is an outlet for emotions and it can be a powerful tool for communication.

You do not need to be an artist to try Art Therapy!

Creating art is not our usual means of communication that is why some of the creations and interpretations that you might come up with may surprise you and give you a different perspective on your life. It is harder to hide emotions when we try a new way of expressing ourselves.

Thinking in patterns, colors, and strength of touch on the paper can be and new and interesting experience for you.

I use Art Therapy especially for increasing positive body image or to connect more to different parts of yourself. Some of the exercises may include:

● Drawing your vulva (we are trying to uncover your attitude and connection to it)
● Drawing your idea of self-esteem
● Drawing your family doing something (we are trying to check your connection with your family members)
● Drawing your perfect house (what do you want and need from your future and your relationship)
● Lifeline/map (a project which is supposed to show the most important events in your life in a form of a map/road or a line)
● Drawing your anxiety/depression/state of mind

And many others…

Do not be discouraged if you haven’t used many artistic supplies before, getting creative is something more than making things look nice it is about sending a message. It is also a way of transferring emotions onto the paper on canvas or whatever you have chosen as your base.

In therapy, we try to interpret your creation by going deeper into your psyche. It can be often easier to put your difficult emotions or memories on blank paper rather than to talk about them at first.

Channeling your bad emotions is a powerful technique that can be complemented by for example putting your work further away from you to mentally and visibly distance yourself from the negativity which was transferred onto the paper. Find out more during the session!

Just like in the case of regular Art Therapy, You do not need any artistic skills to come to a Guided Drawing session. Guided Drawing was invented to help people with severe trauma and pent-up emotions.

When we are in a certain head-space we tend to perform artistic movements that resemble our current emotions. For example:

• Spirals – ‘spiraling outside of control’, hyperemotionality, lightness in the head
• Rigid/sharp/strong lines – anger, pent-up frustration

When we identify what is the underlying emotion I will guide exercises that could help you with the release of those emotions. For example:

• Oval shapes – calming exercises
• Lines & angled shapes – release of anger

This technique is creating a very powerful body-mind connection that can heal trauma and process it, read more about trauma here. It can also, better connect your brain hemispheres so that you have better cognitive skills.

I have mastered this approach with help of a course by Cornelia Elbrecht.