Art as Therapy
We need to make stuff.
Do you notice that you feel better when you’re in an artistic project? Or when you sing in the car? The most important thing I’ve learned in 25 years of therapy practice? When people engage their creativity, they start feeling better.
I use art methods as an adjunct to regular EMDR therapy. Art therapy can be many things, but I usually start with paper and paint. Sometimes my clients already know their medium, so they bring it with them: a sketchbook, or sewing project, a guitar . . . Anything will work.
In fact, one of the first things I find out about my new clients is their art form. What is your art form? We all have one. Even if you’ve never had music lessons, your art form may be music. And even if you’ve been told you’re not creative, you may have a painter inside you. Lots of people tell me they can’t write, but then put pen to paper and create delicious poetry.
Let’s nurture your inner artist. We’ll start slow and watch how it speeds your therapy.
ART AS THERAPY BLOGS
Note to Self: Write MORE that’s Real in 2018
MORE I need to write, but haven't in a while. I got a little bogged down trying to create neat, unoffensive packages of psychotherapy. I sort of lost myself, and writing became a chore. But I'm writing my way back home, thanks to a little rest and time with writerly...
Calm Receptive Mode: Get calm and find the good stuff inside you.
Your higher self knows how to calm you. We all want to find calm receptive mode. But not everybody wants to get a massage (although we should - there are people who can make us feel safer and less awkward). Some of us need action. We need to be out in a kayak or...
How Lies Put Us Into Trance and How to Stay Awake
Lies often come from authority-figures. When I was growing up, preachers told the story of Abraham and Isaac: the one about how Abraham takes his child to a mountaintop and prepares to stab him to death as a sacrifice to God (whose ego must have been puny).Every time...
Why do I want this? Skip resolutions and Go Deep instead.
My Bodysmith friends and I have been asking ourselves: Do we even want to make resolutions for 2017? Does it make sense to replay the same self-assignments, year after year? The question makes sense if you think about how New Year’s resolutions have evolved over time....
Be More Self-Centered and Save the World
What does it mean to be self centered? Your Self is your wise spiritual center. But outside this center, we live under a weighted blanket of stress and uncertainty, threatened by darkness and greed from all angles. We feel disconnected from neighbors and afraid of...
Transform Holiday Stress into Mindful Rest & Giving
Until recently, I resented the holidays. As in, Already???? We just did this, right? Except the years when my son believed in Santa and we put together tricycles and trains, after his bedtime, under the synthetic Douglas Fir, I got a sinking anxious dread just before...
Victim Mentality & My Grandfather’s Privates
"Don't sound like such a victim," said somebody on Facebook yesterday. I talk with so many of you in shock and grief about our presidential election. You feel assaulted. You fear saying how raw and threatening it feels, how sick you are. My throat started burning...
Stuck in the Pigeonhole Vs. Becoming More of You
Okay, everybody. Here's a little quiz. Consider List 1 and check all that apply to you: A good daughter □ Married to one mate, for life □ A good provider □ A sweet girl □ Skinny □ Happily married □ A good Democrat □ A good Republican □ A dutiful son □ Law-abiding...
Once Upon a Time: Repression and Learning to Say No
Repression: I once knew what this was and then I forgot. Last weekend, I attended the EMDRIA conference in Minneapolis where physician, Gabor Maté, spoke about the connections between trauma, emotional repression, and disease. He told the story of his Jewish infant...
Abusive Religion or Political Party? Toxic Faith: Part II
Toxic Faith & Political Abuse Spiritual practice should calm and ground you – so you feel hopeful, refreshed, more generous, and more compassionate. Religion and philosophy should promote ever-increasing access to your wise mind or Higher Self. But some...
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