Art Therapy Activity To Help You Sleep And Relax Your Mind

Hello friends, today, I'll show you what you can create if you tend to overthink and have trouble sleeping.

I’m Youhjung and I am an art therapist who inspires people to make expressive art for our well-being. The exercise I’m sharing here will give you a practical information and inspiration to help you make therapeutic art when you want to find a way to relax and unwind to get ready for sleep at night.

You can also watch this video where I show you a demonstration of the exercise:

WATCH HERE

Prepare Your Space

Since this activity is to help you sleep, you want to make sure you have an appropriate environment for it. Keep the level of stimulation as low as possible. For example, you can turn a small lamp instead of the bright ceiling light, put on candles, or even have gentle, relaxing music in the background.

Art Materials You Need

The art materials you will need are:

paper box (e.g., tea box, paper jewelry box, electronic case/box, even a shoe box, etc)
variety of colored/patterned paper or fabric
any decorative items (beads, yarns, sticks, paint, markers, anything you’d like)
glue (e.g., glue stick, mod-podge)
scissors

The Art Prompt

Now that you are ready, here are the steps:

Think of the box (you brought) as a room or a “safe space” where you can rest your worries, thoughts, and any stressors. Imagine if you could create a space for your thoughts to stay during the night, what kind of place would it be? (Soft and cushiony? Is it bright or dark? Would be cool or warm? Spacious or filled with different things?) Also, you can think : what would be most restful place for your thoughts to stay during the night? Create that space using the box and the materials you have. There is no wrong way to do this.
Dedicate about 15-20 minutes to this exercise and if you don’t finish, you can work on it another day. Try not to work on this activity for a long period amount of time, since prolonged focus can activate your body/brain which might not help you sleep.
Once you finish for the day, take a deep breath in and out. Relax your shoulders. And imagine putting your thoughts into this box and closing the lid. You can even say something to reassure the thoughts that you’ll come back to them, but not right now, now is the time for both of you to rest. (e.g., “Lets sleep now, and we’ll have a fresh start again tomorrow”).

I hope you enjoyed this exercise!

P.S. Curious about therapeutic art and want to learn how to actually facilitate it or incorporate it in your work? Then I’ve got the ✨perfect✨ resource for you. My Therapeutic Art Facilitation School course is THE place where you can learn the foundation of nonclinical, therapeutic art work. I teach you my step by step signature method of using therapeutic art to help people, even if you’re just starting. Want to learn how to do this? Check out my therapeutic art course here.

Let me know if this activity helped you in the comments below. Thanks and see you next time!

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