Art Therapy Activity for Emotional Pain / Self Healing

Art Therapy Activity For Emotional Pain / Self Healing

If you are dealing with any emotional pain or trying to heal your inner self, this is for you. Maybe you're dealing with heavy emotions, painful emotions, that have been a consistent presence in your life.

I’m Youhjung and I have been helping people through art therapy for years and I am sharing this with you so that you can make therapeutic art for your own self-care.

If want to watch the step by step video tutorial where I share the exercise in detail you can see it here:

 WATCH HERE

To heal ourselves, we sometimes have to do the opposite of what we intuitively want to do.

We might want to disconnect from our pains. We might shut down those negative emotions. But when we this, we also shut down the positive.

It’s that we cannot selectively shut down emotions.

A lot of emotions boil down to physical sensation or pain. This physical pain can be a mirror of our emotions.

And so it is important to pay attention and bring awareness to our body and what we feel inside. In addition, we want to be mindful of our readiness as well. Ask yourself, am I ready to look deeply into myself & my emotions? It’s okay if you’re not ready. But it’s important to notice whether we are really ready or not.

When you are ready, then you can use art to explore and connect with emotions and the pain/bodily sensation. These things are hard to put into words. Words don't do justice.

A lot of times, our memories are stored as images in our bodies. So to access these emotions and memories, we need to speak in their language - language of images. Making art about our pain is a wonderful way to access the emotional pain in a safe & mindful way.

If you’re ready to dive into the art therapy exercise designed to access your emotional pain and express them on paper, read below.

Art Materials You Need

The materials you need are:

• Drawing or mixed media paper size 9x11” or larger (I use this)

• Either:

  • Colored pencils (I use this)

  • Oil pastels (I use a this)

  • Watercolor paint (I used this)

    • brushes

    • cup with water

    • watercolor paper (I use this)

• Pen/pencil

• Paper/journal for writing

Emotional Pain / Self Healing Art Therapy Activity Prompt

Now that you are ready, here are the steps:

PART 1:

1. First breathe and relax your body. Notice where in your body you feel this pain the most. Drop into it. Notice what kind of sensation you have there. (Is it sharp, or dull, pulsing, just tense, or spread out?)

2. Imagine that you could visualize this sensation as an object. What would it look like? What color would it be? Shape, size, texture, temperature, weight? Perhaps it looks like something in particular.

3. Draw or paint this visual/image.

There is no wrong way to do this. Take some time to create this image. After you’re finished with the drawing/painting, follow the steps below.

PART 2:

1. Take a deep breathe. Observe your drawing/painting. Imagine yourself seeing this object in front of you. Walk towards it and sit next to it. Imagine looking at the object, like a friend would. This object seems lonely and dark. You say your name and say "I'm here for you. I'm here to listen."

2. Ask the object what it wants to tell you. Then listen and /or write down what it says.

3. When you’re done, imagine saying to the drawing/painting "Thank you for telling me." And just say to the picture what a friend would say to another friend who's suffering (you can also write this down).

This exercise is really about getting in touch with your emotion and physical sensation and looking at it from a little bit of a distance. We’re using our creativity and imagination to bring mindfulness, understanding, and compassion to the parts of ourselves that feel painful or difficult.

We’re really focusing on the relationship we have with ourselves. And this is the step toward healing and inner growth.

I hope you try this exercise - it can really be powerful.

P.S. If you are curious about therapeutic art and want to learn how to facilitate it or incorporate it in your work (as a professional), 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 (no artist or therapist background needed). Want to learn how to do this? Check out my therapeutic art course here.

Thanks for following along with this therapeutic art-making practice. We all benefit when you feel joy and peace within you.  See you next time!

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