Healing Through Expressive Arts
What is Expressive Arts Therapy?
I first learned about Expressive arts therapy through the book The Creative Connection by Natalie Rogers. Ever since then I have been able to apply it to my own life and use it with clients to enhance the mind-body connection, experience and feel emotions, and to use my body and its strengths for healing. Expressive art therapy moves a bit beyond traditional art therapy and uses various arts such as movement, drawing, painting, sculpting, music, writing, sound, and improvisation to facilitate growth and healing. It is a “process of discovering ourselves through any art form that comes from an emotional depth” (Rogers, p. 2). We convey our inner emotions through the creation of external forms.
Expressive art involves using the emotional and intuitive aspects of ourselves across different media. When using art mediums “expressively” we are going down into our inner realms to discover emotions and then express them artistically. Similarly to more traditional art therapy, the goal is not concerned with creating something perfect or beautiful, necessarily, although there is beauty in whatever we make as I believe it is a part or extension of us, but the goal really is to let go, express, feel, and release. We then gain insight by examining the symbolic and metaphorical message of the artwork.
Our art always speaks back to us if we take the time to hear it. Color, form, and symbols, speak and arise from the unconscious and have particular meanings for each person, even if they are unaware of it initially.
The Healing Power of Expressive Arts Therapy
The integration of the different arts is what expressive arts therapy and the creative connection is all about. This can be beneficial as it allows new ways to explore emotions, unlock feelings, and facilitate self empowerment and self-expression. Anais Nin has stated, “Each art must nourish the other, each one can add to the other. And I would take into writing what I learned from dancing, what I learned from music, what I learned from design.”
There are many ways to combine different art mediums to unlock different parts of oneself and find understanding and acceptance for our internal states. As we combine different arts we find strength in the body and learn that it is okay for emotions to just exist. It shows us the depth of human experience and allows us to feel empowered over all of the range of emotions we experience as human beings.
In the next few paragraphs I will talk about the benefits of some different art forms and what it can unlock and do for the body. Engaging in various forms of expressive arts in order strengthens and enriches our journey inward. This could look like starting with movement and sound (moving in response to feelings) and then going immediately into color and then going into writing. Moving from art form to art form we can release layers of uneasiness, discomfort, and insecurity that have covered our uniqueness. It is a bit like a spiral in the way the process goes to the depths of our body, mind, emotions, and spirit, and brings us to the center, the center being our essence and vitality.
Movement
Movement “is our prime medium of expression, upon which all other means depend. Speaking, writing, singing, drawing, painting, using any tool or instrument, building, all begin with a movement impulse which is then transformed into word, tone, line, color or some other material” (Mettler, p. 50). Movement is the base of human expression. It reflects our physical health and well being and can affect how we feel and how we feel can affect our movement; therefore it is important to look at all of the healing aspects movement can provide.
Within the realms of expressive arts therapies one can use movement to heal and understand feelings. We start to move from the inside out. Oftentimes, unknown feelings can become clogged in our internal system (muscles, nerves, veins, etc) and movement can allow these things to move through our body in the way we need and “unclog” the system. There are certain movements that allow us to release anger, work through fear, bring comfort, express love, etc. and by expressing them through movement we can deeply experience, accept, release, and transform as feelings become intensified and then fall away.
Writing
Writing is a familiar tool that can unlock layers of unconscious thought and gain more self-insight. Allowing a space for unspoken thoughts can promote thorough self-understanding and release of shame and can guide us out of intellectualizing and into feelings and images. You can start with a topic in mind, a feeling, a body scan, etc. or can participate in free writing which holds a lot of strengths in allowing you to know yourself, frees you from the mundane, helps you find understanding for emotions, and much more. You then have the opportunity to read it back, read it aloud, or contain it in a space (journal, box, jar etc).
I also, oftentimes, like to have the people I work with participate in free writing after art making (or before)! When the client is done I like to have them take a look at their piece without discussing, and go straight into free writing for a specific period of time and a lot can come forward for the client this way. Overall words, like art, can voice unseen aspects of the self especially when the two are combined.
Art
Art making is another form of communication and the color, lines, and form speak to us. It can reveal the unconscious, energy levels, feeling states, self concepts, express our needs, and is truly an expression of the soul. The artwork acts as a bridge between our inner space and outer realities and helps us understand ourselves and allows us to feel seen. The importance lies in the process rather than the product to help us inform, heal, and create avenues for insight and development.
We then have the amazing opportunity to do a deep dive and reflection into what the process did for us. The focus and flow that happens during creativity transforms repressed feelings, integrates inner polarities, brings understanding to our parts, and can bring us into balance and alignment. What we create can also be lasting so we are able to continuously, if wanted, look, reflect, and let us speak to us over and over again.
Sound
In many cultures people use sounds such as changing, wailing, singing, moaning, and laughing as ways of expression and each being a powerful representation of emotional release and liberating the voice can help us make contact with deep levels of the self. The vocal chords are literally where the body and mind meet and link the two aspects of the self and is a true form of self-expression. We make sounds and find ways to release emotions and massage ourselves with vibration from the inside out.
Voices are not just used for communication but self-healing as well. Don Campell has talked about using vocal sound to create inner vibrations to bring inner alignment as well as connecting to the vibrations of the planet and universe. I think even the tone of someone’s voice can be regulating and calming (think singing in the car with friends, being sung to by a parent, etc.) because there can be magical properties in a voice. We can even find our own voice with sound and learn to self regulate. We can change states of consciousness by using voices to vibrate and massage our bodies (think humming).
Music
Music is sort of an extension of healing using sound but includes making and listening to music. It surrounds us in our everyday life and is a part of ceremonies, religion, daily routines, and more and has the power to evoke heavy feelings and move us into a deep sensory state. We have the access and privilege to select certain songs or genres to move into this deep sensory experience and transform the emotional energy. We can pick songs that accentuate an identified feeling, for example, if we are experiencing sorrow but can’t cry we can pick songs to help us move the sadness through our bodies and evoke tears. If we are stuck in one emotional state we can pick a song or make music that evokes the opposite.
Creating music is an art form in itself, and helps with self understanding and healing. It is said that making music and writing lyrics can bypass the intellectual defenses in the brain, provides a medium for emotional expression, creates an organized space to process trauma and other experiences, bring back memories, and help cope with physical pain.
Meditation
Most of what we discussed has been active but it is also important to go inward in a quite receptive mode and tune into our own inner space because it can open our creativity. I have seen this myself when I use meditation, body scans, and guided imagery with clients before going into art-making. It is useful when trying to connect with internal feeling states, our inner child, or inquiry’s within the body when we examine it in a meditative space and can also help us find safety. The client then comes out of the meditation and is able to access creativity and art making in a new way.
We hold most of our experiences and emotions in our bodies even if we don’t recognize it all of the time and meditation can allow us to find, recover, and come back to something we once had. It also may bring us closer to ourselves and recognize our capacity, knowledge, and belonging.
Conclusion
All of these mediums make up expressive arts therapy. I encourage you to combine these in different ways and see what it does for your inner system (movement and art; writing and meditation; music, art, and writing), etc. Combining these elements truly does enhance the mind-body connection and allow us to understand our emotional self in a whole new, and compassionate, way.