Art-Therapy - A Fun and Engaging Way to Manage Daily Stress

Stress is an unavoidable ingredient of life; either it takes the form of overwhelming stressors and challenging demands or lessened personal resources (such as poor problem-solving, time-management and relaxation skills). We can’t elude stress, but we can train our mind and body to cope more efficiently when stressful situations show up in our lives. Art-therapy is surely one fun and engaging way of doing that.

There are many stress management tools that can help you relieve your daily stress, but none are so much easygoing as art-related activities. Take a minute and think about the childhood times when you instinctively painted or drew to have fun and play along with your friends. Haven’t you felt joyful, care-free and “present” most of the time you were indulging in those artistic activities?

This is what art-therapy has to offer you: a safe place to create, relax and enjoy yourself, an opportunity to take a break from your problems, and to find new ways to look at them and at yourself.

Creating art is all about the experience of being in the moment. It allows you to feel peaceful and serene, by distracting you from your stress-related thoughts and other stressors in your life.

But how exactly does this tool can help you create a healthier lifestyle?

             Art-therapy is a form of therapy which uses artistic techniques, such as painting, drawing, sketching, collage work, sculpting, photo-making or even assisted-computer art for self-exploration of thoughts and emotions, self-knowledge and self-awareness. It implies both creative and reflective processes that dwell on focusing you full attention on what you are experiencing at the present time: body sensations, various sounds, scents, tastes and textures. More so, art-related activities give you the freedom to express yourself without any fear of judgment and to deal with stress-related thoughts in a creative, non-threatening manner. They hold many of the advantages of the meditation practices, but they’re more engaging and action-focused and can be done by anyone, no matter how well one draws.

So, if you feel like lowering your stress level in a fast-acting, fun way, try this art-therapy activity twice a week. It will take you about 15-20 minutes of your time and you will only need a quiet place, some drawing paper, pastels, crayons or markers.

Start by playing a relaxing song and sit comfortably on your bed. Close your eyes and turn your attention to your breath. Slowly breathe in and out for a few minutes and imagine that all the tension and the stress stored up inside you flow out of your body every time you breathe out. Visualize your breathing out and imagine the size, shape, color and texture of your breathing. Do this until the music piece ends. Then bring your attention back to your surroundings, to the sounds that you can here in your room, take three deep breaths and slowly open your eyes.

For the next 10 minutes, draw or paint what you have breathed out. While working on your art piece, focus on the feeling of release you felt during the exercise. Analyze and observe the size, color and shape of your picture and try to understand better your stress related thoughts and emotions. How did you feel during the exercise? How do you feel now?

This is a great exercise to feel better quickly and alleviate stress. This and similar activities, if practiced regularly, will help you, over time, be more relaxed, more connected to the present moment and a better copper with your daily stressors.