mindful art for anxiety

Feeling overwhelmed? De-stress with a BodyScan Meditation and Mindful Drawing Activity

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Have you ever felt overwhelmed with emotions, or anxiety, or stress? You’re not alone.

Today, while receiving challenging news, I noticed feeling flooded and overwhelmed. After taking a few breaths, I turned towards one of my favorite, simple Mindful Art activities.

BodyScan Meditation and Mindful Drawing:

For me, this bodyscan meditation and drawing exercise helps me feel, acknowledge, and express held tensions and emotions in my body. Similar to SoulCollage® (which I shared in my last Mindful Art Blog here), a bodyscan drawing practice offers a creative way to visually express things that may be challenging to express in words. It’s an active meditation that allows us to make creative marks to represent how we’re feeling in our body.

This simple Expressive Art and Mindfulness exercise can be as short as a 5 minutes or 1 hour. I enjoy lying down for the bodyscan (although it can be done sitting as well). Please ensure you're comfortable and have paper and art materials near you (such as colored pencils, markers, crayons, etc).

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BodyScan Guided Meditation for Anxiety:

This Grounding BodyScan Meditation Exercise below can be done before starting the BodyScan Drawing:

I begin with eyes closed or a soft gaze. Drawing my awareness to all of the places where my body makes contact with the ground, I notice the quality of my breath. Aware of the weight of my feet or heels resting on the floor, I remind myself I am supported and held. At my own pace, I begin drawing my awareness up through my body - heels, calves, thighs, buttocks, belly, low back, chest, upper back, arms, wrists, hands, base of the head, forehead, the space between the eyebrows, jaw, etc. Noticing any sensations I feel along the way; such as tingling, warmth, coolness, tightness, pain, holding, etc. Allowing any colors, textures, words, or descriptions about these sensations to come into my awareness. I follow the sensations and notice how they change - allowing my experience to move and shift. Drawing my awareness back to my breath, I take three deep inhalations and exhalations and return my awareness back to the room, the ground, and my surroundings.

When I feel ready, I gently allow marks, colors, and words to fill my bodyscan drawing page. If you enjoy journaling, writing about your experience afterwards can also be a lovely self-care practice.

For more Mindful Art Activities and to hear about our upcoming free Online Mindful Art Retreats, feel free to sign-up for our monthly newsletters here. These Mindful Expressive Art and Mindfulness Activities are easy to do in your studio at home (or anywhere you have access to your journal and some drawing supplies).


Intuitive Collage and the Art of Self Care | SoulCollage® Tips

SoulCollage® and the Art of Self-Care

Many people are feeling overwhelmed with all of the uncertainty in the world, and with uncertainty comes stress. One of my favorite practices to de-stress and tap into my creativity is SoulCollage®.

What is SoulCollage®? It is an intuitive collage process created by Seena Frost that is easy for anyone to do (you don’t need any previous experience or a lot of art supplies). In the video below, I share SoulCollage® Card examples, information about this fun and intuitive collage making exercise, and the benefits of making SoulCollage® cards. SoulCollage® is also an inexpensive and simple creative self-care practice you can do at home.

MINDFUL ART JOURNALING PROMPTS FOR SOULCOLLAGE®:

Begin by setting an intention for your Self-Care card-making session (see below). I like to collaborate with chance by choosing images I feel drawn to without questioning why (or having a set idea or finished collage in mind). I enjoy trusting the process and then speaking or writing from the cards once they're complete. 

My Self-Care vision or my self-care intentions for the New Year (or for X amount of time), etc

Self-Care Cards and SoulCollage® Journaling Prompts: 
"I am one who..." and/or "The message I have for you is..." 

Shadow questions may also include:
"Why am I not practicing self-care?" or "What's holding me back from putting my self-care needs first?"

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I love that you can play with intuitive collage and mindful art journaling any time (whether you’re at home in your art studio, or in your office, etc). In my next post, I’ll be sharing a simple Life Balance Wheel that will help you “check in” with how you’re feeling regarding your self-care.

Curious to explore SoulCollage with a guided Online Mindful Art Retreat or Course? Learn more here.