creativity Archives - Amanda Scott Art Therapy

Art Therapy for Letting Go…

Art Therapy process for Letting Go, Grief and Loss

Life creates endless opportunities for change and transition. Change can renew feelings of possibility, excitement and joy. It can also evoke fear, nervousness and anticipation. How do we navigate these transitions in a safe way while stepping confidently forward towards the new?

We may want to hang on to what is known, even when part of us knows it no longer serves us.

We may miss the comfort and safety the ‘known’ brings.

We may miss the parts of ourselves that we identify as keeping us safe and necessary for our survival.

When we experience change and transition, there are supportive processes we can choose to work with to help us access our own strength and resources.

It may be that you have lost a loved one, ended a relationship, moved house, state or country. You are finishing employment, studies, or saying goodbye to patterns or coping strategies that no longer serve you. It may feel big or small, whatever it is, know, it is worthy of being seen, witnessed and supported.

Ritual is a powerful tool for honoring the process of change and transition. Below are some ritual suggestions. Your ritual process is unique to you so please adapt the suggestions below to include what feels right. The creative process is just that, a process, and the art making is not about what the art looks like at the end. Give yourself permission for it to be imperfectly perfect.

Setting up

Set yourself some time, at least 1.5 – 2 hours of private uninterrupted time.

Turn off your phone, email or computer.

Support

You may like to invite someone close to you to support you in this process and witness the experience. Let them know what it is and what you might need throughout. It might be that you want them to just witness and listen, or you might like to ask for reflections from them or a cuddle. Let them know that you don’t need them to interpret it or solve anything, but just to be there with you. You can also do this by yourself.

Gather symbols

This is up to you, but I suggest that you find objects that represent what you are letting go of, and comforting objects that support you and nurture you, as well as objects that represent what you want to create more of in your life. These objects may be symbolic of the experiences you have had and that you want more of.

Gather art materials

I suggest pastels, pencils, textas, paper, scissors, or materials of your choice like fabric, needle & thread, clay, scrapbooking materials.

Setting up the space

The space supports you to explore and process, so setting up a sacred space is important. You might have some special fabric to set out, you may set out your materials, candles, crystals, or any other sacred symbols that support you to feel safe. Think about colour, lighting, sound, softness, anything that supports and engages your senses.

Intention

This is a time to set your intention for the process. This may be to support your healing, to acknowledge your pain or to acknowledge a loss you are experiencing.

The Creative process

This process will depend on what materials you decide to use. Any materials you choose to use can follow these three stages. I suggest starting with your unique creative process (what materials would you like to create with?) rather than thinking/writing about it- unless this is your chosen creative method. This gives your body wisdom space to arise rather than keeping you in your mind. You can write more about the process after.

Step 1: Loss Expression

Tune into your body. Take 3-5 deep breaths, slowly.
Notice where in your body you are experiencing loss/stuckness/holding on. Place your hand on this part of you. Notice any colours or sensations.
Create a representation (using the materials) of the body felt sense of this loss/stuckness/holding on. Give it form.
When it feels finished, take a pause and have a look at what you have created. If it had a name what would it be called?
Placing the representation/expression somewhere nearby with any of the objects/symbols you collected that relate to this loss.
Sitting with your creation, what do you see? What surprises you about it? What do you notice? If it could speak what would it say to you? What does it need from you?

Step 2: Response Expression

From the first creation, now making something in response. It might be a response to what the creation said to you, maybe it needed acknowledgement, love, or just to be seen and heard? Maybe it wanted to be free, to be let go? Maybe it wanted to tell you what you need to be focusing on in the future? What needs were not being met in this situation, that you would like to focus on going forward?
This representation holds the purpose of giving you something to take with you in your next steps forward. Focus on what you need to put in your tool kit and what supports you need to put in place for the next steps. Routine creates safety and confidence. What routines do you need for yourself?

Step 3: Releasing:

Draw or write on a piece of paper what you would like to release. There is no right or wrong, nothing you have to release at this time. Just go with what feels right for you.
To honor the process of releasing, you may want to bury this paper, rip it or burn it. While you are doing this, announce out loud about what you are releasing, “I release the need to please others… I release the fear that I will not be okay going forward… I release and honour the connection I had with this person, and now I let it go…” etc. Then thank yourself for having the courage to do this.

Step 4: Reflection

Now is time to do some writing reflections.
What have you taken from this process? What do you know now that you may not have known before?

Step 5: Integration:

What might you do with what you know now?
What steps would you like to take to support yourself going forward? You may like to create a self care plan and some actions that communicate love and kindness to your inner child.

If you or someone you know is experiencing grief or loss and would like support to create a letting go ritual, please inquire about individual creative art therapy sessions with Amanda in Abbotsford, Melbourne. contact@amandascottarttherapy.com.au

A Story of Transformation

26/3/2014

Written by Lynn Kontos, workshop participant, 2014

“A few years back (2011/2012) I was involved in my first vision board creation exercise.
I recall that I enjoyed myself and it felt therapeutic at the time, but what really hit me from that whole experience I didn’t learn until approximately 2 years later. I was cleaning house and came across the goals I wrote out prior to creating my visionboard (which to this day is still up on my wall). I had actually completely forgotten the goal writing part of the visionboard creation process, despite that my board stares me in the face every day. On the verge of scrunching up that bit of clutter I glimpsed over it and noticed some things that, throughout my entire life seemed rather unattainable and realised that, wow, I had actually achieved not only a few, but most of these goals over the last 2 years. I was flabbergasted that simply writing something down could help you bring it to life.

When my dear friend invited me to experience a visionboard workshop I was nervous and excited.
I had been rather down of late. The beginning of my summer was spent shared with an admirable individual, a relationship which was prematurely cut short.
The fact it was such a short duration provided me no comfort and I was feeling excessively lost, empty and alone – despite the fact that I was on top of the world before our paths crossed.
I carried these empty feelings with me into the workshop.

Sunday 16th Feb 2014 – Visionboarding day
I am writing this almost 3 weeks post workshop, so my memory is a tad rusty. The following is just a snippet of the activities and is mostly what I took from and how I felt throughout the day.

To begin our visionboard experience we all participated in a warm up activity.
There were a bunch of random trinkets gathered on the floor in the middle of our circular group formation, the activity was to pick one that spoke to us.
I recalled the difficulty I experienced the first time I came across this activity years ago (In a vulnerability workshop) and felt the knot of anxiousness forming in belly.

I looked over the collection and knew it as soon as I saw it. I didn’t even feel a requirement to scan the rest of the items.
I reached out to a green balloon.

My reasoning;
1. it was green.

[Green is the color of balance and growth. To find out more, visit: http://www.empower-yourself-with-color-psychology.com/personality-color-green.html]

And

2. It was “empty”.

I know that sounds rather depressing, but despite its emptiness, I also chose it knowing that it is a vessel that is capable of being filled/of holding something.

After collecting it I noticed something I hadn’t expected. I became overwhelmed with emotion at this point and silent tears ran down my cheeks. Which I tried to control and hide.

The next step however was to talk about why we chose our object. I knew that I would not be able to express myself without openly crying, so I accepted this fact (which I believe I can thank in part for the vulnerability workshop I have done previously) and I spoke.

In what I look back and perceive as an inarticulate explosion of sobs and words, I revealed to the group that I had no issue with which item was for me. I picked the balloon because it was green, my favourite colour and I viewed it as an empty object that has so much more potential, except, once I picked it up, I noticed that it in fact was not empty. There was something already inside the deflated and apparent “empty” balloon.
It was precisely what I needed reminding of at that point in my life.
This was how I intended to tell my story, however, if anyone from that group ever reads this, they quite possibly gathered a different impression at the time.

Despite how much I cried I actually felt completely at ease with everyone and in myself (something I wouldn’t have felt comfortable with in the past). I was frustrated that my sobs drowned out my words when all I really wanted to do was share what I had just experienced.

We proceeded throughout the day with other activities and eventually came to our goal writing and few hours of creating our vision boards.

I found this part rather difficult, not that I was short of ideas, but it was difficult for me to express my ideas through creativity and I became quite resistive and unwelcoming of my “child-like” work of art.

Due to that feeling, I found our closing group discussion were everyone was welcomed to discuss each piece so unbelievably comforting.

The group only had beautiful, heartwarming, meaningful things to say about my artwork and it reminded me of how self-effacing I tend to be, and the kindness and love you can receive from strangers.

Thanks Amanda for a wondrous experience.”

Thank you Lynn for the courage to share this, thank you for embracing your vulnerability, allowing yourself to be seen and bringing your real and raw essence to the workshops. I feel so humbled reading your comments and am so grateful to receive this. I am so happy that you have allowed me to share this to others too, as it is a gift.
Love Amanda

A Letter to my Body

21/07/2012

Dear Body

I love you.
I love you! I accept you and I see you. I see all parts of you, and I don’t look away. This is because what I see, is pure, raw, real beauty. I love every part of you- every freckle, every scar, every pimple, every stretch mark, every curve and bulge. I love your curves and your soft and cushiony hips, stomach and thighs. I love how you move and jiggle. I love how you comfort me and allow me to express the enormous range of emotions, however bold and subtle. I love how you send me messages and show me what you need. I love how we can communicate.

I see you.
I hear you and I listen to you. How you feel is valuable and you are worthy of love and compassion. I love how you know what you need and you can tell me in subtle and not so subtle ways. I love how I can take care of you and you reward me so greatly with energy, passion and the ability to move and extend myself through you. I love how you allow me to connect with others, to feel, and to experience the world. I feel safe living in you, I feel taken care of and held. I love how you allow me to feel the touch of another’s skin, you show me where my energy flows and where I can flow further and more freely.

I love that you are here no matter what, and no matter how many mistakes I make or how much I hurt you, that you are incredibly forgiving and you have SO much power to heal and renew yourself. I love that being connected with you means I feel whole. I love knowing that in this lifetime you are the closest connection I will ever have. I love spending time with you, and in you. I love how you show me new discoveries every moment. I love getting to know you and noticing that I have nothing to be afraid of.

I am grateful for you.
I am grateful for being able to smile and laugh to express my joy in a way that words cannot. I love being able to cry and scream and yell to express the sadness and anger and fear that otherwise suffocates me. I love being able to walk, run, dance, move, in an endless variety of ways to show my endless variety of emotions, thoughts, and experiences. I love how I can be forever curious and surprised by the immense ability you have. You will forever be a mystery to my mind, and yet completely understood by my heart, all of which is a part of the greater connection which I call me.

Love Amanda

Blog : creativity

Art Therapy for Letting Go…

A Story of Transformation

A Letter to my Body