Friday, September 4, 2015

Meditation using art

I was reading about all the benefits of meditation, so I've been trying to practice it more. In a recent Art Therapy supervision, I handed out a bunch of images of art work cut out of a desk calendar that a colleague gave me. I asked everyone to choose an image that appealed to them, and put it in front of them. Then, we closed our eyes and focused on our breathing for a few minutes. Next, we opened our eyes and looked at our image, observing the colors, lines, composition, etc. After that, I asked everyone to to close their eyes again, and imagine stepping into the image, then explore it.  Then, we "exited" the image, and opened our eyes.  I then had everyone create an image about their meditation experience. One person said she had had a headache all day, and that it went away after our short meditation. This can be done as a supervision exercise for self care or as a directive with patients.