Live Happy's 7 Ways Art Therapy Benefits Mental Health

7 Ways Art Therapy Benefits Your Health

The fundamental principle behind many expressive therapies is to uncover and address subconscious issues that may have been influencing an individual’s behaviors. And while this is a common aim for many different types of therapy, the way expressive therapy activities differ is that they try to bring about these issues with active, sensory, and usually physical experiences. Listed below are 7 ways expressive therapy benefits your health. 1. Art Increases Brain Connectivity and Plasticity. Did you know that every time you engage in a new or complex activity, your brain creates new connections between brain cells? Brain Plasticity or neuroplasticity is the brains ability to grow connections and change throughout your lifetime. Creating art, whether your niche is pottery, painting, interpretive dance or playing guitar, stimulates connections between various paths in the brain. Studies show that by creating these connections, your brain is increasing psychological resilience and resistance to stress! 2. Art Boosts Self-Esteem. As a child, having your artwork displayed on the refrigerator door was the ultimate compliment. It gave you a sense of accomplishment and boosted your self-esteem. Today, hanging your latest piece of artwork on the wall can give you the same feeling. Creating art increases the neurotransmitter, dopamine. Excellent for motivation, dopamine boosts drive, focus, and concentration and enables you to plan ahead so you can reach your goals and resist impulses. Crafting hobbies (photography, woodworking, knitting, DIY home repair etc.) increase dopamine, ward off depression and protect the brain from aging. 3. Art Eases the Burden of Chronic Health Conditions. Millions of people worldwide are dealing with chronic health conditions, and additionally the anxiety, depression and stress that can often accompany them. Not only does art allow patients to take their mind off their illness for a while and focus on positive life experiences, art has been known to help the patients maintain the identity of who they were before their diagnosis. Art also reduced stress for patients by lowering levels of the stress hormone, cortisol. 4. Creating Art Relieves Stress.  Creating art provides a distraction, giving your brain a break from its usual thoughts. Activities such as drawing, sculpting, painting, dance, music and photography are rewarding hobbies that lower your stress levels and keep you mentally clear and calm. The meditative-like state of mind you experience when immersed in an art project allows your mind to focus and temporarily push aside all worries. One of the most popular art trends to manage stress relief are adult coloring books. 5. Art Encourages Creative Thinking. Dr. Lawrence Katz, author of: Keep Your Brain Alive: 83 Neurobic Exercises to Help Prevent Memory Loss and Increase Mental Fitness, found that mental decline was due mainly to loss of communication between brain cells, not necessarily from the death of brain cells. There are several art benefits that can exercise your brain and keep you mentally fit. Art enhances problem-solving skills, unlike in math, there is not one correct answer in art. Creative thinking allows you to come up with unique solutions and grow new neurons in the process. 6. Art Encourages Self-Awareness and Expression.  Creativity is said to be the route to authenticity. As we create, we reach into the depths of what we think and believe, therefore, the more we create, the more we learn about ourselves. We discover our impulses, habits and desires all through creativity. When we devote the needed time and energy to create, we find ourselves able to better express ourselves to the world on a regular basis. 7. Creating Mandalas Can Minimize Symptoms of Trauma.  In 2007, researchers David Rosen and Patti Henderson conducted a study dividing 36 people suffering from PTSD into two groups. One group drew mandalas for 20 minutes at a time for 3 days in a row, and the second group was instructed to draw an object for the same period of time. At a one-month follow-up, the participants who had drawn the mandalas showed a decrease in symptoms of trauma, where those who had not drawn the mandalas did not. The usage of expressive therapy can help tap into the mind and body connection, helping to reduce stress and anxiety. In fact, recent studies have proclaimed that 45 minutes of creative activity a day can significantly reduce stress. Whether through art, play, music, movement, enactment, or creative writing, expressive therapies stimulate the senses, thereby “sensitizing” individuals to untapped aspects of themselves which facilitates self-discovery, change, and reparation.
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Keiko Agena posing at an awards show

Exercises for Reluctant Creatives

Would you describe yourself as creative? How about artistic? If either feels like a stretch, it’s time to put away the labels and perfectionism and pick up a pen, says Keiko Agena, artist and actor known to many as Lane Kim on the long-running fan favorite TV show Gilmore Girls. “I think we’re all creative people,” Keiko says. In writing No Mistakes: A Perfect Workbook for Imperfect Artists, she aims to provide simple tools and a gentle guide for those who need to dial down the voice of their own internal critic to access it. “A lot of times creativity has a softer voice,” Keiko says. “But if we take the time to pay attention to it and listen to it and give it a chance to grow it could be a very wild, wacky strong, loud voice, which is what I’m hoping for.” No Mistakes Keiko’s “no mistakes” philosophy is inspired by her obsession with and love for improv, where anything can happen because nothing is planned, she says. The surprises are where the fun is. “When something goes wrong or somebody slips up, then everyone gets excited and focuses on that ‘mistake’ in order to make it—sometimes—the most enjoyable part of the show. “And so what I wanted to do was to find a way to look at what I perceive as imperfections in myself in a different kind of way, with that same kind of joy almost, of discovery, of where does this lead?” The book’s intro says, “Your ragged edges are what make you great. Stop smoothing them out. Your odd point of view, your imperfections…these are your treasures. The exercises are designed to help you do three things: Discover your voice. Accept your voice. Express your voice.” No Mistakes Exercises to Try Now: Choose Your Own Path So how do you apply “no mistakes” to your life? Put your creativity out into the world in a real way, Keiko advises. “What’s fun is to journal, to start putting it down on paper! Have it be in a physical form,” she says. “And let it exist for a little while and say well, that IS weird, what’s weird about it? But what’s interesting about it?…See where it leads because it’s probably going somewhere unexpected, and that’s where your creative voice is. The way you express your creativity is down that path and not someone else’s path.” Exercises reprinted fromNo Mistakes: A Perfect Workbook for Imperfect Artistsby arrangement with TarcherPerigee, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. Copyright © 2018,Keiko Agena. Go to livehappynow.com on September 25 for our podcast interview with Keiko.
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Kindness mural in Chicago

Finding the Kind Way

Kindness has always kind of been Rebekah Rinehart’s “thing,” but in 2016, she decided to expand her mission. In a world that seemed increasingly unkind, she wanted to challenge others to return to a kinder mindset and share its benefits widely. “I wanted to do something that would reach the masses and could really touch the hearts of a lot of people,” she says. “There were already T-shirts and bracelets and great things like that out to remind people to speak out about kindness, so I was looking for something different to do that would really stand out.” Then one day she woke up with the idea she knew was the answer she was looking for: “I decided to do a mural; I thought it would be a great way to be able to share it on social media. But then I realized I can’t paint.” Although she didn’t have the artistic skills, what she did have was a sorority sister who was not only a talented artist, but also “embodied everything about kindness.” Rebekah reached out to Sarah Gail Nelson, explained what she wanted to do and Sarah reluctantly signed on. “She was hesitant at first just because she’d never done a mural,” Rebekah says. “We had nothing to show people and had never done anything like this, but we knew we wanted to go big or go home.” Defining Kindness One of the biggest challenges Rebekah and Sarah faced was coming up with an image that illustrated what kindness is all about. They wanted it to be interactive and encourage others to share their thoughts on kindness, but couldn’t quite decide what images best would do that. After months of pushing ideas back and forth, they decided they would let people viewing the mural decide what kindness means. “Kindness is so many things; it can be funny, it can be serious, it can be joyful,” Rebekah says. “So finally we decided to let them fill in the blank.” They became an LLC, The Kind Way, and began painting their first kindness mural in October 2017 in Nashville’s historic Germantown neighborhood, a popular spot for locals and tourists alike. The mural features flowers surrounding the state of Tennessee with the words “Kindness is _____________” in the middle. Beside that super-size image, Rebekah and Sarah ask passers-by to take a photo and share through Instagram what kindness means to them. “We learned so much doing that first mural,” Rebekah says, recalling that they had “zero expectations” and didn’t know how people would respond to it. But even as they were painting it, people stopped to ask questions and, as soon as it was finished, they began receiving photos and responses from people who had taken their photos by the mural. From a Mural to a Movement After Nashville, they painted “The Kind Mural” in Chicago and then went to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, for their third installment. Next, they’ll paint a mural in Dallas over Labor Day weekend and have other locations in their sights. So far they have either lived in or visited each of their locations. However, they’re also inviting anyone interested in bringing a mural to their city to contact them at thekindwayoflife@gmail.com. “The fact is, this is not only a mural, but a social movement to remind people of the importance of kindness,” Rebekah says. “We absolutely adore seeing all the tags on our social platforms from people across the globe. Their unique perspective of kindness reminds us how different and special kindness truly is.” In addition to the mural itself, each site contains a tribute to a person or organization that embodies the spirit of kindness.  Rebekah says they’re doing that because they want to give back to each community, but don’t yet have finances to make a donation. Instead, they pay tribute to a person, place or organization that fits the kindness theme. “We hope that kindness becomes a pillar and a constant in our lives and the lives of others,” Rebekah says. “Oftentimes, kindness is perceived as elementary or weakness, but it should not and does not have to be that way. We all have a voice; let’s use it to make the world a better, kinder place.” Celebrate Be Kind to Humankind week August 25 to 31with the hashtags #thekindmural and #bk2hk. Next, Rebekah and Sarah are working on a children’s book that will further spread the kindness message, and their website, thekindwayoflife.com, will go live at the end of September. Rebekah says that the message of kindness is timeless, but right now it’s also very timely. “Kindness can and will make all the difference in our lives, but you have to decide how and when that happens,” she says. “Kindness brings joy. It challenges our hearts to be better to one another and, ultimately, to ourselves. It is a way of life.” Explore The Kind Way’s journey on Instagram at @thekindway and #thekindmural. And watch the first mural come together in this fun video.
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