Perhaps you’ve heard this song: “nighttime, sharpens, heightens each sensation…” Watching the clock tick another minute by I was reminded I was very much awake. And yet overwhelmed with thought I laid there unable to switch my brain off. At times this has sent me into a state of panic, perhaps it has to you… Continue reading I can’t sleep!
Talking to those with not much to say..
How many times have you tried to ask someone what’s going on, all for them to shrug their shoulders in a aw, nah i’m fine kinda way. But they’re not fine, and they probably know it too, yet with everything they’re mustering up all that escapes the tight ball of overwhelmed emotion is something along… Continue reading Talking to those with not much to say..
Dealing with Grief
Grief is a feeling so deep no words can really be found to soothe it. It is a feeling that is like a gaping hole in your chest, a longing from the core of every single cell in your body that nothing seems to fix. They say it gets better and perhaps it does, until… Continue reading Dealing with Grief
The Visual and Verbal Brain Function
What is it that makes art therapy effective? Using art, we communicate with a different part of you than we would with words. The left and right hemisphere of the brain specialise in verbal and visual brain function. Implicit memories (memory excluded from consciousness) are sensory , NOT verbal. They are stored in the right… Continue reading The Visual and Verbal Brain Function
The Psychosocial Stages of Development and their Art Remedies
The psychosocial stages of development are phases we are faced with throughout life. In each phase we are tasked with a “crisis” to overcome, and if successfully completed we develop respective virtues which result in a healthy psyche. Particularly in my sessions with kids I use muscle testing to explore what psychosocial stage of development… Continue reading The Psychosocial Stages of Development and their Art Remedies
How to empower kids to make the right choices
How many of us have been given the silent treatment, or shown disapproval and felt guilty for not doing what those around us wanted to. Sometimes, in fact most times it can be in the smallest gestures, like the frowns on faces when we protest a household chore like taking the bins out. This is… Continue reading How to empower kids to make the right choices
The Five Element Emotions
Much of our work at Art Remedy is based on the ancient Chinese wisdom of the five elements, still commonly used in Chinese medicine today to heal bodily ailments. The five elements reflect the flow of 气 (Qi – life force energy), believed in ancient times to be controlled by the planets in our solar… Continue reading The Five Element Emotions
Like blind people touching an elephant
At art remedy, depending on how our first session together unfolds, we may hold off using art as a theraputic intervention right away, delaying it until the second or third session. This is because it’s important we don’t rush the process. Much like the Chinese idiom 盲人摸象 demonstrates. The idiom refers to only having a… Continue reading Like blind people touching an elephant
Embracing our inner freaks
When we think of why we love the ones and things we do, it’s often for their little quirks, like the way someone loves to sing in the shower even though the acoustics may resemble a cat dying. For me, as much as I hate it! the way my little brother gets so much joy… Continue reading Embracing our inner freaks