Mental Health Monday: Expressive Therapies

Today I want to talk about expressive therapies.

Some examples of expressive therapies are art therapy, music therapy, dance therapy, and sand tray. However, pretty much any expressive activity can be used  - by a trained professional - in a therapeutic manner.

Art therapy can take the form of drawing, painting, creating collages, and working with clay. A subset might be arts and crafts (beading, knitting, painting bird houses, coloring pages, etc). Now, I'm not going to look at someone's drawing and say, "Oh, you used red, which symbolizes ______, so you must be feeling ______." Instead, I'd ask about the colors a person used and what they mean to the person. The whole point is for the person to get something out in a way that doesn't necessarily involve a lot of words.

Music therapy can be a lot of fun. I've done groups where we listen to a song and then talk about how it made people feel and what it brought up for them. 

Pretty much the only limit is a therapist's imagination. See? Therapy isn't necessarily all talking!

K is for...

Hello, and welcome to day eleven of the A to Z Challenge!

Today's topic is knitting.

Thus far in A to Z, we've covered a pretty eclectic sampling of interests in my spunky little corner of the world. Today, we're going to be exploring one of my creative outlets.

When I was little, I'd watch my mom make afghans for servicemen and women who served under her, primarily when they were expecting a child. It was soothing, watching her knit - the sound of the needles as they brushed against each other, seeing the individual skeins of yarn blend to create a new pattern of color.

It wasn't until I was in high school, she taught me to knit. I made my first blanket over a series of weeks. I even took it to school to work on after completing my midterms. I can remember sitting in my Biology class, waiting for everyone else to finish with the exam, and knitting.

I've since taught my sister the basics of knitting and she has long since surpassed me in skill. I've never made anything other than a blanket. One of these days, I might learn. Maybe. I still enjoy making blankets. I enjoy seeing the possibilities and picking the colors and then being either pleasantly surprised when it's better than I expected or, in two cases, horrified by how awful and frighteningly bad it can be.

My current project is an Elemental blanket for the element of Air. My sister, Riz, and I did some several years ago. The Earth blanket didn't turn out right; she and I disagreed on what colors to use in the Air blanket (she made it, so it was yellow and white). While Yellow is traditionally the color used to represent Air, that's never worked for me. The Spirit blanket was an in-reality-absolute-nightmare result, although the concept was good. Plus, she gave away the Water blanket (that's a whole, long drama that I'll spare you) despite it being PERFECT. I decided to recreate the Elemental blankets, starting with Air.

Yes, that is a huge knitting needle. It's a size 50.

I decided to start with Air because it's my primary element (Gemini is an Air sign). Plus, I wanted to prove to my sister that it would be as cool as I thought. Damn, if I wasn't right. She wants it now, ha! 

I'm about two-thirds done.

Color scheme is supposed to be like a stormy, cloudy sky...

 Next up will be either Earth or Water. I'm torn because I really want to see if the yarn I picked this time for Earth is better than the last one (the color scheme was like camo and I do not *do* camo). I also really want to see how Water turns out because it has blues and I think it's going to be really, really pretty. Well, we'll see.

Do you do crafty things with your hands (besides write, for all you writers out there)?

A is for...

Welcome to the first day of the A to Z challenge!

Today's topic is art. I consider myself an artist, not because I have immense talent, but because I love the process of creating and of using my imagination. I am an artist of the mind more than of paper or paint or clay.

I know amazing and talented artists (Kara DeCarlo) and photographers (Kym Davis). I know writers of great skill (Jennifer Wells) and sculptors. I know knitters and weavers, seamstresses and dancers. I even know a tarot reader who would knock your socks off. All of these are art. Art is simply an expression of the mind and the soul, a way to release thoughts, feelings, dreams, anything.

I do it with poetry a lot. I use words to take something inside me and let it free. Sometimes I knit, to soothe the soul and create something comforting to put into the world. Sometimes I paint, in a very abstract, play with color to see what happens kind of way.

How about you? How do you express yourself?

Don't forget to check out some of the other participants!