Art & Movement

Emotions are energy.  If you can move the energy, you can change the emotion.  That is the beauty of incorporating the Arts into the therapeutic process.  “Movement” has a broader definition in this context than we may typically think.  We can move our body or dance, but we can also create movement through sound and drawing.  When we hear or make music, our body has a visceral response and energy shifts.  Similarly when we draw or paint, we take something that is an internal experience and give it form on the paper.  The process of transferring the internal experience to the external paper is another form of movement that also creates an opportunity for emotional shifts.

I have found that sometimes it can be powerful to combine different forms of therapeutic expression.  In the example below, I combine art with movement.  I made the first drawing in 2012 in an Authentic Movement class.  After making the first drawing, I moved spontaneously—following my inner impulse for about thirty minutes, and then created the second drawing. By viewing the two drawings, you can witness the transformation that occurred.

In drawing 1, a red ball is being stabbed by black needles.  The red ball feels depleted and empty and cannot connect with its vitality.

The mass of yellow rays shown below represents a warm gentle seeing part trying to comfort the red ball in pain.  But the red ball is not even aware of the yellow rays trying to comfort it. The red ball can’t see or feel beyond itself.

There is another presence in the upper left corner of drawing 1 that is not drawn, but is given language.  This is the observer who sees both the red ball and the mass of yellow rays.  That part feels in trouble as it observes these two non-integrated parts.  It speaks, “Help!  How do I connect?  How do I integrate?”

After completing the first drawing, I moved spontaneously for about thirty minutes.  There was no music.  I just followed the impulses of my body.  That became my beat.  That became my rhythm.   Energy shifted as I moved to my inner rhythm.  Things took new form as reflected in drawing 2.

In the second drawing made after my movement, the two alienated parts have integrated.  The depleted empty feeling red ball has been transformed into a celebratory dancer.  And the yellow supporting part is no longer separate but rather a glowing radiance emanating from the dancer.   Most often, a shift like this in a drawing is symbolic of a similar internal shift.  Sometimes just the act of drawing can create an opportunity for this kind of transformation but often it must be combined with other techniques such as talking or moving.