by The use of mindfulness within counseling has been one of my favorite ways to expand on creativity. From meditation, to mindful movement, to deep breathing, to grounding art-making, mindfulness can truly make such a difference. It is an integral part of many different therapeutic approaches, such as third-wave CBT, DBT, and ACT as well as many others.
Personally, I’ve found mindfulness as a key element in my own anxiety journey and am continually practicing my ability to be in the moment. And not just be in the present moment, but to do so from a non-judgmental stance. This is HARD!! But it has greatly influenced my own ability to calm anxieties and I’ve seen this growth with my clients as well.
The creative arts have an important place at the table when it comes to mindfulness. We’ve talked about flow before and if you’ve taken my cultivating creativity course, then you know how much I love the topic of flow! When we are in a state of flow – we are hyper-focused, time ceases to exist, the creativity just pours out, we are in an AMAZING mindful state. We can use the flow state as a wonderful technique in therapy to point out to clients, in the moment, when they are being mindful.
Take for example, a client is in your therapy room and they are loving the xylophone. You notice that they begin to hyper-focus on trying to figure out something, maybe they are trying to figure out a melody. They become determined, scrunching up their face, taking in each sound, and they’re posture is relaxed. You might say “Wow! I’m noticing how calm, focused, and present your body and mind are right now! You’re practicing mindfulness right this moment!”
As creative therapists, we can make a huge impact by bringing client’s awareness to mindfulness when we see it in action. Mindfulness can support so many things such as anxiety, depression, trauma, and other mental health needs. It’s a powerful tool for any child or teen to use to combat intense emotions and uncomfortable feelings and revolves around accepting things as they are.
In this free download you’ll get a bunch of ideas on how to expand the classic 5-4-3-2-1 grounding technique to use a variety of creative mediums! Expand upon traditional mindfulness techniques to include creative arts in a way that can help kids and teen center themselves in a way that feels good for them!
Fill out the form below to get your copy! (If you’re already on my newsletter but missed this one — no worries! Put in your info and you’ll still get re-directed to the download page!)
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