Art creates positive vibes in the world. People draw not because they can, but because it heals them. The choice of colors can make a huge impact on one’s mental state. It connects the mind and soul to achieve a state of mindful relaxation. So, why not try the healing power of creative art to bust the stress during the lockdown.

By Zeenat Fatima Rizvi

Art has been a source of relief for everyone from kids to grownups. People enjoy doing creative things that help them express their feelings. With this creativity at play, we often find ourselves creating flowers or doodling up something we had no idea of. It is not always necessary for our drawings to have a proper meaning but to make us feel good. Sometimes we end up surprising ourselves by coming up with something unexpectedly creative.

The universal language of art helps us express and release pent-up emotions that can be hard to vent out verbally. It seems difficult to draw at first, but once you get on with it with all your emotions, it feels like the easiest and one of the most relaxing things to do.
Three months into the coronavirus pandemic, our country is on the verge of another health crisis. Every other minute, the media is breaking some depressing news to us. With daily news of death, isolation, and fear, we can see that psychological disturbances are becoming widespread. Over time, minor anxiety, which is essential for our protection and should be there during this pandemic, is now changing into major stress and depression. Experts warn of an immense rise in mental-health problems; including anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and even suicide.

The evolving global crisis challenges us to call upon our inherent creative potential to transform our daily stress and anxiety into a piece of creative art. During this period of social distancing, turning to art can greatly help in reducing stressful thoughts. You do not have to be a perfect artist for this; simply indulging in art, playing with colors and paints is therapeutic in itself.

It is a medium that allows an individual to easily express the uncertainty and ambiguity of current times. Healing Art techniques explore a person’s creativity and artistic expression to manage psychological symptoms. It releases positive endorphins, decreases stress hormones, and helps in proper ventilation of emotions to avoid depression, anxiety, panic symptoms.

Art therapy allows you to channelize all your stress in the right place. Art has no boundaries and it allows you to think outside of the box and sometimes, even when there is no box. All you have to do is just splash the colors and you are well on your way to take out all the emotions that are disturbing you. Hold the brush like you are ready to drop all emotions that have been bothering you. Fill the page with colors like you are filling the gaps of emptiness inside you. Pick the colors up as if you are ready to pick yourself up. Make it colorful as if you are making your life colorful. Own it and admire it as if you are ready to admire yourself. You can express your inner world on a piece of paper without having to use a single word.

We already know that there has been a considerable rise in the number of people seeking help for anxiety and stress, which is not far from turning into long-lasting depression. Recently, we organized a counselling session for mentally distressed individual during Covid19. During the sessions, we decided to implement the Art Therapy for participants. To our surprise, the results were amazing; the number of people interested in using art to express and heal their emotions was huge. Here are a few examples of the people who found Art Therapy to be helpful when they were feeling helpless.

Artwork shared by a 12-year-old girl entitled “HOPE”. Feeling caged in the black and white uncertainty of the world around her. Mixed feelings, emotions, and mixed messages from the media add to the surreal feelings with constant anxiety but a faint ray of hope that things will get better soon.

Artwork shared by an 18-year-old female entitled “Drowning in Uncertainty”. She shared her constant feeling of anxiety since her father lost his job and her mother was diagnosed with depression. She felt surrounded by chaos and insecurities but feels this was the Divine call for a new beginning and a new hope for the family struggling to build close bonds because after a long time they are finally united in their pain.

You can see that the work done by these teenagers seems to have no meaning at first glance. But when you look a little deeper, you find that it not only has a meaning but feelings and emotions as well. Art is a language without words. It serves as a channel for individualized and unique personal expression. Both the art material itself and the process of creating artwork can help us communicate, solve problems, express ourselves, and cope positively with an emotional experience.
Art creates positive vibes in the world. People draw not because they can, but because it heals them. The choice of colors can make a huge impact on one’s mental state. It connects the mind and soul to achieve a state of mindful relaxation. So, why not try the healing power of creative art to bust the stress during a lockdown? Because:
“Art is where words, emotions, thoughts, and music dance together”.