Clay Play and Dialoguing with Both Hands

Our guest blogger is Leah Pinck, a Life Coach and candidate for certification in Creative Journal Expressive Arts (class of 2022). This is an excellent example of a CJEA intermodal process in which art exploration in any medium is followed with two-handed dialogues for gaining deeper insight through words. 

Clay Play and Dialoguing with Both Hands
by Leah Pinck

For this work, I used a combination of clay work and journaling based on The Art of Emotional Healing and dialoguing from The Power of Your Other Hand. I experienced the clay play, and then journaled about it. After that, I felt like the piece had more to say so I dialogued with it using my dominant hand to ask my questions, and my non-dominant hand to answer for it. It was really interesting to see what came up. 

The basis of working with clay to access what we are feeling comes from Lucia Capacchione’s book The Art of Emotional Healing (pg. 114). This work consists of using clay, preferably the air-dry kind that does not need a kiln for it to dry properly. (It is easily found in art supply stores like Michaels.)

Usually it is best to go into the session without any preconceived notions of what the clay will express. However, for me, when I started the work, I had an intuition that I had some pent up anger that was just under the surface and would want to come out. 

I started by focusing on my breathing. There is a prompt to think about the ocean’s tide coming up thru your feet. Energy of the world coming in and out, up thru my feet, as I breathe in and out. When the tide comes in as a breath, and then goes out, it takes all the stress out of my body. I could imagine that and felt the tension release and my muscles were able to relax. 

As I continued to breathe, I held the piece of clay (that I had cut from a brick of air-dry white clay) in my hands. As I held the clay, I focused on observing it, feeling the weight, the temperature, and the dampness of it. I did not feel connected to it, so I moved on to the next step. 

I put the clay down on the table, and put my hands in a bowl of warm water that I had next to me. The water felt nice after holding the cool clay. I tried to become more receptive to what was in front of me and explored the piece with my eyes closed. I was only supposed to feel what was there, without changing anything, but I found it very challenging not to adjust or “fix” it. Kind of like me in life — having a hard time with letting things “Be.” I prefer to fix things, even if they’re not mine to fix, so this was a really good exercise for me. 

I kept my eyes closed and continued, but this time I was actively exploring it. I got to smoosh it, and knead it, rip it apart and put it together again, and in general just played with it. Kind of like with a stress ball, but messier. And more fun! 

I had put on some music in the background, but at this point it was disturbing my focus on connecting with the clay, so I turned it off and took a sigh of relief. 

As I worked the chunk of clay, I noticed that it felt too big. I didn’t know where that message was coming from, but I went with it and took off a piece and put it to the side. I continued working it, and that feeling came up 3 more times, and each time I took off some more (see figure #1). Then it felt like it needed to be bigger, so I added back a small piece. Once it was being worked in, it didn’t feel right, so I took it off and it felt better. This was the first time I had experienced “listening” to an inanimate object. It did feel a bit strange, but it got my curiosity going to see where it would take me.

Figure 1

Now I shifted into the part of the activity called “creating the self.” This is accomplished by saying or thinking to yourself: “This clay is me and I am creating myself. I am always the same yet constantly changing.” This is from page 114 in The Art of Emotional Healing by Lucia Capacchione. 

I focused on feelings that were coming up and worked it out in the clay. The clay started out being hard to work with. It softened up as I worked, until it was so soft and thin it was breaking. The feeling that came up with it was that I am spreading myself too thin. It felt so pliable, but without boundaries. So I had to reinforce it by folding it over on itself. It needed its boundaries strengthened, just like in my emotional life. 

I whacked the clay on the table really hard, so it sprayed me and the table with small splatters of clay. This was my underlying feeling of anger coming out. It felt good, but I felt guilty for throwing the clay. I remembered what Lucia had said during a recent training, that the clay doesn’t get hurt — no matter what we do to it. So I ended up throwing it a few more times; it felt good, but still somehow wrong. I don’t like feeling angry in general, but I allowed the feeling to come out as well. Oh well, I have to acknowledge to myself that the old anger I feel is still here, and I will attempt to see it, sit with it and let it Be, until it works its way through me and then out. 

At that point I started to sense a direction the clay wanted to be taken in. (yes, it still sounds strange to me, but that was the experience). Still with my eyes closed, I sensed there needed to be a ball, which would be surrounded by a flat surface. That felt like my core talking. However, it didn’t feel safe. It felt like it needed protection, so I folded the flat pieces up and around the center. To envelop it in safety until I felt it was finished (anger does not feel safe to me). 

It was uncomfortable to express my anger, but the piece was interesting and felt like it needed more dialogue. So I had a right hand/left hand conversation with it (see figure #2).

Figure 2

My dominant hand (DH): Who or what are you? 

My non-dominant hand (NDH): Your heart 

DH: How do you feel? 

NDH: Vulnerable 

DH: Why or what makes you feel that way? 

NDH: I’m too spread out. Something can get in w/out my permission. I thought it would be safe to let my heart be seen, even just a bit. Now that I look at it, it feels too open and scary. 

DH: Thank you for sharing that with me. What do you need from me? (to feel safer) 

NDH: Keep me hidden away to keep me safe. 

DH: Is it ok with you if I share a picture of you with others to show them how valuable this work is? 

NDH: Yes. But you can’t let a/o (anyone) else hold me. That would be too scary. 

DH: Thank you for that and I will take good care of you! 

 

After that I journaled some more to process what had come up. 

This was an interesting insight for me. I see that I was actually able to be a bit more open, at least with myself. 

The clay piece I made is a very small one. I think that because that is all my heart wanted to open up it only allowed a small bit to be seen. As I compare this to the first one I did a few weeks ago (image on right, figure 3), I can see that even though it is smaller, it is not as solid and inflexible as the first one was. It also has a bigger space that opens into the center, which is my heart (see figures 3, 4 and 5).

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

I take this as a sign of my continuing growth one little step at a time. I discovered that I can open the protection around my heart, so that I can see what’s hiding, protected inside, just a bit more. Doing the clay work was an eye-opener for me. But then when I added in the R/L hand dialoguing and journaling, it brought me much more insight than if I had just worked with the clay. All in all, this is an awesome, tactile, 3-dimensional way to work through feelings.

Now I am off to put that little clay piece of my heart away in a safe place. 

Leah Pinck
leahpinck@gmail.com
Certified Life Coach, Candidate for CJEA Certification 2022

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Lucia

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If You Can Hold a Crayon

Never has there been a greater need for this method in working with youth. Life in a country struggling with COVID-19 is proving to be an emotional pressure-cooker for children and teens adapting to new ways of learning in and out of school, and a sea-change in their social lives. Our guest bloggers are Dr. Marsha Nelson, Co-Founder and Field Supervisor of Creative Journal Expressive Arts (CJEA) Certification Training and Sarah Chaya Kost, LPC (Licensed Professional Counselor) and candidate for CJEA certification. Dr. Nelson discusses her extensive research with CJEA methods in schools in south Texas. Sarah Chaya shares what she learned from working with her sister as part of a case study in the CJEA Training.  

If You Can Hold a Crayon
By Marsha Nelson, PhD and Chaya Sarah Kost, LPC

Doodle drawings are the simplest of all the CJEA techniques and are accessible to anyone old enough to hold a writing utensil. It is used in CJEA to help clients become comfortable using their non-dominant hands, and to release pent up emotions. There is little planning that is required for such an activity, and there is no expectation of how a doodle drawing should turn out. In CJEA, art is viewed as being process oriented because we are focusing on emotional release. The doodling prompt is easy, simple and effective in eliciting an emotional release response in adults and children.

In August 2003, the Creative Journal project was implemented into the Mission CISD in Mission, Texas under the direction of Aurora Anaya-Dyer, Twenty First Century Grant Coordinator and her husband, Jackie Dyer, Superintendent of the Mission CISD.

Dr. Lucia Capacchione and I, Dr. Marsha Nelson, founded the Creative Journal project which brought Creative Journaling, using blank journals with drawing and writing prompts on every other page to the students of this south Texas border town.

Implementing the Creative Journals minimally 3 times per week for 15 minutes a day helped the participants to increase their social and emotional awareness. Test scores rose, fewer absenteeism and tardiness were just some of the Creative Journal program benefits. These blank journals were never corrected or read by anyone other than the participant. Group sharing was optional. Teachers journaled along with the students. The journals were kept in a locked cabinet between use.

In 2014, the Creative Journal project became Creative Journal 4 Schools (CJ4Schools) under Project Insight, a 501 (c ) (3), and moved to Edinburg CISD to work with students and teachers in Jefferson Elementary.

Creative Journaling is a process which can encourage a child to begin talking about their feelings and in turn learn about how others are feeling as well. Especially during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, children are hungry to express themselves.

Fast forward, 2020, a Creative Journal Expressive Arts Candidate for Certification, Chaya Sarah Kost, LPC of Chicago, IL began working with her 7-year-old sister using the Creative Journal method as her CJEA Certification Training program case study. She too found how powerful the simple scribbling on paper activity can be for a child.

Over the course of six months, I (Chaya Sarah Kost) had the opportunity of teaching my seven old sister the CJEA method. The first activity that I taught her was doodling on paper. I came into the session confident that it would be an easy session and that her inner critic would not rear its ugly head. Unfortunately, I was mistaken. Not only was the activity not easily understandable for her, but it also sparked her inner critic into action right away.  

My sister had a hard time understanding the doodling activity at first because she was used to doing art in a structured way at school. I think that the simplicity of expressing herself freely with no limitations confused her, because it was so different from anything she had known. In addition, she had an internal conflict with her inner critic who kept telling her that “it had to be perfect” and that she “messed up.” How sad it is that a seven year old child is already viewing her artwork as imperfect because of the subliminal messages she has been taught by her previous art exposure. Thankfully, during that session I kept repeating that it was a judgment free zone and that she could not doodle incorrectly. She ended up loving her doodles and did not want it to end.

Throughout the six months that I worked with my sister, we often returned to the doodling activity when she wanted to relax, or I wanted to refocus her if she got distracted or upset. If she was upset, I would say, "think of your frustration and use the crayons to scribble it out on the paper, then let me know when you are finished." I taught her that as soon as she feels that she got the feeling out, she could stop doodling and we would either close for the session or resume the current activity. Sometimes it took my sister five minutes and other times it was only 30 seconds. Once she channeled the feeling onto the page, I automatically saw a shift in her demeanor. Each time she used the scribbling technique, it amazed me at how quickly she would regain composure. It became a “get happy quick technique” that she thoroughly enjoyed.

Working with my sister made me realize how product oriented the school systems are. In schools, oftentimes the art projects that gain classmates’ and the teacher’s praise are the ones that are the copycat model of the teacher’s, while the child who made his or her own creation is frowned upon. I am not here to blame or point fingers at schools, because I do understand that schools need to rank children and give them grades. On the other hand, we cannot turn a blind eye to the damaging subliminal messaging that a truly creative child receives if he or she does not produce a picture-perfect copy of the teacher's project. Everyone wants to be praised and succeed in school. However, not everyone is born to create copycat art.

As an LPC, I believe that the doodling technique could greatly benefit schools across the globe if implemented into their art curriculum's to help children experience freedom of expression and learn an effective emotional release technique. It seems that most schools view scribbling as childish, and art as needing to be product oriented. I bet that if the schools really knew the power of CJEA and how it can assist in their students’ emotional well-being they would run to get all their students markers, crayons and journals. Until then, we can do our part to make a difference in the lives of their students by sharing the techniques to school children, one precious soul at a time.

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Lucia

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www.luciac.com
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The power of CJEA to help with stress and anxiety in teenagers

Many parents are looking for ways to guide teenagers through stress in times of COVID-19. Margaret Smith, our guest blogger has been doing just that with her kids. A candidate for certification in the Creative Journal Expressive Arts certification training, Margaret had no idea what was ahead when she entered the program in October 2019. She has risen to the occasion by applying the methods with her own family members. She is helping them adjust to the "new normal" at a stage in life - transitioning to adulthood - when everything is already changing rapidly. Throwing a pandemic into the mix has been a huge curve ball, but one that Margaret is coping with creatively.

The power of CJEA to help with stress and anxiety in teenagers
by Margaret Smith

I have 4 children in their older teenage years and 3 of them are away at college this fall. The pressures of college coursework, making new friends and adjusting to a new and different social scene during the time of Covid-19 has been especially hard. My twins are freshmen at the University of Notre Dame and adjusting to college life was exciting and scary at the same time, as it always is for new college students. However in 2020 new college students across the country are also dealing with strict rules, possible quarantine, masks – which make it hard when meeting and trying to remember new friends – and the worry of getting in trouble or getting sick with Covid-19. 

My 18-year-old daughter has called and texted me a few times with worries and the feeling of anxiety or feelings she describes as “feeling empty.” Talking through her worries has helped and so has encouraging her to scribble her stress away. One of the most popular Creative Journal Expressive Arts activities developed Dr. Lucia Capacchione is scribbling or drawing your stress away. This activity is like yoga for your brain and emotions. Using a colorful marker in each hand, you scribble lines with your dominant hand, then scribble with the other hand (your non-dominant hand). Then using both hands together at the same time, scribble lines and let your hands run free over your paper. In this simple easy-to-do practice, you will be engaging both sides of your brain. Drawing is a form of mindful meditation and this practice will calm you. It has been a wonderful way for my daughter to de-stress and relieve the anxiety she has been feeling. 

Another exercise that has been helpful for all my children is the practice of drawing a mandala – a circle with pie shaped sections. I asked my kids to fill in the pie shaped sections with all the things that support them – people, places, things. This practice is a wonderful reminder for them that in times of stress and anxiety they can look at their mandala and be reminded of the many areas of their life they can turn to for support. Whether it’s a sibling or friend, petting the dog, taking a walk to sit under their favorite tree, or doing the form of exercise that makes them feel better. We all have many support systems in our life and sometimes the act of reminding ourselves with a mandala picture can be incredibly helpful. 

Margaret Smith
CJEA Candidate for Certification
margaretrsmith@me.com 

The scribbling exercises and many more prompts for de-stressing appear in this book.

 

The mandala activity appears in this book, along with many prompts for body awareness and emotional clearing.

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Lucia

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The Use of Humor in Confronting One's Inner Critic

Stephanie Houser, a certified CJEA practitioner, shares a delightfully creative journal process she did while confronting her Inner Critic. Using art and writing, she brought humor to the experience, and broke through a block she had. This approach to negative self-talk, using humor, is one I have witnessed over the years as being highly effective. Here is Stephanie's story.

The Use of Humor in Confronting One's Inner Critic
by Stephanie Houser

I wanted to tell you about a recent experience I had with my Inner Critic that really helped me to get past it in order to start writing and drawing again. 

I was drawing a picture of my Inner Critic and my non-dominant hand started drawing funny things over it - a flowered hat with a big bow, purple hair, and as I'm drawing I hear these other voices chiming in, "Give him blue eye-shadow," "Put curlers in his hair," and as I'm adding each thing to the drawing it becomes more and more funny to me. As I put the final touch on the face - a pair of cats-eye glasses - I just started laughing. It was such a wonderful way for me to negate the critic's power. 

Then my non-dominant hand wrote "You're Ridikulus! You have no power over me!" at the bottom of the picture and I made the connection to the boggart banishing in Harry Potter. In the Harry Potter series of books, there is an entity in it called a boggart and that entity is a shape-shifter that takes the form of it's observers worst fear. The way to defend against a boggart is a spell called Riddikulus: you make the creature into a figure of fun with your imagination so that fear can be dispelled with amusement. If the caster is able to laugh at the boggart, it will disappear. I found a picture from the Harry Potter movie that looked so similar to my drawing, too. 

I wanted to share my experience since I have been either writing or drawing ever day since I did this. I thought it might be helpful for others to try it this way.

Stephanie Houser, Certified CJEA Instructor
Groups and Individuals
Central Coast, California
shouser@charter.net

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Lucia

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Mary Lou’s COVID-19 Story – Part 2

Our last blog featured Mary Lou Gonzalez, a certified practitioner of my Creative Journal Expressive Arts Methods (CJEA), and a Pain Management Specialist at Buentello Wellness in McAllen, Texas, on the border of Mexico. I told the story of how Mary Lou has been using my CJEA methods on herself for healing from COVID-19. 

Since Mary Lou was diagnosed with the virus and hospitalized on June 26th, the area where she lives – the Rio Grande Valley, south Texas, on the border near the Gulf of Mexico – has seen cases of COVID-19 spike. Hospitals are filled to over-flowing and patients have had to be flown out of the area or sent home to die. I had been watching news about “the Valley” closely because I have a deep connection to this region of the country. For 25 years I had led public workshops in the area hosted by Dr. Marsha Nelson, co-founder and training supervisor of CJEA. For ten years, we offered my training program intensives in Mission, Texas, where Mary Lou lives. Like Mary Lou, many professionals from the Rio Grande Valley have become certified CJEA practitioners. Dr. Nelson and her CJEA team brought Creative Journal methods to post 9-11 traumatized families, cancer patients, veterans, active military, medical professionals, law enforcement personnel, under-served children in summer camp, and students K - 12 in schools, including the Mission School District. We’ve done research into the benefits of the Creative Journal in the Edinburg Schools (K-6) in partnership with the University of Texas. 

The Rio Grande Valley, about 98% Latinx, is known for being a deeply family-based culture, often with three or more generations living together or in close proximity. There is also a high level of poverty in the region, which usually comes with less access to medical care, health challenges, more crowded living conditions, and unemployment. COVID-19 was already hitting similar communities across the nation. The pandemic has raged through Mary Lou’s area, attacking all generations, including children of all ages. 

Last week, Mary Lou called me with an update. She was still recovering at home and had seen a new physician (after her former doctor reported his services were no longer covered by her insurance). The new doctor, who was covered under her policy, had administered more tests. Much to everyone’s surprise, her tests showed no COVID-19, and no anti-bodies for the virus. It was as if she’d never had it. What is more, the doctor took her off of glucose balancing medication she had been on before the COVID-19 diagnosis, saying she never had diabetes so didn’t need these drugs. He lowered the dosage of her thyroid, which she’d been on for years. Mary Lou is 61, and the doctor reported that her lab tests indicated a level of health much younger than a person her age. Considering that she was hospitalized as recently as late June for both bacterial Bronchitis and COVID-19, and grieving the death of her 92 year old mother (who died while Mary Lou was in the hospital), the physician’s assessment of her general health is even more impressive and, quite frankly, miraculous.

Her new doctor wanted to know what she was doing. She told him about advice she’d been given at the hospital. She’d followed nutritional guidelines, was taking vitamins, and sleeping on her side or stomach for better breathing. She also told him about the other things she was doing: Creative Journaling, movement, meditation, affirmations, and prayer. The doctor told her: “Keep doing whatever you are doing. It is working!” 

Mary Lou told me that she continues writing journal dialogues with her Inner Child, who speaks through her non-dominant hand. She lives alone and feels free to have spoken conversations out loud with her Inner Child, as well. Some of the messages from her Inner Child have been: Move from fear to love. Be more patient. Put yourself first. Say No to others. 

Mary Lou reiterated that saying “No” to demands from family members has continued to be a big thing for her. She uses my Inner Family method for bringing in her Protective Parent (who sets boundaries on behalf of the Inner Child’s needs). This was especially important when Mary Lou was in the hospital and could not be part of burial arrangements for her mother. She had to say No in a situation where she would normally have jumped in and taken on lots of responsibilities. Instead, other family members had to step up and take over for her. She also had to assert herself when informed she could not rent an oxygen device upon release from the hospital. She needed oxygen when she went home on July 2. The only option was to purchase one. So she insisted on doing so, even though it was expensive. Her Protective Parent took a strong stand and got her what she needed. 

Of course, Mary Lou is sheltering at home. She limits her phone conversation time if she finds it is draining her. She continues to limit exposure to bad news on media in order to preserve a positive outlook. The Protective Parent within also helps Mary Lou set limits on her Critical Parent, who will try to criticize her and blame her for any number of things. Knowing how to put up a protective shield, she tells it to: Be Quiet! 

From Deepak Chopra recorded meditations on her phone, Mary Lou learns positive affirmations that keep her mind healthy. In this way, the Nurturing Parent Within is feeding her Inner Child with good food for thought. We agreed that nourishment and self-care is not limited to the body. It must include the spirit, mind and emotions as well. Keeping a positive mental attitude is critical when dealing with illness. Without healthy mind food, it is easy to slip into depression, stop eating, stop moving, and give up. Along those lines, she told me she had been told to keep eating and keep moving by medical professionals. And she knew from her CJEA training that she needed to attend to her emotional and mental life as well. Through all of this, and in the face of thousands struggling with COVID-19 in her area, Mary Lou told me she never thought she was going to die. Yes, when she returned home from the hospital, she did have anxiety, she cried, she had nightmares (common occurrence with COVID-19), but deep in her heart she knew she would make it.

Some of Mary Lou’s favorite resources have been drawing and moving to Bobby McFerrin’s Medicine Music, and music created by Gabrielle Roth for doing 5rhythms spontaneous movement (Initiation, Endless Wave). She also reads and contemplates a beautifully uplifting book of words and images I recommend to our CJEA community, Living Life in Full Bloom (by Elizabeth Murray). 

Mary Lou uses my “Picture of Health” process (mapping and dialoging with body parts using both hands) and creates health mandala’s (both of which are featured in my book, Hello, This is Your Body Talking). She does Healthy Lifestyle collages (from my book Visioning: Ten Steps to Designing the Life of Your Dreams). 

Mary Lou also recites the Rosary, prays for herself, others and the world, and expresses gratitude to God, the angels, and Our Lady of Fatima. 

I reminded Mary Lou that the CJEA methods she is using grew out of my struggle in 1973 with a lupus-like illness that has no cure. We talked about the great gift that this bout with illness has given Mary Lou. A courageous and dedicated woman, Mary Lou has found deeper powers of healing from having to “walk the talk” while recovering from COVID-19. The end result is that she is finding more vibrant health through her daily practices of good nutrition, self-care, movement, art, journaling, meditation, and prayer.

Love to all. Be well and stay safe,
Lucia

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From Chaos to Calm: Drawing and Collaging Our Way Through COVID-19

The anxiety we have all felt in the face of coping with COVID-19 is universal. To one degree or another we have all felt it. Anxiety comes in many colors and themes. It may appear as fear of the unknown, of living in highly unpredictable times and with circumstances out of our control. Then there is the fear of coming down with the virus. For many millions, panic about financial survival weighs heavily. Many are scared about day to day challenges, such as schooling children at home, finding much needed supplies that have become scarce, or care-giving sick family members (whether they have COVID-19 or not).

We all need ways to release this build up of anxiety from the body and mind. If we don’t, our immune systems can be weakened (the last thing we need right now). As Dr. James Pennebaker’s research shows, writing about trauma or crisis strengthens our immune functions. My research with children showed that drawing and writing about anxiety has health benefits. (Edinburg School District, Edinburg, TX, Jefferson Elementary School, 2013-14.) I’ve also observed that creating collages depicting chaos, followed by collages of calm, can bring about a deep state of inner peace.

Scribbling it out

Scribbling with both hands, as well as writing with the non-dominant hand, are great ways to shed anxiety bottled up in the body. Using both hands for these stress scribbles helps balance my brain and appears to regulate the nervous system.

Letting my non-dominant hand add words can help as well. The looser the writing, the better. Sometimes a simple image will tell the whole story, as in this “Long windy road” scribble when I realized that sheltering in place could last awhile.

When scribbling out my stress I always find that I draw my way to another mood, one of acceptance and calm. The colors often change, as in this stress series when red and black suddenly turned to yellow and blue. I was also healing from a collar bone fracture and bruised arm and found that all the scribbling I had done made my shoulder and arm feel much better. On the last drawing, I wrote, Mending the Fracture.

Collage: Feelings piece by piece

Another great medium for dealing with anxiety and chaotic feelings is collage. The very act of tearing images out of magazines is cathartic. Sometimes the subject matter in the photos expresses accurately how we feel. That was certainly the case with these photos of trash from an article in National Geographic. Just recognizing how the photo depicted my jumbled up feelings was healing in itself. But I went even further and scribbled my mixed feelings out onto the next page, forming the background for more photo fragments of trash.

The words, Finding Our Way to the Future, amidst all the chaos of COVID-19 jumped out at me from the magazine pages. There was something positive we could do. Shelter in place, wear masks in public, protect ourselves and others from this mysterious virus, which was turning up new symptoms every day and striking new unsuspecting populations, like the young.

On the facing page, I placed a photo of the cosmos torn asunder. I got the feeling that this too would pass. The split seemed to represent a big divide between “life before COIVD -19” and “life after COVID-19”. I had no idea what that meant logically, but my intuition said there would be a big sea change in our lives. And yes, it would be a “trip on the wild side” as the words stated.

As usual, this morphed into another mood and a new message on the next page. Holding pictures of underwater images and a deep sea diver with the caption, Get a clearer picture of the… inspired me to write the words…Inner World. That’s what all this chaos and stress were leading me to. I added to the left, Healing through travels in Inner World. After that I wrote Visions of the heart.

It was clear that sheltering in place while also recovering from a fractured collar-bone were forcing me inward. Time to introspect, feel my feelings, and listen to my heart.

At that moment I noticed a Get Well card from a friend sitting to the side of my work area. The sentiments were perfect for this moment. So I glued the card into my journal. The words, Time and rest, gentle healing, and a deep-down cared-for feeling!…echoed exactly what I needed at that time in my life.

Later on in my journal I expressed the “vision of my heart” by creating collages of places and scenes I associated with peace and well-being: safe and beautiful places I’d been to in Hawaii and other spots on the planet.

This led to a collage I call, Calm, that speaks for itself. A cozy, safe sanctuary in which to rest, relax and recover.

 
For more activities in scribbling and collage, please see my books: Drawing Your Stress Away and The Art of Emotional Healing.

These journal pages also appear at my YouTube channel, Lucia Capacchione, in the series: The Creative Journal Goes Viral - Part 4.

Lucia

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Sheltering-in-place: Finding Inner Freedom Through the Non-dominant Hand

In early March, before shelter-in-place became “a thing,” I was already doing it. Having survived a horrible case of the Hong Kong flu in 1968, I didn’t want this virus anywhere near me. I was familiar with the 1918-19 influenza outbreak in Los Angeles. My mother, a preschooler at the time, had carried vivid memories of those terrible times, which she shared with me.

I researched as much information as possible about COVID-19 and, in the process, learned about quarantine strategies that had worked effectively in past pandemics. I learned that San Francisco had been largely spared in 1918 because of a robust quarantine policy put in place right away. When they eased up on it too soon, they were hit hard by a second wave.

Sometime in early March, we began staying at home and only going out for essentials. I had worked at home for all my adult life, when I wasn’t on an occasional book or workshops tour. But this was different. On March 11, I expressed my feelings about voluntarily being at home all day and night and limiting contact with others. Using both hands, I drew this maze-like scribble.

I was able to express the feelings of being contained and protected but at the same time held in. As I drew the concentric circles inside the enclosure, it felt like going around in circles inside the enclosed space. The drawing expressed all the feelings I was having at the prospect of staying at home all the time. We had also been having raining days, so that familiar “stir crazy” sensation of being cooped up inside due to cold, wet weather was there as well.

The next drawing I did was a scribble pattern that felt like the chaos that was being unleashed in the world as COIVD-19 swept across Asia and was making its way down the west coast of the US. After scribbling with both hands for a while, my dominant hand began doing its own thing by coloring in the natural loops created by the scribble pattern. This is an old tried-and-true warm up activity used by art therapists, but now it took on a whole new meaning. This felt like people in quarantine sequestering in their own separate spaces. They were all floating in the chaos, but contained in their own quarters. I wrote the words, “quarantined COVID”.

On the same day I drew what felt like scribbled chaos in orange (using both hands) followed by a brown cage-like grid. Were the cage bars somehow an attempt to contain the chaos? Or were they standing between me and the chaos, protecting me from it? Perhaps both. We know that staying at home protects us, but also protects others if we are carrying the virus.

Writing with my non-dominant hand, I inadvertently misspelled quarantined as quaranteened. Later, I recalled having a serious case of bronchitis when I was seventeen, followed by measles, and having to be in bed for many weeks. The present was triggering a past trauma. This kind of double entendre happens all the time with the non-dominant hand-writing. The unconscious knows what it knows, even if we don’t. And it will “blurt” it out through the non-dominant hand in words and in drawing.

I did many drawings that day, and more scribbling with both hands that looked like quarantine in times of chaos.

By contrast, another drawing done that day was a harbinger of good things to come. A dynamic blue and green container holds a bright, flowing yellow light.

When the official sheltering-in-place announcement was made by our Governor to begin on March 19, I was ready. I saw it as an opportunity to use the extra time on my hands to do journaling. As anyone who knows my work is aware, journaling is my personal therapy, meditative practice, refuge in the storm, and creative incubator. It has certainly been all of that and more during these trying times.

On April 5, after two weeks of the official shelter-in-place mandate, I decided to draw out my feelings about staying at home all day every day. My non-dominant hand grabbed a black marker and started at the center working outward forming a square-ish spiral. From there I continued with brown maze-like lines expanding out from the center spiral. The final black lines on the perimeter felt like an outer protection for the inner space.

This was followed by a two-handed dialogue with the drawing. My dominant hand asked the questions (in brown). My non-dominant hand answered in black.

What are you?
I’m the insides. Your insides. All cooped up inside you. ON this gray dark rainy day. 

How do you feel? 
Grounded. Like when we were kids. Couldn’t go out on rainy days. We felt restless + stir crazy like now, like all these days of staying home. I feel sad, too. 

Why do you feel this way? 
Cuz of COVID19 we are staying home – we’ve been staying put for over 2 weeks now. Even when it’s not raining like today. I miss doing things + going places we always did before. Like going out for lunch or dinner, going to the gym for exercise every week, getting coffee at the coffee shop near the gym – they closed down now. Going to the local shops. Can’t do any of that… I really miss that. 

And I miss seeing all the people in town – friends, shop-keepers, and visiting with them. It’s like a ghost town in town. Empty. Only the bank + grocery stores + gas stations open. 

I’m so glad the ice cream parlor on the west end of town has been open. When we got a cone there last week I though, THIS is definitely a necessity. Ice cream is essential right now. That made me feel happy. If I couldn’t have my ice-blended latte from the coffee shop, I could at least have a coffee ice cream cone! But I had to eat it outside, alone on the sidewalk because everything is take-out these days. And I was the only one on the street. Just me and a couple of cars passing by. 

What can I do to help you? What do you need from me?
Exercise at home on the little trampoline some more. We started that last week but I need to do that more and longer periods of time. I like doing the walking, a little jumping, and dancing on it to music. 

Also, keep letting feelings out by “dancing on paper.” Scribbling and drawing to music in the journal here. And even on big paper. 

Is there anything else?
Yes. Call friends and stay in touch. It’s OK to email, but I like hearing the voices of friends + family + co-worker. Skyping is good, too. 

Also, I miss eating out. So do what you did yesterday and get take out. It’s like “Dining out at home.” And it feels good to help the restaurant folks. It keeps them working. And we have to help each other. That feels really good, especially right now. I’m glad we donated to NOKIDHUNGRY.COM. THE IDEA OF KIDS GOING HUNGRY OR ANYONE GOING HUNGRY REALLY MAKES ME SAD. So donate + help others. That feels better to do that. 

I’m glad we can help others when we do work as a therapist on the phone + Skype. And when we do group calls for CJEA or interviews + podcasts + YouTube videos. Helping others helps me. And sheltering in place helps everyone. 

Lucia

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Dialogue With COVID-19

One of the most effective journal prompts I’ve developed is one involving a dialogue with a current challenge, problem, or crisis. The coronavirus sweeping the globe certainly constituted a crisis, not only for myself, but everyone in the world. I decided to have a dialogue with the virus in which my non-dominant hand spoke for COVID-19. As always, I received profound inner guidance from “the crisis.” Over the years I’ve learned that by confronting my biggest fears directly, using this dialogue form, I’ve come to understand the teaching I was receiving and be able to work with it productively, in my own life and in my work with others.

The following journal entry was done with both hands. My dominant hand asked the questions and my non-dominant hand answered for COVID-19.

Lucia Journal entry
Mar. 24, 2020

I want to talk to the coronavirus.

What are you?

I’M THE BIG C Coronavirus. 

How do you feel?

OUT OF CONTROL.
RAGING ALL OVER THE PLACE.
LIKE A RAGING FIRE. 

Raging. Like Anger? Like fire?

YES Raging

Why are you raging? Out of control?

Because I can. There are do defenses, no boundaries being put up to stop me. 

What can I do to help you? What do you need?

I am neutral. I go wherever I can. I don’t want to kill people. I just spread. It’s my nature. If people want to stop this contagious situation they need to set boundaries & limits. Also people need to learn to do nothing. To stay out of harm’s way. They don’t know how to protect themselves from raging out of control people, ideologies, policies, practices. They look the other way or think they are helpless & can’t stand up to these out of control elements in society that are fueled by violence & greed. It’s eating people alive, sucking the life right out of some people. 

This is bigger than “germs”. It is bigger than bacteria. It is out of control rage raging across the globe like wild fire. Like the fires that were set intentionally to destroy the lungs of mother earth: the Amazon forest. 

What does humanity need to do to save itself? Things are really dire.

People need to & will wake up to the giant imbalance. Look at what the raging out of control pan demic is begetting? Panic, Fear, anxiety, depression and all kinds of illness. Teach the writing & drawing cure for creating healthy & strong immune system. That’s what is needed. That’s what YOU can do. 

The forces that contributed to this calamity must be curtailed, limited, stopped from continuing. The force of numbers must be brought to bear. Individuals who feel powerless must come to realize the power of groups, strength in numbers, healing in community. 

People MUST rise above myopic camps who can’t see beyond their own trench in the ground, their own cave. I may be the world teacher if folks heed the call & learn the lesson. 

I’ve been saying this is all 3 catastrophes my parents survived, all happening at once. Ellis Island (my family - Grandma Lucia, Aunt Rose and Dad - in a cage in the prison wing in 1920), like the Mexico border today. The influenza pandemic of 1917-18, and the great depression of 1929 that lasts to the late 30s.

It’s all 3. The main differences are you have the internet so you can quarantine while staying connected....more medical care can be there IF everyone works together. Systems can be put in place. And you are right. This is a repeat of 3 classic, well-known tragedies in US history striking all at once. A triple whammy because – although no one is talking about the Mexican border, it’s going to figure into this crisis of virus. Some bad, bad karma has accumulated for the US from the inhumanity inflicted on people on the border. It all adds up to a red plague. Time to wake up, yo!

Lucia

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The Art of Transforming Fearful Mental Images

Our guest blogger is Claire Perkins, an artist, author, and expressive arts coach. During an experience of deep grief, Claire discovered the healing and awakening power of expressive art and journaling, which she now brings to her clients. Trained in the Creative Journal Expressive Arts (CJEA) method, Transformational Life Coaching, Active Dreaming and SoulCollage®, she gently guides people to deeper self-awareness, inner healing and awakening with a juicy mix of simple expressive art, dream work and journaling.

Here is what Claire shared with me:

“This pandemic is definitely a challenging time that triggers all kinds of fears. A perfect time for this work in the world. Over the past few days, I have been collaging imagery around my own fears. Today I wrote a blog post that includes two of the SoulCollage® cards that I created - the first expressing virus fears and the second, an "antidote" vision of healthy lungs. I journaled with these cards using both "I am the one who" (a SoulCollage® format for working with cards) and CJEA journaling dialogue with the non-dominant hand. It was a wonderfully transforming activity.

The Art of Transforming Fearful Mental Images
by Claire M. Perkins

When vague inner fears dance around in my heart and mind, I’ve found that giving them visual form through collage is an excellent first step in getting a handle on them. There is something healing in the act of gathering together those disturbing but hazy feelings and turning them into a visual you can hold at arm’s length and address in a more solid and concrete way. It’s cathartic.

This corona virus pandemic has definitely stirred up some fears, so I decided to explore my uneasiness through SoulCollage® and Creative Journaling, including the use of my non-dominant hand (NDH) to allow the images to speak.

The first card I created is a representation of this virus pandemic that I call “Aye! Corona!” In this card, the whole world is wearing a mask (of illness? of fear? of protection?). Those spiky little virus buggers have evil monster faces and sharp teeth – and they are everywhere! The poor beleaguered health worker, like something from a horror movie, looks out through the eyes of the virus.

Allowing the card to speak, here is what emerges from the voices of the virus, the world, and the health worker imagery.

Virus Images

I am one who is coming at you with teeth bared and spikes out. I am one who is everywhere. You can’t hide from me any longer. I am one who has come to make you wake up and pay attention. I will multiply until you start to listen. I am a symptom of a world out of balance. I am a desperate call for change.

What do you need from me? 

(NDH) I need you to wake up. I need you to recognize that I am a messenger – that this is bigger than the here and now crisis – that your entire culture needs to make deep, systemic changes if humanity is to survive. Think about the gift of your breath. Your breath is life. It feeds your entire system. It is a balance of gathering in and letting go. But your culture gathers, gathers, gathers and never lets go. The wealthiest of you always wanting more, more, more while so many have not enough. If all you ever did was inhale, you would explode. And your culture is doing just that. It is no accident that I attack the lungs. I am a metaphor, a symbol of breath out of balance, of a world drowning in an excess of greed and complacency, like a balloon about to burst from too much air. It’s time to let go of this need for more, more, more.

World Image 

Help me! I am desperate. I am dying. I can’t breathe. I am one who has been your home, your mother. I am one who has been abused – nearly to the point of no return. You and I are one organism. We will live or die together. It is time to come together. There is still time to heal.

What do you need from me? 

(NDH) I need you all to allow time for a reset. I need you all to reexamine your priorities. I need you all to recognize that this is one world, that all of you are interconnected and bound with me. I need you all to make me – your home – a priority. I need you to recognize how out of balance this world has become and to work at bringing balance back. Start with balance in your own life, in your own way of being.

Health Worker Image 

I am one who is here to help, but I am overwhelmed and outnumbered. I am one who must protect myself so that I can help to heal others and the world. I need supplies: gloves, masks, medical equipment, tests and medicines, rooms and beds. I am one who stands on the front lines. If I fall, we all fall.

What do you need from me? 

(NDH) Keep their feet to the fire – those in charge. Make them see that in this moment of crisis we need to focus on procuring the necessary equipment and facilities for the storm that’s about to hit. Please, please, please heed the advice to stay home as much as you can, to wash your hands often, to disinfect surfaces. These actions can lower the amount of cases that land in my care.

~~~

Having created a card that expresses my fears and having listened to what it wanted to say to me, I begin to think and feel my way into creating an opposite or antidote card.

 One thing that really stands out to me from what the virus said is the idea of breath – that this is a disease that attacks the lungs. I take a deep breath and feel that my antidote phrase is “healthy lungs.” Yes, there is much more to this crisis – deeper, systemic social construct issues, climate change, greed, etc. But my right-now-fears are centered in the current health crisis. So, “healthy lungs” feels right.

A couple things that really stand out to me visually in the “Aye! Corona!” card are the round, spiky forms of the virus and the predominant pink color. When I look through the fear at just the visual impression, I can’t help but think of a softer form in a similar shape and color. A flower, like a peony or hydrangea. Now I have the clues I need to begin to create my antidote card.

I find several appropriate images and create my new card. The combination of the pink peony and the pink daisy mirror the round shape and pokey spines of the virus, but in a soft, transmuted way. The pink color is echoed in the bronchial pathways of the lungs and it feels healing.

When I look at this new “Healthy Lungs” antidote card, I feel an immediate shift in my energy from fear to peace. Just looking at it automatically triggers several deep breaths and the feeling of peace grows.

Healthy Lungs Image

We are ones who bring you the breath of life and pour that life through your whole system. We are healthy. We are strong. We are ones who, while vulnerable to viruses and pathogens, have worked and will continue to work remarkably well for the vast majority of your life.

What do you need from me? 

(NDH) Please keep breathing deeply. It helps to keep us strong and clear and gives us what we need to feed and restore the entire body system. In addition, it lowers your stress and relieves the system of stress hormones, which are detrimental to your health and immune processes. When you feel fear and stress arise, remember to breathe.

Pink Peony Image

I am one who transforms the fear in your head. I am one who softens your thinking. I am one who brings the pink light of healing energy into your entire system. I am one who rests gently around your third eye and crown chakras, opening the way for spiritual wisdom and guidance to help lead you in right action.

What do you need from me? 

(NDH) I, too, am fed by deep breathing. I blossom as fear moves aside, and fear moves aside when you inhale peace and exhale worry. Breathe deeply, and when you feel my calm presence – listen. Listen for Divine Guidance. Know that you are safe, protected and guided at all times.

Pink Daisy Image

I am one who projects your energy out into the world. I am your spiritual antennae. Like a halo, I project your inner light – or your inner fear to those around you. Like an antenna, I can also soak up the light or the fears from those around you.

What do you need from me? 

(NDH) Be aware of how you are affected by the fears of those around you and the fears peddled on the nightly news. Do not allow yourself to soak up too much of the fear around you. Be aware, too, of what you are projecting out into the world. Try not to feed the fears, but rather to be a light.

~~~

I found this process to be cathartic, calming and healing. If you are looking for a way to transmute your fears about the current pandemic, I encourage you to give this activity a try. Your fears and my fears may take different form. Let your own emotions and intuition guide you as you gather images and make your cards.

While I created my cards digitally with free use source images from Pixabay, you don’t have to do it that way. You can also use magazine images, scissors and glue to make your cards. Or source your images from the internet, print them out, and then use scissors and glue. You can even simply draw a visual representation of your fear and then draw an antidote. The main point is to use imagery to express and then transmute your fear.

I plan to keep my antidote card out where I can see it throughout the duration of this pandemic as an anchor and a reminder to breathe, to tune in to spiritual wisdom and guidance, and to watch out for both incoming and outgoing transmissions of fear.

Claire Perkins
Artist, author, and expressive arts coach
Certified in Creative Journal Expressive Arts
Claire@claireperkins.com
https://claireperkins.com

-----

Lucia

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Bilateral Drawing: Balancing and Relaxing with Both Hands

In Chapter Five of The Power of Your Other Hand, I introduced bilateral drawing. That is defined as drawing done with both hands at the same time. Since the book was first published in 1988, many therapists and art therapists have applied bilateral drawing with clients. One of these is Cornelia Elbrecht, who has written a whole book on the subject entitled, Healing Trauma with Guided Drawing: A Sensorimotor Art Therapy Approach to Bilateral Body Mapping (North Atlantic Books, 2018). I recommend this book for anyone interested in either trauma work or the benefits of bilateral drawing.

In this post, you will see some examples of my own bilateral journal drawings and a video by Amanda Joy Wells, a graduate of our Creative Journal Expressive Arts and Visioning® Coach Training programs. Some of these drawings illustrate techniques I introduced in The Power of Your Other Hand and later books. You’ll see these in the video below. Other drawings show new variations on this method from my own journal. I will also discuss benefits of bilateral drawing based on my observations of clients and students for over 40 years.

I started the journal session illustrated here by putting some relaxing music on. I suggest using music that you enjoy and that relaxes your mind and body. Music can help to soothe a busy, over-active and chatty left brain and stressed out nervous system. The first drawing shows a single page in my journal (8 ½ X 11 in.) on which I drew with two crayons in 2 different colors. I had been stressed out due to many professional responsibilities I had been carrying at the time. I realized later that the drawing resembled graphs I’ve seen of the human brain. I had not intended this. It just happened. The connecting fibers, the corpus callosum, seem quite clear in this drawing. I was not trying to draw recognizable objects or symbols, but noticed this brain image after the drawing was completed. Somatically (in my body and brain) I felt more relaxed after doing the drawing. That was my goal.

This kind of pattern is called mirror symmetry and is the first prompt in Chapter 5 for bilateral drawing. In observing clients and students, I notice that when asked to draw with both hands simultaneously, this is the most common pattern they make. It is spontaneous and apparently very natural. That makes sense because the human brain and body are actually a mirror symmetry design. So is the common symbol for the human heart. Think of making Valentine cards as a kid by folding paper in half and cutting half a heart. When you open it, a full heart appears. That’s how you can tell it is mirror symmetry. The halves mirror each other. We also make paper people cutouts this way. Why? Because humans are constructed in a mirror symmetry design. So are butterflies, another image that often appears spontaneously in bilateral drawings.

I decided to continue drawing with both hands at once and expanded onto 2 pages, also known as “a double page spread”. Each hand held a different color crayon and even changed colors from time to time. Each hand was drawing the same pattern, but as a mirror image of its “partner’s” drawing. I felt more and more relaxed with each drawing.

On another day, shortly after this, I did a single page drawing, again using both hands, each with it’s own color. Again, this was accompanied by relaxing recorded music. This time I used another prompt from Chapter 5 of The Power of Your Other Hand. In this prompt, you draw with both hands, using 2 colors, and each hand “does it’s own thing.” I found this quite energizing and relaxing at the same time

Then I drew a “duet” with both hands, using 2 different colors. In this case, my hands wanted to draw the same spiral pattern collaboratively. I found this spiraling motion very relaxing and could feel a balancing happening inside my brain. Later I shifted to using 2 pages in the journal for more Bilateral Drawing. My hands spontaneously created multi-colored mirror image drawings. These were more textured and involved and I spent more time drawing them. The result was a relaxed state, but I also noticed a decided increase in energy.

I hear this a lot from people doing bilateral drawing. Regardless of which particular prompt they are using, drawing with both hands seems to help people slow down, relax, enjoy the moment (mindfulness) and what is happening in the now. The report a feeling of freedom, playfulness and urge to be more creative in many ways.

Amanda Joy Wells created this excellent video of bilateral drawing. It demonstrates the benefits and the amazing experience of drawing with both hands at once. Enjoy!


Lucia

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www.luciac.com
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