Six Art Therapy Exercises for Adults

We live wired lives these days, almost without being able to disconnect or even take a rest. We’re always checking our phones or our social networks. We’re “hooked” for hours at a time to our computers or tablets. That’s why doing things that can’t be done through screens can prove to be truly relaxing. For many, they’re great ways to disconnect. Art therapy exercises for adults are some perfect examples of this.

Art therapy exercises allow you to express your creativity. But aside from the creative aspect (without suggesting it’s any less important), they can help improve your mental health. Among the many benefits of art therapy, one of the biggest ones is that children, teens, and seniors can also engage in them.

In this article, we’ll be talking about 6 simple art therapy exercises for adults.

Coloring is one of the best art therapy exercises

Creating something with a blank page can be difficult. It could even be a stressful task if your creative mind is especially dormant.

When you start, you might not have any ideas, which can make you feel frustrated. That’s why a blank coloring book can be the perfect space for ordering your ideas and getting out of your creative block. It can help you free yourself from your anxiety and awaken your dormant creativity.

Coloring offers adults the opportunity to feel like children again. This activity helps evoke old childhood memories. In other words, it’s a way to go back in time. This can help people put their current problems into perspective.

Drawing won’t make your problems go away. However, it can help relieve the stress they cause. It can also comfort you and help free your mind from the demands of daily life.

Drawing outside in a natural setting

We all have a creative side. However, it’s sometimes difficult to find the time and space necessary to let it run wild. If you want to achieve this, you have to make some effort and find some stimuli that can help you out.

Drawing outside can make you feel at peace. Being in contact with nature, breathing deeply, filling your lungs, and freeing yourself through drawing is relaxing. You can choose to draw a memory, an image, or something in front of your very eyes. Everything goes!

This is one of the art therapy exercises that can give you the most benefits. When there’s good weather, you can do it in a park, in a field, in the mountains, or in the beach. The important thing is to let yourself go during the time you do it. If you do, you should be able to free your sense of freedom and creativity.

Write a poem

If you feel more comfortable writing, you can let your imagination fly by writing a poem. Take a paper and a pen and express your feelings, thoughts, emotions, wishes, or dreams. Let them flow. That goes for the good ones that put a smile on your face as well as the bad ones. The latter ones will free you.

You can also create verses by using cut-outs from newspapers or magazines. Place them in a can or in a box and take them out one by one. The words will be predetermined, but your creativity will arrange them into a poem. Sounds fun, doesn’t it?

Creating something using your name

You’ve surely spent some time doodling your name on pieces of paper in the office, in class, or while talking on the phone. Perhaps you did it to help you daydream. Or maybe you felt it helped you concentrate on what the teacher was explaining or what the person on the other end of the line was saying.

Write your name on a piece of paper and start to create something new from it. Let yourself be swept away. Use different colors, shapes, shadows, etc. Find the best way to express yourself.

Body painting

There are special paints you can use to paint your body. If you’ve never tried body painting before and it seems interesting to you, you should give it a try! If you could tattoo yourself for a few hours, what would you draw? This type of painting connects you with your inner self and allows you to reflect that on your external self.

Aside from promoting creativity, it’ll help you put your current life into perspective. It’s an exercise in connection, self-acceptance, and harmony with your inner self that will help you achieve personal growth.

Drawing in the sand

When we were children, we loved drawing shapes in the sand. We would take a bucket, fill it with sand, and build a castle or a house. As adults, we can also use sand to develop our imaginations. Sand allows us to experiment with our environment and relive some of those amazing childhood memories.

You can choose to make multiple drawings, shapes, or words. It’ll help you bring out whatever you have inside. Also, it can be a very useful tool for avoiding the internal censorship we often subject ourselves to.

These art therapy exercises are ways to express yourself freely. They allow you to channel your emotions, sharpen your skills, and promote your creativity. They help you shape your desires, joys, and fears through art. That way, you can connect with your internal world and create fertile ground for personal growth.