A few members of CCF had the delightful experience of attending an Art Therapy workshop facilitated by Dayaline Sivakumar (Expressive Art therapist) at the TTK hospital, Adyar, on November 19th, 2022.
We entered the venue like excited school children, with our drawing kits ready. Ms. Dayaline took us through the concepts in her mellow voice. The importance and use of art therapy to enhance mental health was emphasised. Art Therapy is a beautiful medium of expression of our emotions and feelings. All of us transformed with child-like enthusiasm while doing the activities. Some of the activities we did were, ‘Self-portrait’, ‘Emotional landscape’, ‘My favourite day’ and ‘Mind-body connection’.
As we journeyed through each activity, we shared our experiences. Initially most of us were hesitant to create the drawing. We were caught up with our inner critic, saying – “I am not good at drawing”; “I can’t draw”; “my drawing looks silly…”
Yet it is not perfection of the art that we look for in art therapy. Slowly we began to tap into our creativity and let the colours flow into the artwork.
As always, though we know each one of us is unique, when such activities emphasise our uniqueness, they never cease to amaze us. The activities helped us to connect with ourselves, be mindful and reflect.
One of the attendees, Lakshmi Deepa Venkat, has summed this up beautifully:
‘During the half past century I’ve lived,
Facing, surfing and surging with different emotions of each wave of moments in life
Little did I know whether I was in an upward or downward spiral...
Tried different languages and different exercises to understand the same!
Then came this day where I could shade and colour my emotions.
Thanks so much CCF and Ms.Dayaline for helping me bring out my emotions through art. Our interpretations added value. Whether interpreted or not, the emotions were well released!
Thank you again.’
In the words of Vikram, another participant, “Art therapy is like an ECG. An ECG shows the results of our heart rhythm. Art therapy reveals the rhythm of our mental health.”
A cloudy afternoon, hot cups of tea, excited attendees, sharing our artwork and their interpretations, returning home with smiles… our wellbeing was truly enhanced.
Swapna Nair
(with inputs from Lakshmi Deepa Venkat and Vikram P K)
December 2022
