Art as a Tool for Healing:
Ever since I was a kid, I have used art as a therapeutic tool to access parts of myself that are hidden from the intellect.
Artistic expression has always been a vital part of my daily journaling. In my workshops, I often combine artistic expression with breathwork and meditation to deepen the practice of becoming present and tender.
If you want to become inspired to use art in your soul journey, I encourage you to look at one of my upcoming Heart & Art workshops or courses.
This is a therapeutic art method for recognizing and dissolving a stuck emotion from the energy field of the body. After processing the emotion artistically, it loses its stronghold internally. I coach clients on how to use this method in classes and private sessions.
The Heart & Art Method
This piece is called thoughtforms: It is created in recognition of the power of my thoughts, my stories, my assumptions and how they how hold power over me and create my reality. On the flipside, I can consciously create beautiful stories about life, people, the world and contribute to the creation of a world that I want to live in.
Above: I grew up in the pale and subdued colors of Scandinavia but always felt my inner colors bursting to come out into a society that clings to the intellect and rational thinking. This is a self-portrait of the artist in me longing for creativity and radiance.
To the left: this piece I entitled ‘Girlfriends’ — it is a depiction of female friendship as I have experienced it. The ability to not only feel into one another but also to mirror back with honesty where each of our edges for growth and expansion lie. When am I getting lost in a story of disempowerment. How can I mirror back to you your strength and not just embrace your victim?
I created this depiction of my emerging mature self on a flight from Copenhagen to Minneapolis. I had forgotten my brushes, so I used a foam earplug to apply the color to a pencil drawing. I see the weariness in my expression, but I also see the wisdom and patience growing.
I call this piece: Centering. Various spiritual practices and lineages have influenced my spiritual journey on earth. From early Christian prayers to Buddhist mediation to the Yoga Sutras; I honor so many traditions, each of which has given me tremendous tools and different ways to tune in and get centered.
I call this piece The Pain of Growing up. My son is a tender-heart and as he grew into a strapping 6’4” young and may have fooled the world into thinking he was now a ‘man’ — I continue to see the empathy and tenderness radiating from his face and his whole being. As I recognize it in my own flesh and blood, I seem to cultivate the ability to see the child in every man I encounter.
Artistic expression in community. Art is essentially, for me, a way of playing of being a child again. It’s not about creating an object to be admired, it is about being in the process of creating. It’s the verb and less the noun. I love all my pieces, don’t get me wrong but I don’t get that attached to my pieces, I just want to dive back into the creative process again and again.
This piece is called Intuition. Never underestimate your power of intuition. In my classes, I emphasize the development of intuition. Not as a sense that some people have and others don’t. We all possess the capacity to feel the Divine Guidance that ultimately comes from within. Daily meditation, breathwork, and childlike play with pencils and colors help us soften into the channel that quiets the intellect and opens up the channel to the Source.
