We are living in a performance and competition driven society, where stress is slowly becoming a pandemic and affecting day to day functioning of people. The damages caused by stress is oftentimes underestimated, overlooked and brushed under the carpet.
The diseases caused by stress that we can fix by simply keeping our stress levels in check are heart disease, asthma, obesity, diabetes, headaches, depression and anxiety, accelerated aging etc.
Why are we always stressed out?
Stress touches all age groups and social strata; and there is really no escape from it. It is our
body’s normal reaction to daily events.
Our Ancestors believed in Lord Krishna's famous and oft-quoted advice to Arjuna during the
battle of Kurukshetra, "Karmanye Vadhikaraste, Ma Phaleshu Kadachana”. Broadly translated that means “You have the right to perform your duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of your actions.”
However somewhere down the ages this changed and we started putting ourselves under
undue pressure causing unparalleled stress.
The causes of stress is inherent to today’s society, work culture, ethics resulting out of the following:
Incessant need to increase productivity gains;
Making perfectionism a virtue;
Compulsive need to compete with peers and even one’s own self;
Imbalanced work, personal life and family life;
There are many ways to react and deal with stress. While it is our body’s defence mechanism, it is important to not let it take over.
Making Art Helps Relieve Stress
“But I am not an artist!” May well be your first reaction to this advice. But trust me, there is
enough research done to back this theory. Science agrees with it.
Research and study as published in Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association says that a mere 45 minutes of creating art or any creative activity can largely de-stress the mind and the body.
Some Ideas on where to start your personal art therapy journey.
Create your own Mandala
The process of creating Mandala keeps your mind focussed on the intricacies of the mandala and keeps your mind off the stressors that are eating you up. The mandala you make can be intricate with deep meaning or just a bunch of shapes and lines that look good to you. Only thing that is important here is to have fun.
Colour a painting
If sketching a painting or creating a mandala sounds too difficult you can choose to just colour them. These days you will find many Adult colouring books with intricate diagrams that you just need to colour. This is also extremely creative and you end up making a beautiful piece of art with ease. If you are an under confident artist then this is the perfect answer to the beginning of
your art therapy journey.
Join An Art Class
Join an art or craft class, this can be a wonderful option. Although if an art class is too much of a time commitment, then many places conduct paint parties, where you can do a onetime art or craft workshop and enjoy a lunch while at it.
You get to interact with many like-minded people and be part of a healthy creative community.
Just Doodle
If your busy schedule doesn’t allow you time for art classes, and a 20- minute drawing session is all you have time for, go ahead and embrace your inner doodler. Maintain a journal just for 5-minute doodles, and keep it handy.
At night, just draw quick pictures of hearts, flowers, and smiling faces for a minute or two instead of maintaining a journalling practice.
Art therapy can be liberating for your soul and relieve stress at the same time. Take your
sketchbook and every time you feel stressed out just give wings to you inner artist.
Comments