Modern art therapy: antistress coloring pages for adults. Modern art therapy: antistress coloring pages for adults Art coloring books in good quality

“The coloring pages we offer in art therapy books just give our readers exactly what they promise: more subjective well-being and less stress,” Anna Le Mer explains their success. Anna is the head of the direction at the French publishing house Hachette, which also publishes books for creativity and inspiration. She told what caused the relaxing effect of coloring and why they attract regardless of age.

At the end of the article you will find 6 coloring pages from the books "The Enchanted Forest" and "The Secret Garden" by Joanna Basford. You can download them, print them out and experience the magical power of art for yourself.

P sychologies: How to explain the craze for coloring books?

Anna Le Mer: Art therapy books are not about coloring for the sake of coloring. Each book provides an opportunity to indulge in truly creative activity, which in itself is a source of pleasure.

When we are focused on a drawing that only needs to be colored, a meditation effect or a state of flow occurs: it is at this moment that the positive effect of this practice becomes apparent. And this effect is quite real: many of our clients have told us that thanks to these exercises, their headaches have disappeared, the feeling of tension and stress has decreased ... In addition, these drawings enable anyone to create something beautiful without having any knowledge and drawing skills.

Those who paint patterns have fewer complexes, which is always good!

The first books on art therapy appeared on the market a long time ago and have been in constant demand ever since. What is their secret?

Success not only does not subside, but also becomes a worldwide phenomenon! From Scandinavia through Russia to China, art therapy coloring books can be found in more than 20 countries. Interest in them relies heavily on the popularity of mindfulness practice and mindfulness meditation.

In our society, there is too much information, the pace of life is too fast, and the time we can spend on coloring becomes time for ourselves, when we can focus and free our minds from everyday problems. And coloring pages are especially to the liking of those who are not only sensitive to stress, but also look at alternative medicine, try new methods of maintaining health, relaxation, and increasing life satisfaction.

Why are coloring pages in art therapy books interesting for both children and adults?

One of the main criticisms of these publications concerns the fact that they allegedly develop infantilism in us. This is absolutely not the case, moreover, some books, on the contrary, are very complex. Usually the drawings are very rich and made by real professional artists. This is a full-fledged work of art, which has graphic innovations and thematic diversity. Everyone will find something to their liking: traditional mandalas, floral and ethnic motifs, animals, stained glass... Finally, we have complete freedom in choosing colors, which allows everyone to express not only their uniqueness as a person, but also their aesthetic inclinations.

The same path can be colored in an infinite number of ways, and this opportunity for creative play is very inspiring.

Six coloring pages to make you feel better

Meditative drawing allows you to relax and isolate yourself from external problems, left alone with yourself. With the help of Zen art, you can not only reveal your talent and feel like an artist, but also concentrate on solving important issues in a calm, and most importantly, creative environment. Antistress coloring pages contain many details in the images and can be of interest even to professional artists.

The pioneer of this type of art therapy can be considered an illustrator Joanna Basford, who gained worldwide fame after publishing a series of coloring books for adults. Now everyone can take a finished drawing created by a professional illustrator and breathe new life into it with the help of colored pencils and markers. Even if a person is far from art and has never visited an art studio, he can easily enjoy the creative process in such an extraordinary way as coloring.

The effect of the process of such drawing is comparable in strength to meditative practice. So antistress coloring pages can become a worthy alternative to medicines for headaches and overexertion. The popularity of art therapy is also due to the rapid rhythm of life and the wide spread of various mental practices associated with awareness.

The ability to sit down, just relax and take time for yourself has become an invaluable luxury for residents of megacities, drowned in the routine of business and household chores. By coloring an illustration, a person can briefly clear the mind of disturbing problems, recover and take a fresh look at a particular life situation. Not everyone can cope with stress, apathy on their own, and the use of appropriate medications does not give a full discharge and only suppresses a person’s emotions and feelings.

Coloring pages for adults cannot be called infantile art. Often, illustrations with patterns and mandalas are quite complex, have a plot and can be considered a finished work of art in themselves. If earlier a person bought crossword puzzles and sudoku for leisure at a kiosk, mastered some kind of needlework or applied art, now they have been replaced by anti-stress posters and coloring books. They do not require special skills, and after filling the pages with color, they can be safely hung on the wall along with paintings.

Foreign specialists have begun to actively use coloring as a therapy for the elderly and people with limited physical and mental abilities due to the fact that this practice is much easier to master than other art projects. In addition, drawing can stimulate the areas of the brain responsible for motor activity, memory and creativity. The beneficial effect of meditative drawing on the emotional and physical side of a person makes this therapy option one of the most attractive and cost-effective.

The technique was used in working with requests - To understand what is happening to me (life).

Step-by-step instruction.

1. Make a series of drawings on separate sheets. (Prepare A4 and A3 sheets, paints, gouache, pencils). We draw what is happening now, the state of today. Draw in any order.
~ My life is like a road.
~ My life is like a river.
~ My life is like a mountain.
~ My life is like food.
~ My life is like fire.
~ My life is like a game.

2. Tell us what you drew? How do you feel when you look at your drawing? How do these feelings respond in the body? Describe what the road symbol means to you? (rivers, mountains, food, fire, games). We work from first to the end with one pattern. A person can describe it like this: "The road for me is the path to the goal." And in the picture he depicted the road, as in a fairy tale, with three branches, like, you will go to the left, you will find figs with butter.

How can you explain to yourself what is happening in your life according to this picture?

Answer options: I don’t have any goal now, I don’t know where to go, at least where I will go, I will lose something, etc. So how does your belief about the image fit in with your life, with what's happening to you? Or, what is it about in your life?

3. Look now at your drawing? What do you feel? What is happening in the body? Do you want to paint over, remove or finish something? If yes, then we give a drawing and the client makes the changes he wants. (you need to have white gouache available). Correction takes place in the present. Usually, after making changes to the drawing, even a small detail, a rapid internal metamorphosis occurs. The client painted over the branches from the road, leaving the central one, in perspective he drew a tree from above and painted a gas station and a barbecue place on the side.

4. Now we ask the client to tell from the picture what his life is, how is the road (river, mountain, food, fire, game)? For example, a story might sound like this: “My life is a straight road, paved, not very wide, but not narrow, traffic on it in both directions. It is a road from one city to another. It has places where you can fill up the car, have a bite to eat and relax. After that, you can safely move on. I need to go where the tree is visible. There is the purpose of my trip. I see him and I feel calm and happy that there is very little left before him. Lightness in the body.

(Pay attention to the sequence of execution of the drawings and the format of the paper. What is the priority, we judge by the symbol. We pay attention to the feelings and sensations in the body during the conversation on the drawing. In principle, those who are familiar with art therapy methods know that with this material to do for diagnostics).

Anyone who has even a little idea of ​​the symbolism will find it easy to carry out this exercise. There is a lot of information about the current state. The unconscious simply happily shares with you in a language it understands. Correction happens before your eyes.

2. DRAWINGS OF FEELINGS AND EMOTIONS

Purpose and priority goals:

Identification of the emotional background, actualized emotions, feelings, experiences; in a situation of acute stress - prompt assistance, response to traumatic experiences, emotional release;

"working through" emotions and feelings, including suppressed ones;

Psychoprophylaxis of negative emotional experiences and their manifestations; emotional switching;

Promoting the development of spontaneity, reflection, the manifestation of true feelings;

Harmonization of the emotional state as a potential for overcoming destructive personality changes and personal growth;

Development of creativity.

Materials: sheets of white paper of various sizes, simple pencils, brushes, watercolors, bowls of water.

Attunement stage

Participants are invited to write down on a piece of paper the name of emotions, feelings, experiences, states that they managed to remember. Further, from this list, it is proposed to choose the most powerful feeling, experience that causes an emotional response at the moment.

When offering instructions, it is important to list a variety of terms that are used to describe a wide range of emotional manifestations, so that participants in compiling the list do not experience intellectual difficulties in distinguishing between concepts.

Stage of individual work (theme development)

Instructions

With a simple pencil on a sheet of A3 or A4 paper, make an outline drawing of the emotion (feelings, experiences, states) chosen for “working out”.

Perform the following manipulations with paper (paying attention to the thoughts and feelings that arise in the process of work): crumple a sheet of paper with the outlines of the drawing, then lower it for a while in water, straighten it, lay it out on the table, and only then color the drawn simple pencil image.

Come up with a name and a story that your “picture” could tell. Try to build dialogues between the depicted objects or parts of the picture.

Stage of discussion and reflective analysis

Participants place their works in the office space, sit in a circle for discussion, verbalization of emotions and feelings that they experienced in the process of artistic creation. Everyone, at will, shows his drawing, tells its name, tells a story.

Often, participants change the original name, because in the process of work the image being created is transformed, and consequently, the idea changes, there is an awareness of hidden meanings. During the discussion, you can correctly use "questions-hints" to facilitate awareness and transformation of traumatic experiences into resource ones. It is especially important to create a safe atmosphere of trust, openness, empathy, so that the feedback provided does not cause traumatic feelings, and is adequately perceived by the person. This can be a useful experience for building a constructive communication strategy and new emotional contacts.

The art therapy session ends with making changes to the created art product in accordance with the wishes of the author.

In general, the expected practical result of art therapy work is the transfer of the experience gained into the everyday interpersonal behavior of the subject outside the therapeutic group.

Note.

It is important for the depiction of emotions and feelings to encourage participants to create spontaneous images, avoiding, if possible, plot and stereotyped pictures. Unstructured drawing: lines, contours, spots help level the cognitive pattern, promote creativity and free expression, stimulate self-knowledge processes.

A huge positive potential lies in the possibility of multiple transformations in the process of working on the image: a slightly noticeable contour is refracted with a simple pencil, changes the outlines of the depicted object when the paper is crumpled, and then dipped into water and smoothed again. Further, with the help of watercolors, the drawing is given color, as if “showing”, coloring the intended image.

Working with watercolor on crumpled, damp paper has a deep psychological meaning and a noticeable therapeutic effect, since it allows you to achieve greater expressiveness and at the same time emotional release. One of the psychological mechanisms of emotional response is the peculiarity of watercolor as a visual material.

Source: Oksana Rozdorskaya

3. Exercise for working with personal boundaries "MAP OF MY LIFE"

Instruction:

"Draw a map of your life, where you and all the people around you are countries. You are of different sizes, you have different relationships. With someone you have common borders, with someone you do not. With someone you can border on water With someone you may have a certain common area - a customs union or the “Schengen Agreement.” With someone a simplified visa regime, with someone complicated.

And then look at your drawing and remember what the boundaries were, say, five years ago?

And sometimes it helps to see many things. For instance:

Maybe five years ago you had a lot of close borders and connections, a lot of contacts and conflicts. And that is why now you are "oversaturated with communication" and have become ... an island ... Which no one touches or captures.

Maybe, on the contrary, you have moved from a state of isolation to close strong ties.

Maybe your country is constantly captured by other countries, and you do not know how to resist it?

Or maybe you yourself capture everyone around and win back the lands? (it’s hard to admit it, but every person has such a desire - just the scale is different)

Maybe you divide countries into allies, with whom you have simplified relations, and into opponents, with whom you build fences and prepare companies against them...

And when you see the main patterns, it is easier for you to understand where to strive. Do I need to learn to defend myself or do I need to learn to live in peace and not attack. Should I learn to build relationships or should I allow myself to take a break and be alone?

4. Art therapy technique "DRAWING IN A CIRCLE"

The technique works very well at the first consultation, in a situation where it is difficult to formulate a request, and the client's expectations are vague.

To work, you need a set of various visual materials: paper of various sizes, pencils, felt-tip pens, pastels, watercolors, gouache.

1. We invite the client to relax, concentrate on his feelings here and now, and draw a circle on the sheet of the color, size that he wants at the moment.

2. Then - fill it with a picture.

3. Next, we discuss the drawing, actualize thoughts, feelings, sensations. We clarify: did the state change during the drawing process? Do you want to change something. If necessary - the client corrects the drawing - draws, paints, erases, etc.

Of course, the drawing carries certain diagnostic information. As in the analysis of projective techniques, we pay attention to the size of the circle, its placement on the sheet, the thickness of the lines, the presence or absence of color, etc. However, the therapeutic approach involves, first of all, not interpreting the drawing, but following the emotions and feelings of the client. It is important that he sees how he perceives his work.

You can use the drawing in a circle and in group work. First, everyone draws their own circle on a large common sheet, then the empty space is jointly filled. The process can have a powerful resource effect, but sometimes it can provoke the release of negative emotions.

The most valuable thing in this technique is the opportunity here and now to work out the situation, to correct in the right direction.

5. Technique "MAP OF GOALS"

1. Circle your hand on paper and get the outline of your future card.
2. Fill the map with various terrain: mark mountains, plains, rivers, waterfalls, glaciers, gorges, deserts, forests, glades, seas, oceans, etc.
3. Check the box to indicate the goal you are striving for.
4. Designate a start point for your route
5. Draw a route with a dotted line that has a beginning and an end.
6. Decide where you are on the journey right now.
7. Write symbols - define your mountains, trees, seas ...
8. Compare them with your emotions, sensations, states.

The information that the picture reveals:
- The nature of the route speaks about how a person sets himself obstacles in life and how he overcomes them
- What terrain did the target flag hit: desert, waterfall... and what does that mean to you?
- If you pass all the landscapes in your route - you are a creative person, no - you are a performer.
- If the input and output coincide - the person comes to where he started, but already one level higher.
- Pay attention to what emotions you experienced before reaching the goal
- The entrance is at the bottom, the exit is at the top - a person goes from practice to theory, and, accordingly, vice versa.
- Entrance on the left, exit on the right - a person brings the matter to the end, although he is very worried at first.
- Entrance on the right, exit on the left - developed intuition, a sense of the new.
- Divide into three parts diagonally and vertically not a page, but a map: the left part is the past, the central part is the present, the right part is the future. The upper part is thoughts, the central part is ideas, plans, the lower part is actions.