I Never Thought Art Therapy Would Bring These Powerful Emotions To The Surface

Feel Good Project day 126

I realized I have been home a week from my retreat up to the hills of Santa Barbara and have yet to open up about it!

My gosh how time flies. I am embarrassed to say I still have one bag that STILL needs unpacking! How is it that we hit the ground running at a sprinter’s pace and rarely have time to properly assimilate back into our weekly schedules and projects, and the magic of these necessary spiritual retreat times away becomes too quickly a distant memory.

It’s as if life somehow got a memo that warp speed is the only way to exist and we had best keep up!

My time away with two of my very best pals in the world was absolutely SOUL QUENCHING.

It was the perfect balance of alone time in nature through reflection, reading, discovering, and journaling mixed with lingering HOURS and hours of deep, meaningful conversation that only true fellow journeyers share.

Robin suggested us three possibly all bring a different spiritual exercise or reflection to the trip if we felt so led, and we all agreed this sounded absolutely amazing.

We started with hers, and it proved beyond fruitful and shed so much light on the status of many feelings that seemed to be rolling around within us, just waiting to be worked through, paid attention to, and enveloped in light and love.

Gift giving is in my opinion, her biggest gift, so I was not one bit surprised she showered us with blank canvas and painting supplies, where we embarked on an art therapy project of sorts. Outside of the little house we stayed at (called the Hermitage), there is a circle of rocks whose purpose seems to serve as a sacred circle in which one can to go find peace, guidance and learn how to BE.

For whatever reason, we three just ended up within it’s boundaries without even properly deciding that this is where our art project would take place…but man, did that ever FEEL right! The PERFECT space to create through divine guidance and listen to our hearts flow out onto canvas through color and form we had no idea was in us.

The basic idea was to write down a handful of emotions of feelings that were considered ‘high’ as well as a handful of the ‘low’, or darker ones. Then we assigned each of them a color. Next, we sat with our canvas and painted what those feelings looked and felt like to us on the canvas, attempting to be free of judgement of our talents or how we might tend to think we lacked them in any way.

This was one of the most RAW experiences I have had in life. To let go of the control and the outcome and learn to roll with wherever my brain and the paint brush wanted to go was an incredible experience.

I was surprised mine took on almost a sort of a tribal look (which is not typically my style) though symbols and colors.

The most fascinating part was that we all decided that we wanted to observe the other two as they painted so we could all talk about and process together and help decipher what it all meant/could mean.

Profound and powerful.

Beautiful in the most unexpected way. What a giant gift to my soul.

I tell you, I am so beyond blessed with a handful of gorgeous soul friends I don’t know how to say thanks to God enough for them. They keep me going on this path I have before me when it seems overwhelming and often thorn filled.

Beyond this project we shared, there were countless other ways that miracles revealed themselves to me through words, messages in nature and quiet moments in my heart while walking one foot in front of the other in the amazing labyrinth where I always seem to have an awakening within it’s rock formations.

One of the most profound and HEALING moments I have experienced to date happened withing the last 20 minutes before leaving the retreat and coming back to our homes in southern California. This specific experience is still way too raw for me to share, and I am not quite sure I ever will, but perhaps after I have gathered it up in my heart for myself for awhile, maybe then I will feel led to share it with the world.

Right now, I know it is just for me and it has changed me forever.

FEEL GOOD MOMENT OF THE DAY: Connecting with and meeting some new friends as well today at Dr. Bergman for our chiropractic appointments. Makes us feel connected at a much deeper level when we actually have the pleasure of meeting our listeners of Extreme Health Radio! I was actually moved to tears today with gratitude of compliments our work received. I am humbled beyond belief at the kindness.

Image: fractalenlightenment.com