Day 23 – The need to rest and digest

-

Day 23 - I was reminded today that along with our sympathetic nervous system which triggers our fight, flight, freeze response, our parasympathetic nervous system triggers our rest and digest response – and many of these responses are best accomplished in a state of relaxation.  (There are a bunch of YouTube videos out there describing these systems!!).

All of this became relevant today in part because of my work at the High School – none of the kids I see at the high school wanted to talk today (one was literally absent!). One of the kids was happy to make a collage of where they’d rather be (than in school at the moment), and the other kid wanted to watch YouTube videos on their phone without any input from me! I felt it was at that moment my job to hold the space – just be with, gently offering my attention and the possibility of interaction. Is this expressive arts therapy and mental health counseling? 

 

Yes – I believe it is.  Sometimes there is just a need to have the space be unstimulating.  To have the space be an undemanding place to be – sometimes suggestions are welcome, sometimes they’re not. 

 

I worked on a collage I started several months ago.  I’m not sure yet if I will engage the images that showed up, or if I’ll just let them sit in my journal holding a space.

 



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Creating a forum for discussion

-
For some time I've been discussing the possibility of creating a blog for expressive therapy on my website with one of our alum, Eve Lyons. Well, there's nothing like a pressing project (how will I motivate myself when my dissertation is done?!) to get you moving! My hope is that this can be a way to make expressive therapy even more of a living process for those of us who are interested in learning more about it. So, here we go!
Read more

100 days of dialogue!

-
Image
Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash Day 1:  I'm on sabbatical again - thank you Lesley University!! I have 100 days before I'm due back on campus. So I've decided to do a small project of choosing something I'm researching, reading or writing about to share on this blog each day. I've been writing about expressive arts therapy.  My goal has been to articulate a critical perspective on expressive arts therapy, but as usual, writing is never easy, and I feel pretty alone in the writing process.  I like to write (sort of). I like to read (definitely!). And I know there is a connection between the two.   For me, research, theorizing, and critical reflection are not only for me.  Although I do enjoy the process of playing with ideas, writing (and by extension teaching and practice) for me is my work - my attempt to be part of a future building and change process that is done in community! I've been feeling a bit bereft of community, so here is my attempt to bu
Read more

40th anniversary of the Lesley University Expressive Therapy Program - save the date!

-
Image
Photo:  Norma Canner, 1970s SAVE THE DATE…. 40th Anniversary of the Expressive Therapies Program at Lesley University Conference and Celebration Saturday, September 20, 2014 Please stay tuned for further details as  an official save the date and invitation from the Alumni Office is forthcoming!   We hope to see you there! Expressive Therapies celebrates 40 years of making powerful inroads in the world In 1974, The Institute for the Arts and Human Development, housing both Expressive Therapies and Creative Arts in Learning, was founded at Lesley University. The Expressive Therapies program established in that year was one of the original graduate programs in the United States to train professionals in the emerging arts therapy field and the first to integrate all of the arts. Forty years la
Read more