Make art to feel awake, reconnect and do good in all areas of life.
Making mindful art is a low-lift and fun way to be always exploring, learning, connected, and thriving.
As teenagers, we’re told to stop being creative, to stop playing, and to ‘grow-up’. That’s why most of us feel so guilty about making art; we’ve been told it’s not necessary. But that’s not true.
Ignoring our creative natures only makes us fixed, afraid of failure, self-doubting, and internally disconnected.
Making art:
- connects us deeply to our thoughts and feelings
- develops empathy so we become better at supporting others
- gives space to name and deal with feelings
- means we are always exploring and learning
- supports good wellbeing
- gives us chemical rewards that make us feel good
- calms the mind when its busy
- teaches us how to be mindful
- helps us see and manage inner narratives that block us
- makes us brave and confident
- makes us okay with failure
- makes us resilient
- is radically self-accepting, loving and caring
Art enriches us all
Exploring art, chatting about art, and making art feels good because it stimulates the brain and triggers a reward reflex, sometimes slowing the heart rate making us feel at ease, sometimes causing a release of endorphins and serotonin making us feel happy, and sometimes helping us slip into a flow state where we are totally absorbed by what we are doing and content.
Regularly making or experiencing art also makes us feel more connected to the shared experience of being human. So art making is scientifically amazingly good for us !!
Creative Breaks uses a life-time of personal creative experience, studies from NeuroArts and art therapy, and mindfulness and meditation teachings to create immersive spaces where you can connect deeply, grow, and enrich your life.
After a session, I love to ask people, “How do you feel?” Here’s some common answers…
Relaxed, sleepy, chill, happy, less stressed, more connected, not thinking about anything, way better, energised, grateful, happy to meet new people, appreciative, more creative, grateful, excited, grounded, less anxious, fun.
Humans are literally hard-wired to be creative. It makes us feel good, and you can’t do it wrong, which means we can all benefit from making art, even those of us that don’t think we’re creative.
If you feel stressed or disconnected, make art, breathe deeply, explore whats going on internally. Do this regularly and stress will impact you less, you’ll become more resilient, and you’ll feel more able to deal with life lifing and to keep up.
Make art; it will change your life.
some wonderful research into the
Impacts of (Making) art:
64 Million Artists’ study:
“CIM is a clinical research project exploring the impact of online creative challenges and peer-support on individuals experiencing low mood and anxiety. Groups of 20 participants took part in online programmes throughout the months of September, October and November 2018… The results of this trial have been significant and positive… The UCL results show that on the Stress, Depression, Anxiety Scale, participants showed a “significant” decrease in symptoms between the beginning of the pilot and a three-month follow-up. On the Warwick-Edinburgh Wellbeing Scale, participants experienced a “clinically meaningful improvement in wellbeing.”
🔍 Read full report here.
Book: Your Brain on Art
“Using non-invasive tools, scientists are peering into the brain to learn how engagement with the arts rewires neural circuitry and creates new pathways through the process of neuroplasticity. As sensations of light, sound, smell, taste and touch enter the brain, they set off a complex cascade of neurobiological effects, sculpting and shaping neurological functions and structures. Interacting with the arts, as maker or beholder, sparks a dynamic interplay of neurotransmitters, triggering billions of changes that shape the way we feel, think and behave.”
🔍 Explore website to discover more.
You don’t have to be an artist to make art.
We are all creative.
Make art, feel good, do good!