Write, Color, and Relax

Art journaling is an activity used to express thoughts and feelings imaginatively. Certain techniques can be elaborate, but art journaling is not about being Bisa Butler or Basquiat. The most accessible art journaling activities are simple, resourceful projects and can be completed with crayons and a notebook. Check out our feature on the Silk and Sonder blog if you're curious to learn more about art journaling.

Art journaling is a great way to start your day to feel more focused and inflow.

Benefits of Art Journaling

There is a bevy of benefits to art journaling. A consistent practice can contribute to positive psychological and physical implications.  Writing, coloring, and drawing improve mental clarity and strengthen our ability to focus. Working with color stimulates the portion of our brain responsible for emotions, feelings, and memories. Coloring books for adult relaxation have increased in popularity as a meditative practice to lower stress. Visual journaling adds in written words for another layer of mindful engagement. 

How it Started

Recently I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Heidi Sander for Authority Magazine. We connected on how journaling can help you be more calm, mindful, and resilient. In preparation, I revisited my very first journal in 1994 and fittingly found the day I attended my first art class for that school year.  Two school assignments turned sacred loves in a short span.  I quickly fell in love with writing and creating. I used both as coping tools to express my suppressed emotions.  Journal drawing and doodling in my margins were a much-needed mindfulness activity in my adult years. I never considered combining my crafts until after I craved creative self-expression after I left corporate America.  I cathartically integrated the creative branches of my personality when I pasted some of my small paper crafts into my journals. That has evolved into collages, crayons, and colored pencils drawings whenever I am inspired to disruptively design my pages. I used my time in the panini press to take an online therapeutic art training course. I  learned about the psychology of color and how to incorporate those concepts into my wellness workshops.

How it’s Going

I presented my first therapeutic art offering as my final project for the Yoga Impact Institute advanced yoga teacher certification.  I lead a neuroscience presentation about how meditation and coloring benefit our brain. I instructed my cohort through a gentle stretch, guided meditation, and gratitude art activity.  As people grappled with the mental health impact of the panorama, the demand for holistic coping tools increased. Newark First Friday’s invited me back for a second summer to lead exclusive sessions of Coloring to Cope, a program created to help people cope with the stressors of the COVID crisis. Ethel's Club and the New Jersey Institute of Technology granted me the opportunity to host Gratitude Griot’s signature therapeutic art series for their organizations. Our signature series is rooted in scientifically proven mindfulness activities and inclusive of three foundational elements to eliminate stress and improve moods: movement, meditation, and creativity.

We recently wrapped our six-month series with Newark Center for Meditative Culture called Remedy Creativity. I constructed the class curriculum to teach participants how to use creativity as a tool to relax and reduce stress. The virtual series was made possible by the Victoria Foundation; there was no cost to the community thanks to grant support. No experience was necessary, and each session was intended for multiple generations to enjoy from school-age children to elders young at heart. We started on Juneteenth with Ancestral Art and ended in November Grounded in Gratitude.

 

The bonus benefit of attending live was longer 30-minute sessions. I recorded and edited each session to repost shorter sessions on YouTube. We were competing against warm weather and outside begin open, so live attendance was low. To date, 233 people have viewed the six sessions in Remedy Creativity. If you’d like to revisit the series, you’ll need some simple supplies: a notebook or paper, pencil or pen, crayons, markers, or colored pencils. This is an art tutorial for beginners, so it should be easy to follow along.  A midday meditation is a perfect way to refresh and refocus for the second half of your day. Grab your teacups, colored pencils and create some calm and clarity during your lunch break, or use it as a relaxing art video for sleep.