HEALTH CORNER

Art As A Therapy And Mood Booster

By Swetha Sundar

"Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time."

This quote pretty much sums up the influence and impact of art in our lives. As an artist, a poet and a writer, I look at art as a release, catharsis, expression and therapy. It has been proven and I have myself experienced the restorative powers of art. Through various forms of self- expression like sketching, doodling, painting, writing, singing, dance, pottery, sculpture or even gardening, one can hear and express oneself through unfiltered responses to an art or a muse. Sometimes you don't even have to be an artist.

Merely viewing an art can hone your cognition and creativity. I will take my own example. I was always good with art but started sketching, painting and mandala afresh in the Covid lockdown, around March 2020. I am a self taught artist who strives to become better with each work. In making mandalas I discovered the process of finding myself in the seamless, unimpeded flow of everything around me. The mandala is a map for spiritual transformation.The mandalas challenge my creativity, concentration, meditative and design skills. For me, each concentric circle I draw and embellish in a mandala is a metaphor for me stepping out of my comfort zone and pushing my limits. It has worked as a great stress buster for me and I intend challenging myself with newer designs and learnings everyday.

By sticking to the designs and color schemes and then gradually breaking free to play with the colors and contours, I have felt the rush of endorphins and adrenaline in my system. The moment you create a new art is akin to delivering a child after labor. Every art form is a labor of love . By being in harmony with ourselves through our creativity, we can take our mind and bodies to a whole new enlightened state capable of making ourselves feel better, stronger and more connected to ourselves, each other and our surroundings. So art can make us more mindful and connected.

What I paint, is my poetry in pictures while my poems are my verbal sketches. Sometimes the boundaries blur between the two. Writing, journaling and poetry can help in enhancing communication and self expression and are especially useful to keep dementia and depression at bay.

My grandmother used to say that the ladies of our earlier generations used to engage in arts like rangoli/ kolam making, embroidery, knitting, stitching and cooking to keep themselves young and also bond with their sisters and friends. Art inspires positive action in our own as well as other people's lives. By providing a positive distraction, art helps to alleviate pain, trauma and neglect and channel one ' s energies and talents towards creating a thing of beauty which can be joy forever, for yourself and others.