Healing through the arts
Theatre
People who have been traumatised are terrified of conflict. They are afraid of losing control and being on the losing end once more. Inner conflicts, interpersonal conflicts, family conflicts, social conflicts, and their effects are all central to theatre. Trauma is about wanting to forget, about concealing your fear, rage, or helplessness. Finding ways to tell the truth and conveying deep truths to your audience is important to theatre. This necessitates breaking down barriers to identify your own truth, as well as exploring and examining your own personal experience so that it may be expressed on stage in your own voice and body. Performing plays by Shakespeare, in particular, allows you to connect with the suffering that is a part of being human. Ask yourself ” did you notice any specific feeling that came up during the scene?”
Acting is not about putting on a character but discovering the character within you: you are the character, you just have to find it within yourself - albeit a very expanded version of yourself
Tina Packer
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A great way to connect with yourself and other in exploration and joy. Find improvisation exercises here.
Join a community theatre group in your local area or book a class/course at a drama school close by. You can even join a drama club or society if you are still at university of in high school. resources on courses available in London can be found here and here and here.
A more comprehensive list on acting classes in London can be found here.
Dance Therapy
Dance uses movement to gain access to hidden emotions and express them in a non-verbal way, allowing them into the conscious mind. It is believed that individuals who suffer from PTSD or who have experienced trauma would benefit from understanding their mind and body better. It can give more control to your feeling and reactions to negative thoughts. Dance is a powerful and ancient way people express themselves with and deal with painful feelings and emotions. It can thus also help with dealing with stress, anxiety or other mental health issues.
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You can find great online dance therapy courses on udemy.
Look at local dance schools in your area. Local Gyms sometimes also offer dance classes. Just putting on music and dancing at home is also great. If you are still studying, see if your university of school has a dance society. For a start to finding classes in London click here.
Communal Rhythm and song
Communal rhythm, like that experienced in a choir of other group singing, dancing or sporting activities can do wonders in healing part of the wounds from trauma. There is something about people moving and singing together to a rhythm that alleviates the burden of bad memories for a while and calms the nerves. So and option can be to look into joining a choir or some other communal singinging and dancing activity.
Painting
Making art, whether that is drawing, painting, sculpting or making a collage can help people heal from painful experiences. Art can help you transcend your emotional pain, through imagery you can create a narrative around the trauma/pain. This in some way allows you to “master” the trauma and make the painful memory be released from its grip on the brain. Read more about the benefits of art here.
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Here is a Free watercolour course.
This link is for a Free painting course.
Or make a collage by cutting out pictures from magazines, pictures or drawings and making your own art piece from that. To find an example of this, click here.
Otherwise skillshare or udemy are two websites which also have great art therapy courses.
- The Joy Of Watercolor
- How To Draw Cool Stuff