To the artists, crafters, makers, and creators of the world, I come to you to share my own creative practice – the art of therapy. The therapeutic process really is what you make it, and it is as much a creative process as anything else. It is a chance to explore our minds and bodies in new and unique ways and to use our capacity for creativity to drive our own growth and healing processes. There are many music, drama, and art therapy practices that directly evoke our artistic sensibilities to promote wellness, but there are also forms of creative expression in talk therapy practices.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Internal Family Systems Therapy (IFS) are two such styles that provide tools for working with our thoughts and feelings through “parts work,” which allows us to externalize our inner world to look at it more directly. When we separate these parts of ourselves, it gives us the opportunity to have more kindness, compassion, and curiosity for our internal experiences.
Making it physical
To explore these creative practices for yourself, you can try physicalizing your parts. This exercise allows you to identify the “part” of yourself that is showing up with that sudden emotion or thought. You can think about it more abstractly with the following questions, or you can think about it more concretely as its own person, animal, or being.
Imagine this feeling is an object. Is it liquid, solid, or gaseous? How big is it? Is it light or heavy? What temperature is it? Is it at the surface or inside you? What shape does it have? What color? Is it transparent or opaque? What does the surface feel like–hot or cold, rough or smooth, wet or dry?
If you can conceptualize it more as a figure/being/animal, try to identify what “job” it is trying to do for you, and how effective it is at that job. How old is this part? Is there something this part of you wants you to know? What does it want for you? What does it fear if it stops doing its job?
You can explore your parts in your mind, or use whatever medium you like to explore them more tangibly (for example: sketching the part or shapes and colors that feel connected to it, using collage, or sculpting).
Make it movement
You can also add some movement when working with these thoughts and feelings, seeing how the thoughts and feelings might want to move: do they want to rock back and forth, do they want to move your arms around, do they have some other movement in mind? If this concept is hard to grasp, you can start by just standing near a wall and pushing your hands into it and imagine the emotions flowing down your arms into the wall. Try bending your arms and pushing, straightening them and pushing, alternating pushing and releasing, and see what you notice.
This is a playful and creative process, and it is okay if humor comes in as you explore your parts. There is no one right way to do it, so see how it feels and make it your own. Your creativity will guide you!
