Get Ready to Exercise in a Whole New Way!
Recently I shared a couple creative mental health exercises for the highly helpful and informative online magazine The Daily Meditation. One of the best mental health exercises you can do at home is to use the creative mind.
You can read the whole article here and I highly suggest you do take a few moments for this because there are 14 fabulous exercises you can do at home during this stressful time when many of us are staying in with our families and are wanting to discover upshifting tools for our Whole Health.
How this article came about is while It’s a given that physical exercise is excellent for our mental health, there are many other processes that we can all do. What matters most is to try various ones and do what resonates with you. In other words, if it’s not fun, then don’t bother because we came here for the joy of living and when we are in higher states like joy and bliss then we are healthy!
See most people are operating greatly from their Thinking Mind (centred in the head) with a focus on problem solving/seeking. This mind can become very busy (think monkey mind) with all the problems and lose connection with the other highly important mind we all share, the Feeling Mind (centred in the heart).
The new science coming from HeartMath.org reveals that the heart’s magnetic field is 100 times stronger than the brain. That is a lot of power to access. Creating art naturally shifts the focus from the head to heart and into flow state, much like in meditation. The art serves as a container in a way for the stress allowing for a person’s heart rate to slow down as their mind state deepens to lower their stress levels.
Below are two effective art exercises to try. All that is required is some paper, crayons and your imagination with the emphasis on the process, not the product.
Exercise 1 – Stress Ball Shift
Sitting at a desk or table in a quiet room spread your crayons out around a piece of paper.
With your eyes closed 4 seconds inhalation, hold, and 6 seconds exhalation.
Imagine all the stressful thoughts in your head forming a ball. See it roll down your arm and into your drawing hand.
Pick up a crayon that feels ‘just right’ to express this stress ball and flow it from your crayon onto the paper. Let your hand do what it wants to – spiraling, zig-zagging, or scribbling. If you want a new color or feel you need another paper to ‘hold’ everything do so.
Continue until you feel you have completely shifted your stress out. Fold, tear or throw the paper away and feel your stress completely shift.
Exercise 2 – Map Your Breath
With one hand holding a color and with the other hand on your paper close your eyes.
As you inhale, draw a line from the top of your paper downward. As you exhale, shift the same line upward to ‘map’ your breath. Repeat 5 times then open your eyes. Take note if your breath (and the lines on your ‘map’) seems short and shallow or long and deep.
Turn your paper over with the intention to lengthen the lines on your ‘map’ while deepening your inhalation and exhalation.
Repeat 10 times then open your eyes and notice how you feel now after deepening your breath. If you so desire, continue for as long as you like.
So my dear, are you ready for your Creative Work-Out? Feel in and notice which of these exercises interests you more then give it a go and share with me how you felt before, during and afterwards. I would love to know!
Trust yourself to know exactly how to keep in great mental shape for your joy to shine through you no matter what is happening around you! Remember, you are the Master Creator of your life! Enjoy what you create!
