Coping with COVID-19 Through a Creative Lens Part III: Embodied Self Care and Self Compassion
The #body internalizes #tension and #anxiety in ways that can become harmful to one’s #health and well-being, especially during times of heightened #stress. Gemma Burgio, ATR-BC LCAT of the Art Therapy Practice reminds us of the importance of #physical #self care when she advises, “Make time to do good things for your body: move, drink water, take a nice hot shower, put on something that makes you feel good.” Valeria Koutmina ATR-BC LCAT adds, “Catch up on #sleep, #eat as well as you can, and get #outside safely.” She also emphasizes the value of “#movement and #dance, which remind us of our physical presence, #vitality, and #grounding.” In the mixed media response art shown here, Sharon Itkoff Nacache ATR-BC LCAT depicts the current health #crisis as a whirlwind of anxiety spinning toward a lone cactus that stands ready to face it.
Many people deal with external stressors, transitions, or crises by putting more pressure on themselves or others in order to subconsciously create some sense of #control in their environment. Valeria offers her perspective here. “A great piece of advice I received when I was feeling overwhelmed was ‘things are happening quickly, but it doesn't mean you have to respond to it all at once.’ Let's be #kind with ourselves and others! You can't do more than what is possible in the moment, so #breathe and let the rest go as best as you can. I recommend the following self-#compassion meditation: ‘may I be safe, may I be healthy, may I be at peace, may I live with ease.’ You can also send it out to others ‘may you be…’ and ‘may all beings be…’, and use any words that seem to suit your situation.” This practice originates from a Buddhist loving kindness meditation called a “metta” meditation where the goal is to internalize and spread a sense of #benevolence in oneself and the world. Some colleagues of ours have been focusing on this practice while engaging in mindful hand-washing as an altruistic alternative to singing one’s ABCs or other 20 second ditties.
Finally, Gemma reminds us, “Do not put #pressure on yourself to be as #productive as you were before this #pandemic hit. Little things make a big difference sometimes.” Whether for those living alone or co-working from home with little ones to care for, daily life now requires added #resilience, #flexibility, and# ingenuity to achieve one’s basic daily goals. Indeed, it may help to remember that we are not #alone in our struggle to tolerative the anxiety and #ambivalence created by this “new normal” of social distancing and self isolation. Staying kind to ourselves and others, calling upon our innate creative potential to #reframe and #transform challenging situations through the creative lens of metaphor or artmaking, and slowing down to take one day at a time may just help us #weather this storm with a little more #grace, #equanimity...and even #personal #discovery.
Post by Sharon Itkoff Nacache, ATR-BC LCAT