Creative and Artistic Techniques
Creative and artistic grounding techniques use expressive arts to facilitate emotional processing, self-discovery, and present-moment awareness. Engaging in drawing, writing, music, or other creative outlets helps externalize inner experiences and reduces emotional distress through active expression. These methods can be particularly useful for people who prefer non-verbal expression or during periods of intense emotional upheaval, personal reflection, or emotional recovery.
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Purpose: Reduces stress and anxiety by engaging in calming, tactile artistic activities.
Facilitation Steps:
Provide participants with art materials (paper, pencils, crayons, coloring pages).
Clearly introduce:
"We'll engage in simple drawing or coloring to calm our minds and ground ourselves."Guide gently:
"Choose materials or a coloring page that appeals to you."
"Begin drawing or coloring slowly, focusing your attention fully on the sensations of the pencil or crayon against paper."
"Notice colors, textures, and how your hands move—allow yourself to become absorbed in the process."
Allow quiet engagement for 3–5 minutes.
Gently conclude:
"Set your materials down, take a slow breath, and notice how calm and grounded you feel now."
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Purpose: Synchronizes group energy, reducing anxiety and fostering emotional grounding through rhythmic music-making.
Facilitation Steps:
Provide simple percussion instruments (drums, shakers, clapping) or use hands/bodies for rhythm.
Clearly introduce:
"We’ll ground ourselves by creating simple rhythmic sounds and music together."Guide participants gently:
"Begin softly tapping or shaking your instrument or hands, finding a steady rhythm together."
"Listen to each other, adjusting your rhythms to synchronize as a group."
"If comfortable, gently add vocal sounds or humming to deepen the experience."
Allow group to play rhythmically together for 2–3 minutes.
Gently conclude:
"Slowly fade your rhythm to silence. Take a calming breath, noticing how connected and grounded we feel through music."
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Purpose: Quickly externalizes emotions, grounding participants through immediate creative expression.
Facilitation Steps:
Provide paper and pens or prepare to speak aloud.
Clearly introduce:
"We'll briefly express our immediate feelings or sensations through free-form poetry or writing."Guide clearly:
"Quickly write down (or speak) words or sentences describing exactly how you feel right now or describing your sensory experience."
"Don’t worry about grammar, rhyme, or form—just freely express what arises naturally."
Allow 2–3 minutes of quiet writing or reflection.
Invite brief voluntary sharing from participants (optional).
Gently conclude:
"Set your pens down, take a slow breath, and notice the emotional release and grounding from this expression."
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Purpose: Visually grounds emotions and feelings by assembling images and textures into meaningful artwork.
Facilitation Steps:
Provide collage materials (magazines, images, scissors, glue, paper).
Clearly introduce:
"We'll create simple collages to visually express our feelings and grounding reminders."Guide participants gently:
"Choose images, words, or textures that resonate with how you're feeling right now or help you feel grounded."
"Cut or tear images carefully, then arrange and glue them onto your paper, noticing the calming sensation of creating your collage."
Allow 3–5 minutes for focused collage-making.
Gently conclude:
"Finish your collage, take a slow breath, and observe how visually representing your feelings has helped ground and calm you."