Initiatic Art Therapy
Initiatic Art Therapy has been developed in Germany over the past 70 years and incorporates Jungian Depth Psychology, Transpersonal Psychology, Gestal Therapy, Christian Mysticism, Zen-Buddhism, meditation and bodywork.
The name "initiatic" is derived from the term initiation, the awakening of inner perception. Gradually one becomes aware of one's higher self, one's individual source of universal wisdom. Initiatic Art Therapy has the potential to initiate this inner process that unfolds like a mystical quest towards healing, creativity, meaning and love.
Guided Drawing represents the key approach of Initiatic Art Therapy. It provides an archetypal structure that applies the philosophy of Jungian Depth Psychology to universal, formal elements that appear virtually in all drawings, like a line or a circle or a square.
Work in the Clay Field ® is a unique and powerful way to use clay as a therapeutic medium. In Germany art therapists must undergo a 5 year training to qualify to work with the clay field. It has proved most beneficial especially with working with children.
Guided Drawing
The drawing is done with closed eyes and both hands, using chalk crayons or finger paints on large sheets of paper. Each movement is tested and tried through repetition with a heightened sense of awareness.
Everything alive moves. The aim of Guided Drawing is to discover one's inner movements and their messages of destruction or creation. Movements for example emerge from anger, grief or joy. All mental self-talk causes subtle muscular reactions, movements of contraction and tension, or of letting go and relaxation. They illustrate the self-image in relationship with one's body, others, the physical and spiritual world. The process of exploring the history of these tensions, postures and attitudes leads to an unfolding of one's personal and trans-personal life story.
A dialogue emerges between perception and expression, which creates increasing awareness of an inner guidance that knows the path towards transformation and healing.
Work at the Clay Field ®
The 'clay field' is a rather large, flat box filled with clay. With closed eyes one makes contact with the material and allows the hands to find their way through touching, scratching, digging, kneading, patting, beating...until shapes start to emerge. Scenes become created, destroyed, recreated....telling one's personal and archetypical story. There will be no finished product to take home but the adventure of an intense inner journey.
Work at the Clay Field® is a sensorimotor art therapy approach that is widely used in European schools, particularly in the work with disabled or disadvantaged children, in women's shelters, and to facilitate trauma healing. This unique art therapy approach is recognized in Europe as a discipline in its own right.