Art expression has a major impact on physical and emotional healing. This workshop provides education about healthy emotional expression through art therapy for adults and children as an insightful and useful tool for therapists, caregivers, educators and anyone interested in self exploration through art.

First we introduce how to work with simple art expression exercises with clients who suffer long term trauma based symptoms.

We will share examples from our practices how art expression connects to the unprocessed feelings and emotions from childhood. We illustrate practical exercises with outcomes of our clients’ artistic productions.

Then we detail how Compassionate Inquiry skills and stepping stones can lead a creative self exploration process. We explain how to reconnect with unprocessed feelings and emotions from childhood in order to strengthen interactions between all body parts. We review a palette of exercises which can be used on daily bases for emotional reconnection.

We provide therapists with knowledge and examples how art can be useful in cases of body-emotion dissociation or disconnection. Workshop will be full of inspiration and tips how to work with the inner child through art expression exercises and imagination work.

Finally we cover art-play interventions with children in distress, introducing simple ideas to help them express body sensations and emotions through art and movement.

A writing workshop where participants learn to apply the CI approach to themselves, cultivating deeper self-awareness and activating self-healing. This dynamic tool blends CI, an adaptation of Voice Dialogue therapy and creative writing. It also sharpens intuition through strengthening trust in their own body literacy.

The framework is informed by my 15-year experience as a massage therapist. I used trigger point therapy to help people understand the physiological roots of their pain. A trigger point is a sensitive area in the body that becomes painful when compressed. Pressing a trigger point can cause referred pain and can help identify the remote origin of pain. This understanding helped set my clients on an informed path to identifying unconscious physical behavior that exacerbated their pain.

Similarly in CI, Gabor explains that a trigger is a gift that points us to the source of pain’s ammunition. During CI sessions, I’ve been astonished to experience activation of trigger points in my body, deepening my comprehension of their value as messengers from the emotional body. Inquiring directly into the pain of a trigger point can open communication pathways into subconscious beliefs.

The role Voice Dialogue therapy has contributed will be defined, highlighting methods adapted to inquire into trigger points. As we move into the writing workshop, participants choose one body part to address and write it a letter, inviting it to speak. Writers use a pen to record what they hear and encourage their body to provide as much information as it can. We will employ a CI framework of non-judgement and curiosity. I’ll share a poem I wrote applying this approach that illuminated the relationship between my chronic pain and underlying unconscious beliefs. Following this exercise, there will be space for participants to share their discoveries.