Expressive Therapies’ Healing Properties!

 Hello world! Kemi Writes here!

Expressive therapies are what we discussed in class this week. Expressive therapies are also known as “action therapies” because they involve actively engaging people in creative activities in a therapeutic setting. Some of those creative activities are classified as an individual therapy like music therapy, dance/movement therapy, and psychodrama, and that is what my classmate and I taught to the class this week. 

I think music therapy and dance/movement therapy are my favorite ones because I feel like I experience an out of body experience when I listen to music in general and when I dance on my own. It feels like a transpersonal experience. I still feel grounded, but I also feel like I am expanding beyond my body.

“…I feel like this is almost like a testament. It’s the only expression I have of a spiritual journey. The only time that I feel that I am living and communicating.” (Malchiodi, pg.59).

This is a quote from a patient in palliative care that experienced music therapy specifically, improvising with a music therapist. I find this quote to resonate with how I feel when listening to music and dancing to music. It feels like I am being lifted higher and higher in the best possible way, and I feel like I am communicating something in those experiences I have had. I love when I can feel the vibrations in my body from music. 

We did three expressive therapy activities in class, and I really enjoyed each one. The first one was a dance/movement related activity where we had to communicate to a partner what we were feeling and what we wanted to feel. Then the second one was a vocal toning meditation/chant, and it was for 5 minutes where we chanting vowels. The last one was musicking, and we were making music. I think the chant and musicking activities were my favorites. The chant meditation cleared my sinuses, and I was able to breathe better through my nose. During the chant meditation, I felt light and free like I was floating in the water, under the mighty sun. Let’s just say it was very relaxing, and I do plan on doing these chants more often. I also felt like I was expanding beyond my body in a way like how I described earlier. It felt healing for me and so did the musicking activity when my classmates and I got a better understanding of our roles in the group jam session. We had all sorts of instruments and voices creating a group entity. There was harmony in the meditation and the musicking activity. I also noticed in our jam session that we all shared a couple laughs every now and then, and I think we all just felt silly and I think it brought out our inner children. It was funny, fun, and healing. Expressive therapies have convinced me of their healing properties and how it can be transformative for people dealing with childhood trauma, physical pain and medical problems, and/or even day to day challenges. I wonder what else will be learned about expressive therapies and I wonder if AI will get its hands on expressive therapies if it hasn’t already.

I am going to upload a Jungian collage I spontaneously made to release some emotions I was feeling. My choice of music for this process was a calming piano playlist on Apple Music. The music helped me stay grounded and mindful of what I was doing.

That’s all for now!

XOXO, 

Kemi Writes♮💃💟