The healing effects of Zen drawing

During my study in Health Psychology at the university of Leiden in Holland, I wanted to find out if I could 'marry' psychology, creativity and art as a way to help people create better lives for themselves. So I started to gather information about several types of art therapy, took art classes and began to further develop my professional skills in painting, drawing and photography. Not long after I graduated I was given some books that seemed to be just what I was looking for all those years at university. First I discovered the work of Betty Edwards, who was the first person to connect drawing to the way our brain works and somewhat later a book by Frederick Franck made me feel as if everything finally fell into place. My study, my love for painting and drawing and my growing interest in Buddhism and meditation it all came together into this drawing technique I now call Zen drawing.

I started to draw with a different purpose: instead of only being focused on creating wonderful art, my focus shifted to creating a wonderful drawing experience. I wanted to become more aware, more relaxed and more open minded. Since Zen drawing helped me to find more balance and more joy in my work and in my life, I started to wonder if Zen drawing would have the same positive effect on others. So I took the bull by the horns and decided to start teaching others how to use this Zen drawing technique to improve their drawing skills and their peace of mind and I have been enjoying teaching ever since.

One day I was asked to teach Zen drawing in a Health care center where I was asked to work with people with a variety of psychological problems. It was there that I realized that this Zen drawing technique really was an interesting method to increase the feeling of psychological well being of people in healthcare. Please note that my observations and conclusions are based on my own personal experience with students and are not based on a scientific research.

Zen drawing has proven to me that is not only a easy technique to improve your drawing skills, but is also an effective meditation technique. I am convinced it has the same beneficial effects as a well-know technique like Mindfulness and have no doubt that if you would combine these two techniques it would bring even better results. Here are some of the most important effects that I personally have experienced due to Zen drawing:

• A peaceful, silent mind (becoming Mindful)
  
• Increased concentration and focus
• Improved visual awareness
• A feeling of connection to the world around me
  
• Higher self esteem and trust in life
  
• More self awareness and self reflection
• More in tune with my intuition
  
• A deeper insight in the projections of my mind
• A clearer view with less projections of my mind
• Easier to let go and follow the flow
• Improvement of fine motor skills
• Improvement of visual memory
• Enjoying the beauty of nature