Hello, This Is Your Body Talking

Book excerpt: With Drawing Your Stress Away and Hello, This Is Your Body Talking, art therapist and educator Dr. Lucia Capacchione presents a new concept in adult coloring: the draw-it-yourself coloring book. Forty years ago, Capacchione originated the Creative Journal Method to help clients and students reduce stress, heal trauma and unleash creativity. Since then, her research-based techniques have been used internationally in schools, counseling centers, support groups, addiction recovery centers, and programs for veterans. Drawing Your Stress Away and Hello, This Is Your Body Talking are a wonderful introduction to Capacchione's methods, which include drawing, coloring, and writing with the non-dominant hand to help the user shed inhibitions and rediscover the artistic spontaneity of childhood. Capacchione gently guides readers to use drawing for meditation, stress release, and self-care. In Hello, This Is Your Body Talking, simple breathing, drawing, and writing prompts encourage physical awareness and relaxation. Drawing Your Stress Away helps reduce tension through emotional expression, self-nurturing, and artistic discovery. Unlike traditional coloring books, which require fine motor control in highly detailed predetermined patterns, Capacchione's "anti-coloring books" provide the inspiration for users to make their own art; tune out their inner critics; and take the training wheels off their natural creativity.