Drawing as a healing art

Magical drawings and other stuff.

A while ago, I kind of fell into drawing as a magical practice.

I used drawing as way of caring for other people when I didn’t know what else to do. Sometimes as a way of manifesting the things I wanted to happen for them/me. Sometimes I used it as way of making someone feel seen or less alone. And sometimes I use it to feel more confident.

Magical drawing is not for everyone. It’s for my peeps out there who can’t stop creating even when society seems hell-bent on telling us our craft is worthless. It’s anything but. It’s powerful AF.

So today as the month of love winds down, I’ll share with you my powerful practice for self healing, using drawing as an actualization tool.

It’s really simple; draw yourself.

The catch is, you have to include the part/s of your body that you worry most that people will disapprove of. Include the type of clothing you’re most worried about wearing.

Don’t over-exaggerate the qualities you dislike, and don’t under-exaggerate them.

Your drawing doesn’t have to be “good”. In fact, you get extra points for rough sketches.

What I found is that sometimes body negativity isn’t about a specific terrible thought you have; sometimes it’s about the way you mentally photoshop your chin, cheeks, tummy, arms and legs in the mirror. Ah yes, if I could just remove this bit, I could be pretty. It’s a subtle way we tell ourselves that we’re “too much” as-is.

When you slow down and draw, you automatically start to feel strong empathy for what you see. I’ve noted this many times when drawing others. I finally pointed it at myself.

The act of sitting with yourself and observing and recording your body without editing it is transformational.

If you feel up to it, you can also write some words next to it to express how you want to advocate for yourself moving forward. What the most badass version of you would say. A powerful one for me was, “my body is not an invitation for a lecture.”

You can also use your self portrait to express something you want to heal. For example, this is one of me embracing my younger self with love, and letting her know there was never anything “wrong” with her. Together, we can fly. Gravity can’t even touch us.

The details don’t always have to be objectively accurate. Sometimes, it’s just how you feel about a thing. My hair isn’t always pink on the outside, but it always is on the inside.

Sometimes you can use motion or animation in your practice, if that’s something you enjoy. I like to look at this calm and steady version of myself just breathing when I’m going into a situation that stresses me out.

Most of my magical drawing isn’t polished. In fact it mostly looks like this:

So if you want to try it but feel intimidated by drawing, remember that stick figures are A-OK and they are just as effective.

Hope this served you. I’ll be back next week with more, have a good one.

XOXO, Cathy