Art Therapy for Overwhelm and as a Container for What We Feel

Some of the best benefits of making art have little to do with the finished piece and everything to do with what happens in our brains and bodies when we create.  An art piece, or even the act of making art, the process, can be art as a container.

Art therapy for overwhelm can help you use creativity as a container for what you feel.  In the following post I’ll offer different ways that you can use creativity to help process overwhelm and your emotions.

Flow State of Creativity

Many artists experience this naturally.  It is that moment when the outside world falls away, and the work in front of you is all that exists. Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a pioneer in creativity research, called this flow: a state of deep focus that brings stress relief, pleasure, and a sense of timelessness. He found that people who regularly experience flow, whether through art, music, writing, or other passions, tend to report greater life satisfaction.

Art Therapy for Overwhelm

I see this in my clients all the time. When they move from a place of anxiety or overwhelm into that grounded, embodied flow, their whole nervous system shifts. They feel calmer. Their thoughts quiet. They leave with a sense of well-being that lingers.

Carl Jung and the Power of Images

Carl Jung knew this, too. In his private Red Book project, he spent years painting, writing, and working with dream imagery. He also carved in stone and wood. Jung believed that the effort of bringing an image into form was part of what analyst Marion Woodman called “holding the tension” that allows transformation to happen.

Art as a Lifeline

For me, art has been a lifeline. When I feel off balance, art helps me find my footing. When I’m wrestling with a confusing dream or difficult emotion, making an image gives that inner material a safe container. Sometimes, simply giving a feeling space to exist on paper allows it to move through instead of building pressure inside.

Connecting with Primordial Self and Inner Child

Art doesn’t just help us cope. It helps us connect with deeper, more primal parts of ourselves. This is what Jung called the complex or “feeling-toned image.” These parts often live in the earlier-developed areas of the brain, not in our rational, thinking mind. They hold our early life experiences, our unspoken needs, and our unprocessed pain.

Sometimes, what they need most is to be seen.
Sometimes, they just need to play.
Sometimes, they need us to sit with them until their story can unfold.

Art to Manage Pain

When I was living with undiagnosed endometriosis for over 30 years, my younger self, the one who was in pain and dismissed by the medical system, needed me to hold her feelings, to validate her reality, and to stand against the gaslighting I’d endured.

Art gave me a way to do that. It gave me a container to process grief, anger, and exhaustion without being overwhelmed.  Art gave me a way to flow, feel grounded and embodied, and move through the pain.  This can be what Freud called sublimation, where destructive impulses can be channeled into a form that is productive for society.  I find that art is a wonderful way to transform inner demons.

That’s the real magic of art: it can hold what feels unbearable until it becomes bearable.

Benefits of Art Therapy for Overwhelm

Research and lived experience show that art therapy offers many benefits, including:

• Reducing anxiety and calming the nervous system
• Helping process trauma and grief safely
• Building emotional resilience
• Encouraging self-expression when words fall short
• Supporting body-mind connection and embodiment
• Cultivating flow states that reduce stress

(Learn more about my approach to art therapy here )

Grounding Techniques for Overwhelm

Of course, not every moment calls for deep creative work. Sometimes, what we need most is to get back into our body when overwhelm or anxiety takes over.

A few resources I often share with clients:

• Flip Your Lid model of the brain – Dr. Dan Siegel is a clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine.  Here he shows a simple way to visualize what happens when the nervous system goes into fight/flight.
• Peter Levine’s “Vu” humming technique –  Here’s a short video of the “vu” humming technique from the man who created somatic trauma therapy, Peter Levine.  He starts explaining at 2:40 and starts the technique at 3:50.  Humming can be something you do even in your car to help your nervous system regulate.
• Shake-it-off technique – Somatic shaking techniques are based on animal research for releasing trauma and panic.  I found that Faith Hunter gives a pretty good series here that isn’t too long.  Once you’ve learned some of the the techniques you can use them on your own or parts of it as needed.

Simple Embodiment Practices for Overwhelm

Here are some grounding practices you can try at home:

• Belly breathing while paying attention to the sensations of sitting (thighs, feet, texture of socks).
• Gentle self-touch: rubbing or patting your legs to reconnect with the lower body.  This helps with overwhelm and dissociation.
• Legs-up-the-wall pose – a yoga technique that stimulates the vagus nerve and helps calm long-term stress.  You know, when you feel fried.
• Drawing circles with the rhythm of your breath: inhale while moving down, exhale while moving up.  SLOWLY!  Try it as slow as you are able to.

You can also explore this playlist of art therapy practices for self-soothing and grounding.

Guided Visualizations for Overwhelm

For those who want a little more support, I’ve recorded meditations that clients often find helpful:

• Waterfall Visualization (Intro) + Guided Meditation. This one is great for highly sensitive people and introverts as well as for social anxiety.  It can help you maintain a sense of who you are in overwhelming or crowded situations.
• Flame Meditation on Boundaries.  As you may know, boundaries are my jam.  Boundaries aren’t about putting up walls, they are about creating containers.  This meditation is a way to know where you are in the world, find an orientation, and know when you are stretching yourself out of place.  It is a good way to understand your body’s cues when you feel out of sorts.

Let’s Keep in Touch – My Final Thoughts

If this resonates with you, I invite you to join my weekly “Tune-In Tuesday” sessions.  They are a short, guided creative practice designed to help you slow down, ground yourself, and connect with your inner world. It’s free for newsletter subscribers, and you can join from anywhere.

Sign up for my newsletter here 

When you do, you’ll get the Zoom link for our next session and ongoing creative prompts to keep you connected to your inner life.

Maggi Colwell

Maggi is a licensed art therapist at Columbus Art Therapy who assists their clients to discover more of themselves through dream analysis, art therapy, shadow work, and depth psychotherapy. They specialize in working with grief and loss as well as c-PTSD. Click the button to sign up for Maggi's newsletter to get notifications about new blogs and upcoming events including workshops, groups, rituals, and art.