craft to heal with nancy monson

Craft to Heal

Nancy MonsonCreativity, craft and health writerHealth coachAuthor of Craft to Heal: Soothing Your Soul with Sewing, Painting, and Other PastimesEmail: nancymonson@earthlink.netWebsite: www.nancymonson.com

Life is Stressful

• Most Americans today are feeling moderately or even very stressed out—and they know it’s affecting their health

2American Psychological Association, Stress In American Survey, 2011

How Crafts Can Help: Psychological Benefits

• Relieve stress• Help you relax• Distract you from worries—and from overeating!• Give you a feeling of achievement• Raise your self-esteem• Allow you to examine your inner feelings and express them• Boost your mood• Can be shared with others

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My Divorce Quilt: Through the Wringer

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My Divorce Quilt: Close Up

Home Sewing Association Study

• 30 women• Five tasks requiring similar eye-hand movements

• Sewing a simple project• Playing a card game• Painting at an easel• Playing a hand-held video game• Reading a newspaper

• Measured gauges of stress before and after doing five tasks

• Results: Sewing was the most relaxing

6Journal of the American Medical Association. 1995;274:291.

Hey—I Did a Study!• 11 women (9 in crafting group, 2 in control group)• Ages 37-64• Craft ½ an hour a day for a week• Take stress survey before and after crafting• Craft group: Everyone benefited, with modest to

excellent results• Control group: One person had no change after

reading/watching news, one person felt increased stress

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Chronic Illness Research

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• British studies of women with chronic disabling illness•Can do craft despite ill health•Fills a void in their lives when they couldn’t work anymore•Distracts them from thinking about their illness and from pain•Enables them to express their grief•Provides a social network

Cancer Research

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• Studies of people living with cancer show crafts and art-making allow them to be more than just someone with cancer•Allows them to do something meaningful with their lives•Decreases depression and anxiety•Improves self-esteem

Crafts for Every Mood

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•When you’re sad…try quilting, sewing

•When you’re anxious…try knitting, crocheting, cross-stitch

•When you’re reflective or pensive…try scrapbooking, collaging, photography

•When you’re angry…try ceramics, sculpting, gardening

Physical Benefits of Crafts

• Your mind has a powerful impact on your body• By releasing negative emotions through creative

endeavors, we can help heal ourselves

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Creativity and Aging Study

• Older adults followed for 2 years• Those who participated in creative

activities such as jewelry-making and singing:

• went to the doctor less often• used less medication• were less lonely and depressed

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Spiritual Benefits of Crafts• Crafts can help you

reconnect with your authentic self, your core beliefs and values, and your higher power

• Creativity guru Julia Cameron says “the act of making art is actually a form of prayer”

• As gifts of the spirit and to the spirit, they bring beauty to the world

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How to Reap the Healing Benefits of Crafts

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Find a Craft You Love

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•Not all crafts appeal to all people•Some are Martha Stewart types who love detail-oriented crafts•Others are more spontaneous

Match your craft to your personality!

Make Time for Your Craft

• Reframe your craft time in your mind: It’s not a self-indulgence, it’s a medical necessity

• If you stop taking a drug, you’ll lose the benefit—the same is true for relaxing activities such as crafts

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Make Space for Your Craft

• Give yourself permission to take time for yourself—and make a place for yourself in your home…even if it’s only a bag filled with your supplies!

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Build a Network of Crafters• We need to interact with

others to stay healthy• Life-long learning and

having a strong social network are two of the keys to healthy and happy aging

• Crafts and hobbies can ward off feelings of loneliness and isolation and help caregivers reach loved ones

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Exercise to Stimulate Your Senses

• Helps you get unstuck when you’re faced with creative roadblocks

• Calms and energizes you at the same time

• Reduces stress• Boosts your mood

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Enjoy the Process

• Once you’ve made something, no matter how pretty, the experience is over

• “What you make is only the residue of how much fun you’ve had,” says fabric artist Diane Ericson

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Forget Perfection

• Let your craft challenge you, not drive you crazy• Perfection is exhausting!

• Give yourself permission to be imperfect and to play• Allow yourself to be a beginner or wherever you are on your personal creativity journey• Don’t compare your work to that of others

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Crafty Is as Crafty Does

• Carry your creativity with you every day and every way to reap its healing benefits

• “You have to own your creativity, develop it, grow it like a garden,” says Diane Ericson

• All human beings are creative• Creativity can take any form

...doing a craft

...gardening

...cooking

...solving a problem at work…writing in a journal

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Crafts aren’t just fun…

they’re therapeutic!

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