In one of the workshops during the recent Conference of Spiritual Directors of Ontario (June 7-9, 2005) I experienced first hand the use of art therapy as a means of spiritual direction. It was led by Jacqueline (Jackie) Fehlner (web page of her article). I hope to share some of my thoughts here.

           As John Veltri SJ stated in another workshop, spiritual directors are encouraged to make use of all things and anything that may facilitate the process. It is a holistic process that calls for a 'generalist'.  Art Therapy is found to be particularly helpful for people who have problem articulating their inner feelings. This art form is by no means the only way, other media such as music, imagery, nature can all be very effective in assisting the directees. Dream interpretation is another means of helping us to get to our less-than-consciousness and to find God that way. John Pungente SJ and and Monty Williams SJ just published their book "Finding God in the Dark" - taking the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius to the Movies. I am sure if we keep ourselves open, God will come through in more ways for the directee than we can imagine.

           Jackie first gave a lecture presentation using audiovisual aids to tell us the touching true story of a certain Maggie who went through this process of art therapy to get in touch with her God before she died of cancer. Jackie then projected a series of photos asking participants to name a feeling as they saw each one.

            What made the experience memorable for me was the extra two-hour hands-on workshop in the evening that Jackie set up for those interested participants. Art training was not a pre-requisite. (In fact I think it may actually be a stumbling block.) She arranged and set up the room with tables and chairs. All sorts of non-toxic colour media and tools were available either on the table or in a central area. Each of us had enough space to draw on a piece of paper (about 19"x24"). The paper for each participant was oriented in a landscape fashion.

            We were told to pick any medium to our fancy and to use our non-dominant hand to draw out shapes in a continuous line. Once the hand left the paper, let that be the end. The use of the non-dominant hand is to eliminate as much as possible the controlling power of our cortical brain. The spontaneous drawing facilitates the emergence of our 'less-than-consciouness'.

            We were then told to put the paper down on the floor, walk around it and see what would come forth asking us to develop the line further. It could be in any direction. It could be part of the line or the whole. Finally we were asked to date and name the final product. Jackie pointed out that three elements were closely linked in spiritual direction: the relation, the process and the product. So in art therapy, the visible product is the drawing. The invisible product is the search through this product to find where God is in relationship to the participant. This, as in any spiritual direction, is directee-dependent. General prinicples of drawing or colour interpretation do not apply here.

             What came up for me looked like someone caring for a baby. This I named nurturing. My association at that point was the feminine aspect of God. I no longer have the sketch, but looking back at the photo of it, I am not sure that it has a gender-specific face. It also reminds me of the process of spiritual direction, bringing out the person-hood of another. At the time of drawing I was under quite a bit of stress from an upcoming written examination in church history, but was pleasantly surprised that my line was relatively smooth.

            There are some hazards in applying this method as an adjunct to spiritual direction. For example, for a hyper-stimulated visual person, the use of art forms or colour could be too 'noisy' for them.

            I think people are different. Some are more visual-oriented, some more auditory-oriented, and others read and imagine. Spiritual directors just have to be ready for anything. Then there are some, like me, who cannot stay with the same means all the time.

            During the second half of the workshop we were shown how it would be possible to accompany the 19th annotation of Spiritual Exercises using art form. We were asked to pause a while in silence, then to draw four images, some using the non-dominant hand and others using the dominant one. The drawings were to express: God in our childhood, God in our teen, God in our adulthood and the God we long for. Time was too limited for us to discuss and explore the content of those sketches. We were asked to reflect and to bring them to our respective spiritual directors.