By Siddhi Jain

New Delhi, Aug 15 (IANSlife): Expressive Art therapy is a newer form of therapy that helps people manifest their emotions creatively and provides an outlet that helps develop coping skills. It motivates and heals people where they get to express themselves by using their hands, colours and other art mediums.

It helps children with learning disabilities, people experiencing mental health problems, adults going through severe stress, or anyone who has experienced a traumatic event, says Tanvi Gupta, co-ideator of The Fitness Arts Festival.

The Fitness Arts Festival went virtual for the first time on Saturday as part of the ongoing 'Festival of Festivals' brought by BookMyShow and Event Capital. The audience got to watch, experience, learn and apply a lot of techniques and art forms.

How big is this therapy in India?

"Art Therapy and its benefits is not something that people are usually aware of. It's only gained popularity in the past few months, when people have really thought about their mental health and sought out different therapy forms. Art therapy is a technique rooted in the idea that creative expression can foster healing and mental well-being. In time art therapy will make its place in India, since it's an organic process of healing. As an expressive medium, art can be used to help clients communicate, overcome stress, and explore different aspects of their own personalities. It's a great stress buster for adults and kids. It can really help you overcome trauma, stress, behavioural issues and many more blockages," Gupta told IANSlife in an email.

Given the lockdown people's mental health has suffered and one asks how art therapy can help; Gupta believes art therapy is quite new in the mental health space. "I think it's not that common or popular in India but being an art student myself I really feel people can benefit from the same. It gives you a new perspective, an ability to think differently, to associate colours with moods and so much more. The goal of art therapy is to utilise the creative process to help one explore self-expression and, in doing so, find new ways to gain personal insight and develop new coping skills."

The 'Festival of Festivals', a three-day high octane virtual feast which will be home to upto 15 festivals across multiple genres and over 23 hours of live content, starting August 14-16, is raising funds for artists across the live entertainment community impacted by the pandemic. Users can book tickets for 'Festival of Festivals' on BookMyShow for Rs 199.