Healing Through Art
On September 1, 2025 I sat down with Ashley Welling on her Fitness and Family podcast.
In Ashley’s own words, “The Fitness and Family Podcast focuses on the intersection of health, wellness, and family life focusing on the 3 pillars of health: Physical, Mental and Social. Hosted by fitness expert Ashley Welling and her expert guests, we will guide you through discussions on fitness strategies, nutrition tips, and ways to maintain a healthy lifestyle while balancing family responsibilities. Each episode is designed to inspire and help you prioritize health while fostering strong family and friend connections.”
We started our conversation close to home – talking about the beauty of New Mexico and how much my family loves to get out camping, hiking, and painting in our extraordinary landscape.
Ashley asked,
How did you find art to be therapeutic for you?
I’ve been an artist & creative since I was a kid. My number one gift request for Christmas and birthdays was a non-specific “stuff to make things with.” And with so much creative experience, I developed an innate knowing that “art helps.”
But a big shift came during Covid lockdowns in 2020. I had a sense that a daily creative project would help with the stress of it all, so I chose to do a daily 4×4 doodle with pen & watercolor.
But more often than not, with all the responsibilities of parenting & remote work, I did my drawing after the kids went to bed. Which was not a simple “bedtime at 6:30 and now parenting duties are done for the day!” So I wound up staying up a little (or a lot) too late most nights. And that sleep deprivation was not so helpful.
When I joined the Calm the Chaos parenting program later that year, there was a big focus on self care – for parents who have zero extra time.
The big “Aha!”
I had a big “Aha!” moment during those lessons – I could take the same practice, but shift the goals. Instead of “finishing a 4×4 doodle,” I could draw in an intentionally calm environment for 5 minutes.
So much more than bubble baths
Ashley noted how that daily consistency in such an uncertain world, even for such a short time, was a powerful form of self care, and how self care is so much more than bubble baths & spa nights.
I agreed, and expanded that self care is just taking care of a human’s needs – our own – and that we are the human we are most likely to neglect. We are humans, and humans require care.
The mind-body connection
We talked about how our bodies need to physically process stress. With hormones like adrenaline and cortisol pumping through our bodies, it’s really not just in our brains. Sleep is one way we process, but also doing something physical, where we get out of our logic & language brain and gives our bodies the chance to make that mind-body connection and work through the stress in a wholistic way.
We also chatted about how physical fitness (Ashley’s forte) is another way to make that connection, and how I have found pottery to be a significant help during particularly challenging times. In addition to the physicality of creating with clay, it also provides a connection to earth & nature (since clay comes from the ground), and how the spinning of my pottery wheel is meditative as it brings me out of my logic brain & into a flow state. And if you don’t have all that pottery equipment, you can get a taste of the benefits by finding a little mud to play with!
What are you top 3 art methods that bring you joy?
Ashley sprung this delightful question on me. The first two were easy – pottery, as we’d been discussing already, and plein air painting – where I could take a little hike into the foothills, set up my easel, and paint from nature for a couple of hours.
The third gave me a moment of pause, but I had to land on “learning a new skill!” I went back to my childhood wish list of “stuff to make things with.” It didn’t matter what it was, if it involved making something with my hands, I wanted in!
How about your kids?
We moved into chatting about what kind of art my kids do to support their nervous systems. My oldest loves to draw with his whiteboard to create dynamic and repeated scenes, giving him the sense of routine & regularity that his brain needs.
My youngest is very visual & spatial, and can get frustrated with imperfection – when what’s coming out on paper doesn’t match what’s in his head. One fun practice to help him get out of that frustration is a game we call “chain pictures.” We each start with a blank piece of paper and 5 minute time, and begin to draw a scene. When the timer goes off, we switch paper and continue the other person’s drawing. This goes back and forth until we decide we’re done, and then we talk & laugh about the final product.
I love this because it takes away the pressure of the end goal and the emotional attachment to an initial vision, and just lets you play & get into a flow state.
Changing the rules
I do create art with deadlines and an end goal in mind. That is a big part of my art practice!
However, when I need art for the nervous system regulation & wellbeing goals, the rules change. It is the process, not the product, that supports your mental health – no matter what it looks like. A daily, no-pressure doodle is a regular, consistent reminder to my brain that I’m safe and I’m taking care of myself.
What would you tell your younger self & your future self?
I loved this question that Ashley posed. I would tell my younger self “thank-you.” Showing up consistently and trying all of things got me to where I am today, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
I’m not sure what I would tell my future self, but I think my future self would tell me that it’s okay if I don’t know the end result of where any particular situation is going. But if I keep showing up with consistency and care for myself and my family, the journey will be beautiful. And so will the end result, which won’t be anything I can imagine now.
Where can we connect?
The best way to connect with me is always through my newsletter! I send it out about twice monthly, full of support, encouragement, and ideas for how to use art for wellbeing. And when you reply, I read every single one and respond back to you.
Peace and art,
Click here for more of the Art & Wellbeing Blog!
