Art therapy is a form of psychotherapy offered by professional art-based clinicians. The practice of art therapy is an approach that has emerged and gained traction within the domain of mental health over the past five decades

Expressing yourself through visual arts, such as painting, collaging, drawing, or working with modeling clay, which are considered the primary domain of art therapy, teaches you to become your own supportive guide. This involves paying attention to both your aesthetic expression and your body

Your body sense, also known as Felt Sense, is a natural inner resource. It is your innate guide for self-expression. It communicates through inner bodily sensations, shifts in your breathing, and changes in the visible design of your artwork

Felt Sense-based studio art is at the heart of the EXAF-based art therapy we offer. Since the Felt Sense is the doorway to intermodal expression, your artwork may shift from visual art to creative writing, movement, dance, or  creating sounds in a single session or over the course of several sessions

Therefore, combining art therapy with the EXAF principles and practices does not limit you to visual arts, but rather allows for the full spectrum of creative expression

EXAF-based art therapy is a trauma-informed approach that provides a safe space in which you can address personal issues beyond words and without telling your story. As you start expressing yourself visually, you are fully in control how involved you get and how much you reveal

Each session begins differently. You can start with a conversation, focus on your breathing, meditate, or express yourself spontaneously by exploring materials and experimenting with them

Grounding and drawing exercises, such as Dynamic Shape Drawing and Guided Drawing®, can help you get started and deepen your experience. They help building confidence and promote your spontaneous creative expression

Focusing is an experiential, evidence-based body-mind practice. It is free of exercise programs. This is what sets it apart from MBSR (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction).

During Focusing, you will become aware of multiple layers of experience and aspects of life. This occurs when you focus on the Felt Sense, an inner bodily sensation of vague quality. When you sit with the Felt Sense, new meanings can emerge from the body's felt knowing. This is what distinguishes the Focusing Felt Sense from the felt sense of Somatic Experiencing

Focusing is a therapeutic method and part of the person-centered existential approach. It is also a practice based on philosophy and used in experiential-existential therapy 

In Focusing Therapy, or Focusing Oriented Therapy FOT, Focusing is integrated into psychotherapeutic processing. This means that 'the client is invited to notice how their body makes feelings about their life issues, and they are helped to gently access what the body says about what they are experiencing' (from: https://focusing.org/felt-sense/focusing-oriented-psychotherapy)

EXAF (Expressive Arts Focusing) in Focusing Therapy allows you to describe the quality of your Focusing Felt Sense verbally and also express it through painting, writing, gestures, movement or sound