Mental Wellbeing & Painting

October 10^th, we celebrated World Mental Health Day. A day to talk about Mental Health, how we need to look after it and how important it is to talk about things and get help if you are struggling.

There is still a stigma attached to mental health problems and many people do not feel comfortable talking about any issues they may be facing. However, it is healthy to be in touch with how you feel and reach out to others about your feeling’s.

There are hundreds of suggested activities to improve your mental health and to help you through some emotionally difficult periods in your life. As a small business with creativity at our core, we strongly believe in the benefits of pottery and painting for our minds.

In 2015, Dr.Cathy Malchiodi, psychologist and art therapist conducted studies which confirmed that being creative can increase positive emotions, lessen depressive symptoms, reduce stress, decrease anxiety and even improve immune system functioning!

When we are creating something, we tend to get lost in the activity, focusing and concentrating on what we are trying to achieve. Multitasking doesn’t work when we are in our creative flow and this helps everything else disappear. The brain has a similar response to creative activities as it does to meditation and mindfulness which are designed to help you find calm, peace and happiness by blocking external stimuli. 

Tessera Braddon has a great article called ‘the benefits of painting for brain and mental health’ and we stand with them on their top 6 benefits, so we thought we’d share them with you.  (You can find the link to the full article below)

• Promotes stress relief
• Expands creative growth
• Bolsters memory
• Enhances problem-solving and motor skills
• Cultivates emotional growth
• Stimulates an optimistic attitude

We are strong believers that time spent in our colourful, peaceful and spacious studio with plenty of natural light will allow you to get lost in your own creative flow.

We have the largest ceramic collection in the South West, giving you the choice of hundreds of ready-made bisques from tableware to plant pots, animals to cars or even a bowl for your pet! If you wanted to create your own masterpiece from scratch, you can do so on our state-of-the-art potting wheels and then return to paint your creation at a later date.

All information on what is available at China Blue can be found on our website. You can call, email or find us on social media to make a booking to paint or make pottery. 

(https://www.tesserabrandon.com/health/benefits-painting-brain-mental-health/)