Reflections on Making a Body Map: A Practice for Coming Home to Yourself

A personal reflection on body mapping as a creative arts therapy practice, and what it means to really sit with your body.

Sometimes I like to paint a body map. It is a great tool for reflection as  a chance to really sit with my body and check in with what she needs, or which part of her is asking for attention.

With all the push and pull of daily life, it is hard to set aside time for yourself that is restful and meaningful. There is a particular kind of restfulness that comes with painting a body map, and a grand result: a deep, quiet connection to yourself.

What is a body map?

A body map is a creative arts therapy practice in which you draw or paint an outline of your own body and use colour, mark making and shapes to explore what is happening inside it physically, emotionally, and energetically as a mirroring of yourself. It is not about anatomy or making a beautiful artwork, it is about listening and expressing.

How I make mine

The process starts simply: gathering everything you need like painting paper, paints, brushes, pens; and finding a spot to sit uninterrupted. Using a pen, I sketch a simple outline of a body as a symbol of me. I am not looking for perfection.

Then, using one paint colour, I paint each part of my body on the page while simultaneously sensing the real part in real time. I move slowly, using this time to visit each area; to notice where I hurt, where I feel good, and what might need some attention.

In the next layer, I introduce another colour to blot in areas of concern. The strain in my shoulders, for instance I paint the shape of it in the shoulder space, and in doing so, I take a deeper look at how stress has taken up residence in my body. I am painting shapes of awareness. And by taking notice, I am able to sit inside my body a little more fully.

"I am painting shapes of awareness. And by taking notice, I am able to sit inside my body a little more fully."

In the final layer, I return with coloured pens, pencils or pastels to spend more time in each area that needs attending to. It is a bit like sending love to the parts that need a little extra care. 

What comes up

Sometimes I feel refreshed and invigorated afterwards. Sometimes rough things surface, and that is okay. Sometimes I need a nap. It is all part of the process of unthreading and rethreading.

Once finished, I like to take an objective step back and really look at what I have made. And every time, without fail, it reminds me just how extraordinary it is to have a body at all; this vessel that carries us, signals to us, and keeps showing up even when we forget to notice it.

Gently coming home to your body 

Something I come back to often is this idea that embodiment was never meant to be a state you reach and then cling to in every waking moment. The goal of coming home to your body, if you choose it, is gentler than that.

"It invites you to notice when you have left yourself, and then having noticed, to come back with some tenderness, care, curiosity, and compassion — if coming back to your body feels safe and serves you."

Ailey Jolie, somatic psychologist · https://www.instagram.com/aileyjolie/

I think this is exactly what a body map practice offers. Not a destination. Not a discipline. Just a quiet, occasional invitation to notice and to come back, with care, when you are ready.

Painting a body map is reflective, meditative, connective, and a genuinely lovely thing to do for yourself every now and then. Especially in those seasons of life when you have been so busy holding everything else that you have quietly lost track of where you are in your own body.

The body map is one of the practices we explore in The Living Room > a creative arts therapy group for women navigating perimenopause, identity, and the full complexity of this season of life.

→ Find out more about The Living Room