Healing Through Handwriting: Artistic Calligraphy Therapy

“Art washes the away the dust of everyday life.” - Picasso

Art has a cleansing effect on our inner selves. It offers an escape from the burdens and emotions of life. For me, I found peace in a space that was on paper, but in my mind, I was miles away from reality and that allowed me the freedom to create, to think, to ground myself again.

I’ve come a long way since I began my healing journey from loss. Years ago, I learned to turn inward and channel my grief into writing and prayer. Through this process, I discovered that my natural response was to engage in quiet reflection through writing, ultimately developing a healing ritual that I would revisit time and time again. Expressive art forms such as this, calligraphy, is important in offering some grounding in times of stress, slowing down our reaction to the noise of our thoughts and drawing us to the present moment.

Wabi-Sabi of Calligraphy

Calligraphy has its roots as an expressive form of writing in Chinese and Japanese cultures. I gravitated towards this form of writing because it allowed me to convey my emotions freely, unconstrained by any particular style. I embraced the wabi-sabi aspect of calligraphy and the beauty in how each word I wrote looked slightly different from another depending on how I felt. Wabi-sabi is a Japanese philosophy that celebrates imperfection and impermanence. Flaws and aging are part of the natural process of life. 

My own handwriting became an expressive calligraphy practice for me, combining my mind, heart, and hand. In my exploration of the word “grateful,” my calligraphy for this word evolved to express a sense of fullness and openness to the blessings in my life through the loops and roundness of the letters.

Expressive Calligraphy as Meditation

I discovered that personal expressive calligraphy kept me rooted in the present moment. This type of grounding not only helped me mute the noise of my thoughts, it became a channel for me to release my emotions, find rhythm in the strokes and loops, and ultimately left me with a sense of relaxation and inner peace. To me, this experience resembles a meditative process, but one that involves actively working with my hand. The process of writing was therapeutic and transformative because it helped improve my mental, emotional and physical well-being.

Calligraphy and meditation similarities:

1. Intense focus: In calligraphy, the artist focuses on each stroke, line, or curve. In meditation, the focus is on breath, sensation, or thought. Both encourage concentration.

2. Mindfulness: Calligraphy, when written mindfully, requires one to be fully in the moment and expressive forms are made as they come, without being bound to rigid rules. Meditation accepts the moment without judgment.

3. Relaxation: Calligraphy induces a state of relaxation with repetitive and rhythmic movements. Quiet contemplation in meditation promotes a sense of calm.

Calligraphy can be a meditative practice. I personally found this form of expression to be helpful in reaching a meditative state using my hands to create and let go of emotions.