Cristina Galafate
Updated Sunday, February 18, 2024-02:01
Wellness Knitting, calligraphy, ceramics and writing workshops... Crafts are the new yoga (and they have therapeutic power)
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Once upon a time there was a woman stuck to a pen and paper. Of course, with the cutest notebook and pen in the stationery store.
Andrea Mateos
(Madrid, June 6, 1991) makes everything beautiful, although in her classes
it doesn't matter whether she writes better or worse
. "For me, writing is born out of necessity. She has been my great companion since I can remember," says this journalist with four published books, one of them the Letrame National Poetry Award. She carefully prepares newspaper clippings, colored adhesive tape (
washi tape
, clarifies), bows and the books (by female authors, the great forgotten ones) that she will recommend in the day's workshop, dedicated to platonic crushes in the month of love .
"It is less difficult for people to express ourselves in writing than orally. Or, at least, the letters captured on paper help shape our thoughts.
All literary writing is first a therapeutic writing
," he details, waiting for her students, who are always more women, some with a certain vulnerability and truly incredible stories.
He started these workshops altruistically, simply to help others. "I think
everyone should practice it
, regardless of their profession. It's like going to the gym, only here what we exercise is the brain," she describes.
DOES NOT SUPPLY FOR A PSYCHOLOGIST
The writer also presides over the cultural NGO Las Asilvestradas.A. HEREDIA
There is a lot of talk about mental health these days. In the opinion of this lover of letters, writing is a very powerful tool in this sense. "I want to live in a world where people are happy. I am one of those who thinks that, if things go well for you, things will go well for me too. So this is my way of doing a little bit
so
that the world a little more pleasant place," he explains.
There are many studies that support the benefits of writing by hand, such as those carried out by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology or Indiana University. "However, for me, the greatest evidence is asking my students, at the end of class, how they felt." Always clarify that classroom activity does not replace
professional psychological therapy
at any time . It is another creative activity, like painting or signing up for a ceramics course. "The quality of the writing is not measured at any time, but rather the
warmth of our emotions
." That's why, before writing, she spends a few minutes talking and clearing away mental noise. "It is a warm-up to relax and prepare the mind. In the end, therapeutic writing, although it is based on creativity, is still an exercise that requires concentration."
BENEFITS
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She recommends two moments in particular: before going to sleep and as soon as we get up. "Our voices are different and so are their benefits." At first the voice
is purer
: "It's not soaked in anything else, it contains less residue." At the end of the day, you put on paper everything that has bothered you during the day. "It's an interesting experiment." Many therapists claim that it is even more healing than venting to a friend. "In the end, he is still an external person, alien to your circumstances, with his own scale of values and her biases," she admits.
Their students corroborate that in this monthly double event held at The Social Hub Madrid they find that place
to express themselves and let off steam
. Writing and then sharing out loud - whoever wants to - releases and relieves. "It's curious because we are in a hyper-connected world, but the feeling of loneliness on a social level is becoming greater and greater. Writing in community not only shapes our thoughts, it also helps to create camaraderie."
Mateos smiles when, at the end of class, he sees some girls who didn't know each other exchanging phones to have coffee. "That's therapy too." He receives incredible messages about a job that generates great friendships. Some are even in the process of
publishing their texts
from him. In Las Asilvestradas, his cultural association, he also weaves a network of literary and artistic synergies. "In a world of rivalry and voracious competition, it is nice to manage these spaces of interconnection."
She finds inspiration in life itself: listening to other people's conversations at a zebra crossing, in the audio podcasts she sends with other fellow artists, some idea that comes to her while she's bathing or scrubbing the pots... "I think there's
nothing more therapeutic than creativity
and that is why I try to make all my practices very different from each other. I also like that they are surprises, that the people who come do not know what we are going to see that day. For me it is very important to cultivate the capacity for wonder ".
The best? "The personal relationships that are cultivated. I cannot live without admiration. Admiring is similar to falling in love, it is a feeling that fills your chest and expands it." The least good thing is the energy that is left along the way, which has sometimes led to anxiety or not prioritizing oneself. "I haven't slept well for months because your
brain won't stop generating ideas
." But then there is the writing.