Living with Feeling: The Art of Emotional Expression

You owe it to yourself to not only buy this book, but to read and do all the exercises in it. These methods have made a big difference in people's lives including my own.

This is a very practical book for working with feelings in a non-cognitive way. It is especially geared toward reclaiming buried feelings through the use of artistic expression. It contains many useful activities using a variety of mediums and for many people this type of work is quite powerful. I work in the psychology field and while I don't focus on this area as a specialty, I have witnessed the power of these techniques first hand. These ideas have also been useful to me in my own self-development work.

If you were raised, as I was, with parents who believed it was simply not all right to feel certain feelings; then, as I have, you will find this book liberating and very helpful. After reading the book, I wanted to particapate in a workshop session based on these writing and lead by the author. Because it took place with art therapy students at a graduate school in New York, NY where I live and practice psychotherapy, I was able to attend. What happened during the workshop class seemed nothing short of amazing as everybody in the group discussed their experience of new feelings while doing exercises from the book. Being given access to new parts of our feelingful life is a very useful gift -- that's what this book delivers! Dr. Capacchione vividly describes the nine different areas of feeling and put forth ways that each of us, through simple, doable, exercises might bring forth those feelings in our own experience. I realized, while working with the ideas in this book, how I have avoided experiencing certain feelings that I surely must be having during a work day. But, why was I not able to feel all my feeling, all the time, and use the whole range of them to construct a better way of living? Dr. Capacchione's has written a guidebook for living in a new way, for engaging in a new process which is constructive and developmental in core ways . Like many baby boomers, I, too, was trained from early childhood that any sign of certain feelings; curiosity (killed the cat), anger (bad), self interest (selfish), thoughtfulness (sullen) would make me into a "not nice person". This old notion from my youth, methodically suppressing and repressing whole areas of feelings, within me, in order to be a 'nice' person, became a very bottled-up, unhealthy way to live. It has become clear to me from reading this book that my living must include the art of feeling as I go into the fullness of adulthood and maturation. The good news is that the work of learning to live with feelings is not too difficult. In fact, a lot of feelings are just plain fun, as I think you'll find this book to be. Take heart. Living life more fully and more naturally will bring about change for the better. This wonderful book has opened up a whole new area of understanding and healthy expression for me, my colleagues, students and patients. I highly recommended it to you. Marilyn H. Hamlin, PhD.

Lucia Capacchione uses all of the artistic modalities to touch those emotions which are often difficult to express. She leads the reader through a series of easy to follow directions and exercises which helps you tap into emotions and then interpret your own words and pictures. Whether you are an artist or a novice, you will be guided through this self discovery process and given samples and testimonials along the way. Capacchione helps you capture, express and understand the your feelings which will release you and allow you to move on. I loved the format of her books, unlike most of the therapuetic books on the market, she offers you exercises that you can do without needing an instructor, follow up projects to expand the process and sample drawings and stories which anyone can relate to. If you are still feeling the effects of the 9-11, this book allows you to process those emotions in the privacy of your own home.

This is like having a series of workshops in a book. One can have his own workshop experience in whatever arts media and feelings arena he desires. Capacchione invites, indeed encourages the reader to experience, accept and express his emotions using an entire menu of sensory, experiential exercises. Offered for our pleasure are drawing, collage, painting, clay, music, dance, mask making and voice dialog. She explains the positive outcomes of using arts media to express feelings, useful examples from her workshops participants and invaluable resources for further study. This author is an artist with a background in psychology. She has done an extensive amount of work in the expressive arts field, including authoring many self-help books in this genre. I found this book to be a very positive, hands-on tool to use myself and to use with my clients.