Therapies

Therapeutic Arts and Education

Painting

In the weekly art sessions we work with a variety of media such as water colours, pastels, crayons and pencils.

We aim to support well-being, enjoyment and self expression while also developing new skills and self-confidence through a variety of projects, exercises and games.

We work with therapeutic and educational exercises to develop an awareness and understanding of the seven colours within the rainbow spectrum, learning to distinguish the different qualities that each colour, tone and shade conveys.

We learn to create the secondary colours (purple, orange and green) by mixing the primary colours (blue, red and yellow) together, and the tertiary colours by mixing the secondary colours together.

We explore contrast between light and dark, colour harmony and colour composition in exercises inspired by ‘nature changes’ through the seasons.

Dynamic Drawing

We work with therapeutic and educational drawing exercises that stimulate concentration, coordination and integration, while strengthening a sense of symmetry, order and structure.

Music

In the weekly music sessions we all sit together in a circle and enjoy playing whatever instruments we choose from the large selection on offer.

For the first part we engage in an array of enjoyable improvisations, exercises and games, while cultivating our social skills, self-confidence and joy in self-expression.

In the second part we sing wonderful songs from our ever-expanding repertoire made up of all the students favourite songs, this is usually accompanied by guitar or piano.

Eurythmy

Eurythmy is a form of natural, harmonious , artistic and therapeutic movement that has been taught at Pericles since its inception. By means of carefully selected exercises, pitched at a level which the clients can reach, it fosters balance, co-ordination, fine and gross motor skills, spatial and social awareness and a sense of rhythm.

Much of the session is accompanied by live piano music.

The lesson starts by stretching our bodies upwards and planting the feet firmly on the ground to establish our physical centre.

This is followed by carrying out expansive and contracted gestures with our arms and hands to a verse or poem to regulate breathing and relax muscles. Every movement is flowing and unforced.

We then perform a concentration exercise involving rhythmic stepping and clapping.

Finally we work on choreographies for poems, stories and familiar pieces of music in a circle, pairs, parallel straight lines or natural (waves, spirals) and geometric forms. The language of prose or verse is expressed through specific hand gestures which convey the essence of the idea or image featured. This artistic section of the lesson sharpens the feelings both in response to the piece and in relation to each other as the movements are worked out.

The clients are held in a warm, welcoming and aesthetically beautiful space when practising eurythmy. They may sit out and watch when they need to, and are never pushed beyond their capacity. The movements do not require physical effort and appear to enhance rather than sap energy.