MAKING MY PEACE … with neurography – letting go with lines

… like mood doodling … drawing lines for releasing and healing …

Apr 20, 2025

Neurography – neurographic art – is a gentle process of calming the mind and letting go. It is a simple but transformative drawing technique of drawing spontaneous, free-flowing lines on a page, then softening their intersections by rounding the corners to create a harmonious, web-like pattern. Add shades and hues, or patterns within lines, or dots, or leave it black and white. The critical part is that the lines, the rounding of the lines, and the shading is done intuitively, without planning, or over-thinking, or analysing. Just let the lines happen.

Psychologist Pavel Piskarev introduced neurography – NeuroArt – into his practice in 2014. It’s more than doodling. It’s a mindful practice that links hand to heart, and nervous system to intention. As you draw, your mind slows. The outside noise is left behind, the mind is calming, and you are beginning to simply be with what is in the present.

The simplicity of the materials (just a pen and paper) makes it accessible to anyone of any age. The repetitive and flowing nature of the lines can lull the nervous system into a calmer state. It’s meditative, much like knitting or listening to rainfall.

You don't need to talk about your feelings. Neurographic art allows feelings and emotions to take shape visually. There’s no “right” way to do it. There is freedom in drawing lines. When you decide that you have finished drawing, it is done and complete, whether it is done in 10 minutes or two hours, and it becomes a visual symbol of yourself at that time. It is also something you can return to and reflect upon.

Are there pitfalls in neurography? Over-thinking the process, being a perfectionist or over-analyser, or trying to “make it look good” may negate the process. Neurographic art isn’t about the final image. It is about the process. It’s okay to let go of control and to let it be messy. The drawing is yours, so resist the temptation to compare it with the drawings of others. It is not a cure for anything. Instead, it is a process of calming, releasing, and potentially healing the body from a sense of being overwhelmed with a situation, event, or life in general.

To create your own neurographic art, you need a fine-liner or marker (most people use black but it can be any colour), paper, and – if you want to colour it – coloured pencils, crayons, paint, or textas.

Draw one or more spontaneous, curving or looping lines across the paper. Add more lines if you wish. Where the lines intersect, round the corners into curves, then if you wish, fill in the shapes with colour as you like, depending on how you feel. The whole image can be as simple or as complex as you like. There are no mistakes in neurography – only movement, edge-softening, and transformation.

The most important part of the process is to round off the edges at the intersecting lines. This is to soften the sharp, pointy intersections as if softening and calming the brain and its emotions and feelings.

Making my peace with neurography and letting go with lines, I do the following:

- Quieten my mind for one minute for introspection. Maybe a word or theme comes to mind – such as flower, river, boldness, hope, release, or an email to my sister, or something I want to find peace with. Or maybe not.

- Begin to draw free-flowing lines on the page, letting them intersect naturally.

- Round all the corners where lines intersect.

- Add some colour where it feels it could be.

- Allow myself to be surprised.

- Stop when I want to – I don’t need to colour in everything.

- Reflect on the finished image.

- Think about what the process felt like – what I noticed.

- Write in my journal if I want to.

- Bin it if I want to.

- Keep it awhile if I want to.

Rainy Day Healing blogs: “This kind of quiet, honest reflection is exactly what makes Rainy Day Healing such a special space.” Chaz. T., USA

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