Jill Kintner invites YOU to take a break and do some Mind Maintenance to stimulate your creativity.
Mental health, and having good mental health is vital to hapiness, especially when it feels like there is chaos all around. For this reason, to promote the importance of mental health during these challenging times, World Champion mountain biker and Olympic medalist Jill Kintner spearheaded a project called “Mind Maintenance” in conjunction with Red Bull.
While most professional athletes are focusing on at-home workouts and maintaining their physical fitness, Jill brought out her creative side to help inspire others to take a mental health break via her passion for artwork and illustration. For years Jill has drawn elaborate mountain biking course maps to help her visualize her contest runs, providing her with the strength and focus needed to gain a mental advantage over her competitors to win. Now, Jill used her skills to inspire others to unlock their own creativity and keep their minds healthy and active while staying at home by creating illustrated templates for fans to color/paint/digitally draw/etc and if you wanted to, fans could also submit thier artwork back to Jill and even some of them got prizes.
“I was sitting at home and thinking about how I could be of help, and I did not want to just be another athlete showing my at home work outs,” said Kintner. “It was in the art. I could help through my art. Red Bull has been more than supportive in allowing me the platform to be able to escape into the art and take a break to recenter myself and on other levels, it has allowed me to connect with fans in the community.
Art, no matter whether you choose to create it yourself or simply observe and enjoy it, is a relaxing and inspiring activity for many people. However, the particular benefits of artistic expression go much further than relaxation and enjoyment. Studies suggest that art therapy can be very valuable in treating issues such as depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and even some phobias. It is a great way to express your emotions without words, process complex feelings and find relief.
“One artist began to submit her drawings and even reached out to me,” said Kintner. “I was later told via a contact I had in the mountain bike community that knew this lady, that through the mind maintenance art project, she became more confident, social and more driven to succeed on her bike because she found commonality in the art and could find a place she could flourish. That is what makes this project worth it to me.”
Art therapy can be used as a complement to traditional mental health treatment. The aim is to manage behaviors, process feelings, reduce stress and anxiety, and increase self-esteem. Art therapy can also aid in:
- Self-discovery: Creating art can help you acknowledge and recognize feelings that have been lurking in your subconscious.
- Self-esteem: The process will give you a feeling of self-accomplishment which can be very valuable to improve your self-appreciation and confidence.
- Emotional release: The greatest benefit of art therapy is giving you a healthy outlet for expressing and letting go all your feelings and fears. Complex emotions such as sadness or anger sometimes cannot be expressed with words. When you are unable to express yourself, but you desire emotional release, making art may help you to do it.
- Stress relief: Fighting anxiety, depression or emotional trauma can be very stressful for you both mentally and physically. Creating art can be used to relieve stress and relax your mind and body.
“I found within myself that I could recenter my mind to my body and was in a better place to function and compete at a high level when I would create my art,” said Kintner. “Art and sports are so closely related especially at times when you are judged on creativity in the ride in your contest. Allowing your mind to be open and creative allows you to see things from a grander perspective and can visualize what is next.”
In 2020, seeing things from a broader more grand perspective might be just what we need.
Since the contest for prize submission has past, you can still download the art templates here and still create.