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Body map

Where in your body do you feel it? Colour in a drawn body where you feel tension, pain, warmth or restlessness.

Body map

Body map

Colour where you feel it

Choose a feeling

Tense: tight, stuck, on edge.

How strong?

Brush size

Colour a whole area

Handy with the keyboard. Choose an area: it gets an outline in the drawing. You choose the feeling and how strong under Choose a feeling.

A child, sitting or in a wheelchair? Choose the body under Settings, at the top.

What you coloured

Front. Nothing has been coloured on the front yet.

Back. Nothing has been coloured on the back yet.

Together with your client: tips for care workers
  • Let your client do the colouring, even if it is slow.
  • Ask what someone feels, not what it means.
  • Start with something that feels pleasant, if you can.
  • Is it getting too much? Stop and look together at something outside the body: the room, the chair, the floor under your feet.
  • With a child: choose a child's body, and use the child's own words.
  • Two maps show differences: before and after the conversation, or a good day and a hard day.
  • Ask if you can keep a print.
  • Pain that stays or gets worse is something for the GP.

Body map

NameDate

Front
Back

Colour where you feel something. Use the pattern of the feeling, or a colour of your own. The stronger, the denser.

  • Tense
    tight, stuck, on edge
  • Heavy
    tired, limp, as if something is pressing down
  • Pain
    sore, stabbing, throbbing or burning
  • Warm
    hot, glowing, going red
  • Cold
    chilly, shivery, stiff
  • Tingly
    tingling, restless, unable to sit still
  • Empty
    numb, feeling nothing, far away
  • Light
    good, spacious, relaxed

What do you feel, and where? When is it there?

Body map · e-powerment.nl/hulpmiddelen/lijfkaart

How it works

  1. Choose a feeling, for example tense, warm or tingly. Each feeling has its own pattern: a zigzag, waves, dots.
  2. Colour on the body where you feel it, with your mouse, your finger or a pen. Choose how strong: a little, quite a lot or very much. Turn the body round for your back.
  3. Name what you coloured: what kind of feeling is it, and when is it there? There is a question for each place.
  4. Want to compare? Make a second map, for example before and after a conversation.
  5. Print your map, copy the text, or save it as a file.

Why a body map

You often notice feelings in your body first: tight shoulders, a knot in your stomach, warm cheeks. Care workers also use body maps with children.

A colour on your stomach can mean something different for each person.

The body and the patterns

  • The body is drawn without being a man or a woman. Under Settings you choose an adult or a child, and standing, sitting or in a wheelchair.
  • There are eight feelings: tense (zigzag), heavy (dashes), pain (spikes), warm (waves), cold (snowflakes), tingly (dots), empty (open circles) and light (stars). The stronger the feeling, the denser the pattern. So you can also read the map without colour.
  • On the front, your right side is on the left of the picture, like someone standing opposite you.

The body scan

Would you like to feel calmly what is there first? Choose Do a body scan first. You move your attention from your head to your feet, in thirteen short steps. The place where your attention is lights up softly. There is no timer: you carry on when you want. It takes a few minutes. Then you colour what you noticed.

Paying attention to your body can stir up a lot, especially if you have been through bad things.

Together with your client

Tips for care workers are in the tool, under Together with your client.

Good to know

  • Everything works with the keyboard. You paint with a mouse, finger or pen; with the keyboard you choose a whole area, such as your shoulders or your stomach, and colour that.
  • Below the drawing, it always says in words what you coloured. You can copy that text.
  • Do you have pain that stays or gets worse? Then go to your GP.
  • Are you not doing well and do you want to talk? Do that with someone you trust, your GP or a care worker. In acute danger, call 112. If you are thinking about suicide, call 113 (the Dutch suicide prevention line) or 0800-0113 for free.

Your data

What you colour and write stays in this page on your own device. Nothing is sent and nothing is stored in your browser. If you close or refresh the page, everything is gone. Your browser asks first if you have not saved yet.

  • The file goes onto your device, in the place you choose. Everything is in it: your colours, the words and your answers. Open it again later to carry on or to compare.
  • If you copy the text, it stays on your device's clipboard until you copy something else.
  • If you choose ‘Save as PDF’ when printing, your map is saved as a file on your device.

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Is something missing?

Does something not work, or are you looking for a tool that does not exist yet? Let us know, a few words is enough. We read everything.

Send us a message [email protected]