Reflection and Meditation

Reflection and meditation are the foundational tools of my art practice. I journal regularly to give myself clarity in my process and meditation helps me to focus. Here’s how they work for me;

Reflection

I started journaling about 10 years ago when I took a course with Susannah Conway called ‘Journal Your Life’. Since then, journaling has become a constant and vitally important tool in my life. It has helped me to know myself in a much deeper and more nuanced way, which in turn has helped me to make much more informed decisions about which direction to take my art, and life, in and how to tackle the obstacles that inevitably arise.

A regular journal practice helps me to work through problems when I feel stuck and is useful for helping me to isolate the things that excite me the most about what I am making. I have a weekly practice of sitting down with my journal every Sunday to assess the art that I have created that week. I ask myself three simple questions;

1.       What did I enjoy doing this week?

2.       What did I find challenging?

3.       What do I want to do more of?

I use the answers that I give to these questions to guide me for the following week. This simple check-in doesn’t have to apply only to art making. It could be applied to many different hobbies or tasks. It could even just be a simple check-in each week of everything that you have achieved over the last seven days.

Image courtesy of Priscilla Du Preez at Unsplash

I have also used journalling to help me when I feel stuck or unable to progress with my art making by asking myself;

1.       What do I like about my work so far?

2.       How do I want to develop this?

It is so easy for me to look for all the negative things about what I have made but I find that it is more helpful to start with the things that I do like. This gives me a much more positive jumping off point to move forward from. I build on the things I like and don’t spend time worrying about the things I don’t. I work out if there are any lessons to be learnt and then quickly move on. In my art, it doesn’t matter if I disregard the bits I don’t like. No-one is going to chase me up about them later!

The act of physically writing down my thoughts helps me to stop running them on a loop in my head. They are out of my head and down on the page in front of me. I can start making connections between them and decide on my next step.

Meditation

Daily meditation helps me to focus my mind and start the day feeling calm and relaxed. It helps me to gain clarity on what is important to me and what my next step is for the day. I can then approach my art without any distracting thoughts.

I sit down every morning and meditate for between two and twenty minutes, depending on how busy I am that day. I like to use the Insight Timer app to accompany my meditation. During the week I often choose a piece of calming music to listen to as I meditate and at the weekends I will pick a spoken, guided meditation. There are so many meditations to choose from on the app that I am never at a loss for something to suit me each day.

Another meditation app that I have found helpful is Smiling Mind. They have a very comprehensive series of beginners meditations which I found helpful when starting out.

The wisteria in my garden during the spring

If I want to meditate with music or without an app then I simply sit in a comfortable position, with my feet on the floor and my back supported, and close my eyes. I like to close my eyes whilst I am meditating to eliminate outside distractions. I relax and focus my attention on the sensations where my body meets the chair, then where my feet meet the floor.

I gently start to focus my attention on my breathing, noticing the speed and depth of my breaths. Are they long or short? Deep or shallow? I like to count my breaths; inhaling for four counts, holding the breath for two counts, and then exhaling for four counts. I sometimes place my hand on my chest or stomach, noticing the way that it rises gently when I inhale and falls again on the exhale.

Thoughts often come into my head and distract me from counting my breathing but that’s normal. As soon as I become aware of this happening, I gently bring my focus back to my breath and resume counting.

I usually meditate like this for between five and ten minutes and then gently bring my attention back to the room around me and open my eyes.

I find the act of embroidering by hand can become a kind of moving meditation. Hand embroidery is always a slow process so, as I work my piece, I am drawn into a repetitive and meditative state of creating. As I stitch, I notice the way in which the needle moves through the fabric and the method by which each stitch is formed as well as the colour and texture of the fabric and thread. By physically engaging with my embroidery as I create it, I come to feel a deep connection to it.

Embroidery becomes a moving meditation.

The repetitious and rhythmic nature of hand embroidery induces a calming and reflective state of mind and, in this way, my hand embroidery becomes a form of meditation. I focus my attention on the process of embroidering rather than just what I am producing. Drawing and painting can be equally absorbing and other slow creative processes have the potential for the same effect. For me, this is one of the best things about making art; the opportunity to tune out from all that is happening around me and lose myself in the moment.