Creative activities as meditation.

Want to know a (not very) secret about our bodies? They’re only ever in the present moment. So when we engage in a creative activity with our hands, the act of drawing or gardening or cooking or knitting draws us into the present. This is part of why creative activities are so good for our wellbeing.

Worry and anxiety usually lives in the past or the future - we’re stressed about something that happened in the past, or worried about something that might happen in the future. When we’re doing something with our hands, past and future fade away and there’s only what’s happening right now, in front of us.

Creative work calls us into the present, into presence with our pencil or our knitting needles or our wooden spoon.

And then:

Our minds can rest.

Our nervous systems can rest.

Our bodies can rest.

Creative work is a form of meditation - a gentle focus on the present, led by what our hands are doing.

As little as 20 minutes can make a big difference - when we’re done, there’s often a feeling of calm, of peacefulness, of contentment. It's a very good antidote for busyness, anxiety, stress, feeling kind of flat and blah... Have you experienced this?

If you’d like to experience this for yourself in a friendly space with a group of likeminded people, come along to the online art group that’s happening next Thursday - no prior experience with drawing or visual art needed.

Click here to find out more and save your spot.

[The picture that goes with this post is a mandala created by Rose, my friend and art therapist colleague who is running the online therapeutic art group with me - mandalas don’t have to be symmetrical!]