Embroidery as a Mindfulness Tool
Some art activities engage more mindfulness than others, though the way that I relate to and engage with arts and crafts and my motivation for doing so is likely different from you – we all experience life so differently. What I do know is, I have found embroidery incredibly calming, much more so than drawing or painting. With every new stitch I feel my body and mind finding calm and clear. For this reason, I have found myself going back for more and more. In hard times it is so important we find the activities that ground us and create calm. So why has embroidery had this effect on me?
Now, I am surely not the first person to notice this, so I do not claim the idea to be my own, but I started noticing that I have been following my stitches with my breath. Down stitch – exhale, back up, inhale. This deep and rhythmic breathing (often along to calming lyric-less music) allows for relaxation and focus on the present which is a key component of any mindfulness tool.
Learning the Basics
To start I popped over to Jaunt with Juli and followed the video suggested there to learn some basic stitching patterns and techniques.
With some base knowledge I jumped into trying to combine the stitches and play with tension. I created a few hearts with a split stitch and filled them with the satin stitch. I then tried layering threads to create dimension in a greenery branch. After filling the embroidery hoop and feeling confident and excited I moved on to a new idea…
Here are some tips I used to embroidery for mindfulness:
- find a space where you feel comfortable
- organize your supplies near you
- relax your shoulders
- choose a simple repetitive stitch
- choose a stitch that you enjoy
- let yourself work slow
- focus on your breath
- focus on your tactile sense
- if you find your mind wandering remember your breath and your tactile sense
- find a saying/mantra to ground you back in the present
Catch my next post to see how it went,
Hope you are hydrated and happy!
Gifs by @harmonie-aupetit on Giphy
Recess Knitting
03.05.21 — 11:20 am
I completely agree with you Ashley, there is something so calming about embroidery. The way you have shared your breathing technique while using embroidery makes me want to grab my thread! I love the list you made for mindfulness while embroidering and am going to adapt these to use when knitting! Thank you for your great post!
tpenner
03.05.21 — 1:05 pm
I love the look of the layered thread on the branch you did. It definitely adds depth and dimension!
emh
03.05.21 — 9:26 pm
I love the way you were able to express the mind-body connection that is intertwined with creative endeavours. I find it’s something that is often so hard to put into words and I think you did it beautifully. I can’t wait to see how this new journey manifests into threaded creations!