At the last CanFit Pro fitness conference I went to, it was obvious that mindfulness is the hot new buzzword on everyone’s lips and that encouraged me to put foward a new concept for my art classes which had been on my mind for a long time. I offered a harmonic chant meditation workshop once which never took off due to low enrollment and now, with The Mindful Artist being well on it’s way, I get a chance to join spirituality and art, two of the things I love most.

Beautiful art, comes from within, liberated from judgement but before we could start with all the fun, some spring cleaning was in order.

First things first, we warmed up with some stretches of the neck and limbs from within a circle of chairs. I used a lot of cues that I have learned from Feldenkrais, asking questions about differences of tensions between the left and right side of the body, about how they chose to rest their feet on the floor. Bringing the awareness tho the breath. Putting will behind the breath while paradoxically trusting the body know exactly how much air to inhale and exhale.

After this, we turned to the white board to talk about our problems. It doesn’t make sense for me to hope to be in a perpetual state calm and relaxation typically brought on by mindfulness. I wanted to make it clear that meditation is no cure all. In order to initiate a healing process, I thought it important to look at our wounds. The way I see it, many eastern philosophies adapted for the west make unnecessary promises in the realm of happiness. Pondering over the pain has a time and a place, it is important because the best solutions are found by looking at a problem realistically.

I wrote a few negative thoughts on the board like: “No one likes me”. Each time they gave me their thoughts, I erased my own and placed them to either side of a line in the middle without telling them what the two categories were. When we had enough, I revealed that the left side of the line related to the personal sphere, they were thoughts like family issues or pressure at work. The right side was universal like anxiety over war or global warming. Universal is often synonymous with collective thinking. With empathy, the problems of others become our own and there is often guilt associated with being better off than most of our fellow humans.

I also had to create a box down the middle for the symptoms of either like low motivation or self-doubt.

I was surprised at how collective minded my group was!

This idea came with dealing with struggles of my own in the week leading up to the class. I’m always so busy that I have to work under pressure to prepare these classes. At the last minute that is. My mom was instrumental as a sounding board and an advisor. I have realized in recent years how these classes had been therapeutic in many ways and she gives me the confidence to go this direction without formal training.

I opened the floor to questions and explained why I chose to teach this class. Then, a student suggested that we had talked enough and should move on to the art making.

I had already mentioned how I was excited to work from a place of little judgment in contrast with my other classes and I was pleased that she made her point. People leave class with the experience of having expressed themselves through drawing and painting. Henceforth, the second hour of the class was going to be just enough time for the sensoriel pleasures of art making. I thanked her for voicing her opinion at one point even though I was slightly embarrassed in the moment, it felt like I was caught rambling. She assured me that she understood how tricky it gets when you open the floor.

This student had previously asked me to write a recommendation letter to obtain a Canadian art therapist diploma by which I was very honoured. She was already a licensed therapist in Hong Kong and I wish her much luck in her career. Like I said in the letter, I am convinced that her practice will help make the world a better place.

When making art without any goal of improvement, mindfulness comes. I lent everyone my precious Art Stix by Prismacolor and let them express the art from within. After some time, I gave them another sheet of paper to rip holes in to cover their piece and draw within the hole. Can you notice the microcosms that were born from this, like little galaxies? I asked some to make their holes smaller hence a little judgement is required to share my vision. Not a lot ;)

My mom studied fine art in her youth. We had a book around about Ljuba Popovic, a Serbian artist who used this technique of focusing on the detail by blocking the view to the whole and she kept talking about this as I was studying Painting and Drawing at Concordia. Check out his work to understand why he left such a strong impression on my mother. It is outstandingly fabulous, much more to my taste than Picasso.

It is fitting that this last one looks a bit like a uterus as this was March 8, international woman’s day.

The woman featured here had mentioned communicating with her cats through the great beyond, something I find fascinating.

One of the greatest challenges I face is to offer an inclusive space for people with all kinds of beliefs. This is why the first class out of four shall be the most political and going foward, I will focus more on guided meditations. Tomorrow, our medium of expression will be collage, an outstanding way to learn about one’s self through symbolism.

I will also introduce lucid dreaming in the meditation and encourage them to start a dream journal. It would be interesting to introduce a freewrite component pushing mixed media envelope. It takes little with collage to make the art quite conceptual and therefore, contemporary.

Here I am with a student and friend, out for drinks after class to celebrate women’s day! Look at us, what a dynamic duo we make.

Thank you for reading the musings of a lonely art instructor. Ok, not really lonely but I thought it sounded good.