Sunday Mindful Creativity Workshop At Home

Mindfulness through making helps you to get in touch with your inner self through outer expression. You harness your powers of attention and creation. Find your inner peace while you create something meaningful with these hints and ideas.

A lot of people tell me "I don't have any talent" and "I can't draw/create/paint/write/decorate because I am just not talented that way." The truth is we are born with inherent creativity. Somewhere along the way we start to define ourselves by what we can and cannot do; and more damagingly who or what we are better or worse at. Still, how do we get back to making the most of and enjoying our creative potential in the face of our insecurities? Mindfulness can help a lot. Since through mindfulness we are entering a state of presence or conscious attention we gain the opportunity to notice our mental blocks and inner voices. We also gain the opportunity to fully appreciate what we enjoy about creative endeavours. There is only one you and starting to get in touch with the joy of finding your favourite colour or word can be exhilarating and life affirming.

Create a Sense of Occasion

To create a DIY workshop you will need to create a sense of occasion in order to make the most of the experience. Choose an area of your home for your workshop and look at it with fresh eyes; could you move some furniture or perhaps adjust the lighting? While it is not essential, clear and tidy space is ideal. Also, if you are able to, capitalise on daylight; I like to make my art zone a space right next to the living room windows. Start thinking creatively about the space you want to use - choose a candle, some stones or a houseplant and bring it into the space to join you on your quest into creation. Find something that works for you or that comes naturally to you for creating the space.

Decide on a Theme

You may decide to theme your creativity workshop to focus your attention. By no means is this something you have to do. It can be incredibly helpful to sit down with a blank piece of paper and wait for what comes up. If you do want to theme your workshop to use it for either a skills session or perhaps to ensure you have a specific outcome then you have a great range to choose from. Since my workshops are predominantly aimed at mindfulness, self-compassion and self discovery I will give you some advice here on themes that would help this. If you are more interested in a skills workshop your next best point of call is youtube and/or some art or writing books and magazines. Be sure to follow the instructions with mindful attention, allowing yourself the benefit of patience and be aware of any self criticism throughout the process!

Techniques for self discovery workshops:

Journalling: this is an amazing medium for self discovery and could provide you with the basis for an ongoing practice of creative self discovery.

Collage: Magazines, printed pictures and clippings from anywhere that jumps out at you - paper art is a wonderful way to jump in there and overcome your fears of self expression.

Drawing and Painting (and tracing!): explore lines, shapes, colours and designs that mean something to you by daring yourself to put pen or paintbrush to paper.

Questions to Ask Yourself as You Create

Choose one or more of these questions to direct your practice and see what comes up for you.

Take time to reflect and end your practice with care and gentleness.

Just as in yoga we take the time at the end of a practice to allow our bodies to integrate what we have done through a restful savasana, it is very important to end your creativity workshop with care and consideration. Since a lot of emotion can come up when we create it is very normal to experience the desire to suddenly end the session and devalue what we have done. This is why it is even more important to end a creative session by refocusing your mind on the present moment. Notice your breath, stretch out your body and perhaps go and make yourself a hot drink. With this in hand return to your workspace and reflect on what you have created. Express gratitude towards yourself and the universe for allowing you this time to reconnect and grow. Gently tidy away your journal or art piece and return the space to how you use it for other tasks. Now you know you can return to this activity whenever you are in need of some time to connect with your creative potential.