Mindful crochet,
A meditative practice.
Hello there and welcome in.
I am Caitlin.
I am a mindful crochet artist.
I tend to use my crochet practice as a meditation for myself,
Among other things.
Crochet has so many meanings for me.
But today I would like to focus on using it as a meditative practice so that you can incorporate some of these practices as well if you wish.
There are so many ways and avenues in which you can adapt any of these practices to your own personal practice.
It is like a choose-your-own-adventure of sorts.
Please,
Please only take what resonates and what works for you and just leave the rest.
We will begin at the beginning.
Getting in touch with the self first.
Then,
Into feeling after where you are at before the practice,
You will get in touch with your project and set the intention and point of focus for the crochet meditation session.
Start by checking in with yourself.
Just notice how you are feeling emotionally,
Physically,
And mentally.
If you want to note anything in particular on a scale from 1 to 10,
With 1 being the low end of the scale and 10 the high end of the scale,
You can go ahead and make a mental or physical notation,
Whichever suits you.
Or just ignore this bit.
It is your practice.
You may notice your surroundings and maybe feel your body as well.
Where are you going to sit?
Or perch to crochet today.
What surfaces beneath you?
Notice your seat and your posture,
If you wish.
Next,
You may take a breath and exhale slowly.
Or however you wish to breathe right now.
Intentionality is encouraged.
Next,
We will set our intention for the crochet session.
Do you intend to crochet for a certain period of time?
Sometimes we only have a spare few minutes or so.
Sometimes we are blessed to sit for a marathon session.
But let's be intentional for this special mindful crochet time,
Though,
And really be in tune with how we want our session to go for us.
What pattern are you working on?
What materials are you using?
Which fibers?
What colors will you work with?
What is your yarn weight?
Which hook size will you use?
What stitches are incorporated in the pattern?
After any or all of those questions are addressed and sorted,
You may want to decide on the background noise you may or may not want.
Would you like a show or audio book or some meditative music?
Or possibly some metal or rock.
Would you like a guided track?
Or just be with your peace and practice and breathe and stitch in silence.
There is no right or wrong way to experience this.
It is your time and your practice and you know yourself best.
Experiment and find what you really love to do.
Maybe you only have 10 minutes free right now to spend on crochet.
So maybe find a 10-minute guided track on a topic you know you enjoy and dig into your stitching.
Or set a timer for yourself for 10 minutes and stitch and breathe.
Or play a song or two depending on their length.
There are so many options to go about this practice.
Now that we have our intention,
Project details,
And background noise all decided and sorted out,
We can move on to deciding our point of focus.
This could tie into your intention as well,
I guess.
Here is some candid and frank honesty.
I am not the best at setting a formal intention for my practice.
I just hear it said so often from so many great teachers and I know having some sort of focused intention can be so useful and helpful.
I just am not the best at snappy things like that.
But this point of focus we are about to discuss could tie in,
Especially if you are not as adept like myself.
So,
Where will your point or points of focus be?
If you have a track on of some sort,
Will you focus there with your listening?
Will you use your breath as an anchor or focal point like in other traditional practices?
Will you focus on counting your stitches?
This is quite essential for certain projects,
So this would be a fabulous time to apply some mindful crochet.
Will you focus in on the sensations of the yarn and hook in your hands?
The act of yarning over and pulling through your loops the stitching action.
There are so many options.
Do not let this overwhelm you.
As you feel your way through this experience,
You may realize you are already super mindful at your craft.
Also,
I am suggesting as many things as I can think of so that you can take what applies to you and make it your own.
Now that we have decided the point of focus,
It is time to begin.
Let's crochet.
And then,
After your session of noticing and returning to your point of focus when your mind wanders away,
Check back in with yourself.
If you had rated anything.
Go ahead and do another rating from 1 to 10 after your mindful crochet practice.
See if the numbers moved and in which direction.
And that is basically the end of my little talk for you.
But I will recap together before we sign off.
1.
Take a breath.
Get in touch with yourself.
Just check in and notice.
And maybe rate anything you do notice from 1 to 10.
Focus on your project and the materials and tools.
Will you have any background stimulation or anything as focus or extra?
5.
What is your intention for this mindful crochet session?
Six,
What will your point of focus be?
And that is all.
Pick the point of focus and grab your hook and yarn and off you go.
Happy trails out there!
Thanks so much for being here.
I would love to hear about your experiences in the comments.
Also,
Please feel free to reach out by direct message here on Insight Timer with any questions or additional comments.
I would love to hear about your practice and help you integrate any of these mindful techniques to your own crochet time.
Blessings and happy hooking!
