A Creative Pause: Grounding Through The Senses

Take ten minutes to pause, settle and reconnect with yourself through a gentle, art-based meditation. Using awareness of the breath, body and senses, you’ll be invited to make simple marks as a way of grounding yourself and noticing what is present. No artistic experience is needed—just have a pencil or pen and a piece of paper ready.

Transcript

Welcome. My name's Lisa. I'm an art psychotherapist. This is a short creative practice for when your mind feels busy, You're feeling overwhelmed, Or you just need a little space. You don't need to be good at drawing. You don't need to know what you're going to make. And there isn't a right or wrong way to do this. You'll just need a piece of paper and something to draw with. It can be a pencil, Pen, Crayon, Felt tip, Whatever you have nearby. So when you're ready, Find somewhere reasonably comfortable to sit. Let your feet settle on the floor. And just take a moment to notice where you are. There's nothing you need to achieve in these next few minutes. You don't need to clear your mind. You don't need to feel calm. We're just going to slow things down a little and give your attention somewhere else to go. Take a slow breath in. And let it go. And another Now bring your attention to the paper in front of you. Don't think about what you're going to draw. Instead, Just put your pen or pencil onto the paper and start with a simple line. It can go anywhere. Let your hand move. Slowly or quickly. You might make a curve. Straight line, A circle. Scribble. It really doesn't matter. Just notice the movement of your hand. The feeling of the pen against the paper. The sound it makes. You don't need to make a picture. In fact, There doesn't need to be anything recognisable at all. Just marks. Perhaps let your hand move a little faster. And then slow it down again. You might notice that you have a tendency to make certain kinds of marks. Maybe you keep returning to the same shape. Maybe you press quite hard. Or maybe your marks are light Maybe your hand wants to keep moving or perhaps it doesn't. Whatever you notice is fine. You don't need to change it, Just notice. And if your mind has wandered off somewhere else, That's completely normal. You might be thinking about what you need to do later. Something that happened yesterday. Something someone said. Something you're worried about. You don't need to push those thoughts away. Just come back to the paper. Come back to the movement of your hand. Now for the next little while, Let yourself be curious. What happens if you make the line bigger? What happens if you make it smaller? What happens if you change direction? You could try filling in a small area. Or making lots of tiny marks, Or one long continuous line. There is no need to make it look good. Nobody is going to judge it. You don't even have to like it. Just see what happens. And now, Very gently, Let your drawing come to a pause. You don't need to finish anything. Just put your pen down for a moment and look at what you've made. Try looking at it without judging it. Rather than asking do I like this, Just notice. What do you see? Are there some marks heavier than others? Or there are areas that are quite busy or there are quieter spaces. Maybe there are marks that surprise you. Maybe they're wrong. You might notice something about how you were feeling as you made it, Or you might notice absolutely nothing. Both are completely okay. We don't need to find a meaning in the drawing. It doesn't have to tell us anything. Sometimes it's simply useful to have a place to put some of what is going on inside us. Now if you'd like to choose one small part of your drawing that you'd like to respond to, It could be an empty space, A line, A shape. Anything that captures your attention. And add something to it, Perhaps another colour. Another line, A shape. Something strong, Soft, Something strong. Whatever feels right. And as you do that just notice whether anything changes not necessarily in the drawing, Perhaps in you. Maybe your breathing, Your shoulders. Your thoughts. There's no need to make anything better, We're simply noticing. When you're ready, Let your drawing come to an end. Put your pen down, Let your hands rest and take a moment to sit with it. Notice your feet on the floor, Notice the chair supporting you and notice the room around you. And take one more slow breath in and out. And out. You might feel exactly the same as you did a few minutes ago. You might feel a little different. You might feel calmer. You might simply feel that you've had a few minutes away from whatever was filling your head. There doesn't need to be a particular outcome. Before you finish having a look at your drawing. And then if you'd like to, Leave it somewhere. You don't have to work anything out from it. You don't have to keep it. We can come back to it another time. Or you can simply put it away. The important thing is that for those few minutes you gave yourself some space and sometimes that's enough. Thank you for spending this time with me. Take care.