Hey there,
It's Kristen from Kristen Phillips Art.
And today I'm going to take you through a series of five breath drawings.
Breath drawings are a simple yet highly effective way to Harness the power of breath awareness,
Which is a core foundation of mindfulness and meditation,
And apply it to making marks on a page.
Really excited to share this with you because it's simple.
It's entirely process-based.
And it doesn't take very long to have a shift in your perspective and how you feel.
So go ahead and grab a pen and a piece of paper and we'll get started.
You Okay,
So I have my pen and art journal ready.
I want you to think of this practice like meditation.
So take a moment to connect with your breath.
Slow down,
Take a few intentional breaths and settle in.
Now start on the left.
Of your page.
And as you inhale,
Let your pen trace a line upward.
As your breath naturally stops at the top.
And there's a natural pause.
Curve the line to the right.
And then as you exhale,
Let your pen follow the breath down.
The pen is moving.
In sync with your breath.
At the bottom of the breath,
There's another natural pause.
Let the line curve again to the right.
Before your next inhale lifts it back up.
Your breath is guiding your pen.
Creating a visual representation of how you're breathing in this moment.
I call this practice Rise and Fall,
And it's just about as simple as it gets.
You're tracing all of your inhales in an upward motion.
Of your exhales in a downward motion.
And also recording that subtle pause between breaths in between.
And as I continue this practice,
I haven't been doing it for very long,
But I'm already noticing there's been a change in my breath.
My exhales are lengthening.
My breath is slowing down and I'm becoming more relaxed.
So that shift is already taking place.
And the only thing you really need to be aware of is that your.
.
.
Not forcing the pen to move.
You're staying really light with your grip on the pen.
And letting go of control of the pen.
And allowing your breath to lead.
I really love these breath drawing exercises because they're completely process-based.
There is no final outcome.
It's just an exploration of how your breath is moving on the page.
I began on an inhale.
And I will eventually end on an exhale.
And you can continue to do this practice for as long as you'd like.
This is also an exercise where you don't even necessarily need a pen and a piece of paper.
You can use your finger to trace the flow of your breath on a table.
Or on your leg,
Wherever you are.
And it's just a simple way to draw your attention to the focus of your breath.
As you allow.
That movement to be initiated by the breath with your hand.
The next exercise I want to share with you is called the wave breath.
Where you will be using your breath to draw a wave across the page.
And with this one,
You inhale to the top of the wave.
To that point and you exhale the bottom part of the wave.
Your next inhale lifts the curve up again.
And your exhale blows it back down.
And as you do this,
Let your breath move like a wave in your body.
Rising and falling with ease.
Thinking about your breath as a wave moving through your body can deepen your experience of this practice.
You don't have to force your breath to move in any particular way.
Just allow the breath to be what it is and allow your pen to trace it.
Along the page in the shape of a wave.
And just continuing to follow the breath.
With this pattern for as long as you'd like.
The next exercise is breath spirals.
And this is one that has lots of room for creativity.
You'll start with your pen at the center of the page and as you inhale,
Let the spiral expand outward.
As you exhale,
You're tracing back along that same line.
Your inhale then expands the spiral on your next breath.
And your exhale follows it back.
Just let your pen pause when your breath does.
And over time your spiral will naturally grow.
This is a really meditative experience because you get to follow the same line back on itself.
And it's okay if it's not exactly perfect.
You can just continue to follow the spiral shape outward.
And then at some point just allow complete freedom for your pen to go where it wants to go.
And eventually at some point,
Your pen may want to change direction.
And that's where you can start to create your own patterns with the spiral or get creative with how you want to engage with this practice.
So my spiral started to get a little big,
So now I'm going a different direction with them,
Just repeating that same process.
Of inhale and spiraling out exhaling and following that line back in.
And these are not things you need to think about or plan in advance.
Just allowing them to happen spontaneously is exactly what we want in a practice like this.
The next exercise is one I call flower breath.
And with this one,
Your breath creates petals on a page.
So as you inhale,
Draw a line upward.
The pause at the top of your breath curves the pedal to the side.
Your exhale completes the pedal,
Bringing the line back down.
If your exhale is a little bit longer,
Let the pen rest at the center before your next inhale begins.
So you're inhaling.
Curving as you pause,
And exhaling back down.
Inhale.
Curve and exhale.
Inhale,
Curve.
And exhale.
And each flower,
Each individual petal will take on its own unique shape depending on your breath.
Once you complete a flower,
You can repeat this process by taking a breath and moving your pen to a different part of the page.
You Inhaling,
Line out,
Curving,
Exhaling it back.
Inhaling out.
Pause.
And bringing the line back.
Allowing every part of this process to be slow.
And mindful and drop you into that feeling of meditative present moment awareness.
And the last exercise for today,
Is one I call sigh and release spirals.
So for this one,
You're only drawing on the exhale.
You'll take a deep breath in And as you exhale,
Let your pen spiral and expand outward.
Pause as you inhale.
Leave a little space.
And then continue spiraling outward with your next exhale.
This creates a really interesting visual representation of your breath.
And I love this one because it naturally encourages long,
Slow exhalations,
Which is just.
.
.
Very nice way to relax and settle into the moment.
You might notice as you do this that your exhales start getting a little bit longer.
You start entering a state of deeper relaxation.
And you can continue spiraling.
You're drawing outward for as long as you'd like.
You okay so there you have it five breath drawing exercises that you can try We explored the rise and fall breath.
Wave,
Breath.
Breath spirals.
The flower breath.
And the scion release spirals.
These are such simple but powerful ways to turn breath awareness into a creative meditative practice.
I'd love to hear how these go for you please let me know in the comments.
And most important of all,
Enjoy bringing breath into your art and art into your breath.
Thank you as always for being here and sharing this time with me.
And I will see you next time.
