I want to offer a guided drawing meditation that is from this book Draw Yourself Calm by Amy Maracle.
So you'll need a piece of paper and something to draw with.
Feel free to pause and go get something if you need it.
So this particular one is called Breathe and Draw and the offering is to connect your breath with the lines that you make and connect your mind with your breath and with your eye.
And so a couple different ways it can look are like kind of a floral burst shape where you start from the middle and you go out to the outside.
So the out breath is where you draw a line and the in breath you make a dot.
But it could also look something like this where the lines go in different directions and the dots are little squiggles that go around and around and around.
Or it could look completely different depending on what kind of a pen you're using.
It might bleed into the paper and that dot might get really wide.
Some folks like to do it without looking at the paper and so it goes every which way.
So whatever calls to you,
You can notice how it feels in your breath,
On the out breath,
How it feels on the in breath,
And where your curiosity takes you on the page.
So if you're ready to start you might just start with a couple breaths of stillness with your eyes closed or with your gaze just gently downwards.
Just noticing your breath as it is.
And then when you feel ready you can go to your paper and your pen or your pencil or your marker and begin with a line drawn on the out breath and then pause on the in breath with a dot.
Continue at your own pace.
In the next minute or so you can begin to look for a natural stopping place.
You can put your pen down when you're ready and go back to closing your eyes and let your breath be soft and relaxed as you observe.
I want to give you a little prompt about creative success.
The idea of when we allow ourselves to feel successful creatively.
And if there is a version of creative success that you imagine on your best day,
Your most resourced day,
Your most resourced season,
What does that look like?
But also what does creative success look like on your least resourced day and season?
And what might it be for you on the regular old days in the middle?
So with that you're welcome to come back to a piece of paper and either take that prompt to a journaling practice if that feels good or back to a drawing practice with the breath and you can continue with the lines and the dots matching with the breath as you just contemplate what would creative success look like and feel like.
Take the next few moments to find a stopping place if you haven't already.
And if you need to keep going you can keep going.
If you feel ready to stop then just take a minute to sort of sit back and take a look at what you drew and what you wrote.
Just take it in as complete.
See if it's possible to appreciate your efforts regardless of the results.
