This weekend I ran my first online art tutorial for Mindfulness and ‘De-Stressing’.

What a better time to do so than during a full Stage 4 Coronavirus lockdown and ‘State of Disaster’, in Melbourne, Victoria!

Here’s what I have tried, and tips I would offer to anyone taking up a bit of ‘creative relaxation’.

If you’re colouring, get a pack of coloured pencils or markers and some images you find interesting. Try these terms in a google search for some thought provoking results: Black and White Colouring Pages for ‘Celtic Knots’ ‘Tessellations’ ‘Mythical Creatures’ ‘Mandalas’ 'Flowers’ ‘Kaleidescope’ and ‘Symmetry Patterns’. It won’t be too difficult to find images in the Creative Commons domain that you may print for your own non-commercial use.
Find a quiet, comfortable place to sit. Grab a cup of tea or light up a candle if it can help you set a better tone to slow down your pace after a stressful day.
Start by taking three deep breaths and notice your surroundings. As you become more present and relaxed, your breathing will become deeper and your heart rate will decelerate.
Choose a colour that you like and start colouring (also recommended for creative block - just start moving the pencil on the page and don’t stop). You may notice when you have other things on your mind that you place more pressure on the page and your marks may be more forced or choppy. Try not to focus too much on how you want this image to look when it is finished. Instead, try to focus on being present. It may take some practise, as mindfulness is not an immediate state of mind for most people (certainly not for myself, or for creative types who tend to daydream or stress about things that may have not even yet happened!).
Focus on your pencil, your movements and the texture of your materials. You can repeat to yourself the actions you are taking, such as ‘I am taking the magenta pencil and I am colouring the shapes on this page’, ‘I am shading this shape while I am breathing slowly,’ ‘I am listening to the sound of my pencil on the page’, ‘I am breathing in’, ‘I am breathing out’.
Keep colouring. You will notice as the time passes that you become more absorbed in to the mark you are making on the page and less observant of other thoughts and pressures of the day. If a stressful thought is recurrent in your mind, you can hold it there for a moment once you become aware of it, and keep breathing in. Then, try to release the thought as you breathe out. You can even imagine the thought as a colour that is filling up your chest. Then you can breathe it out like a cloud, and let that colour dissolve in to the air around you. You can do this as many times as you like, always returning to counting 3 deep breaths to ground yourself in the present again, if you find that this is helpful.
Notice any tension in your shoulders or in your face. Let your shoulders loosen and relax the muscles around your eyes if you find that your eyebrows are bunched inward. Also, try to loosen the grip on your pencil while still keeping control of your movement.
Aim to try this for 20 or 30 minutes to achieve the best outcome for relaxation. You can always break the time to smaller pieces if that helps, starting with 5 or 10 minutes .

Artists and people working in a range of professional fields often observe that they are in a state of ‘flow’ or total immersion when they are achieving their best work. This is closely aligned to the process of mindfulness when you can redirect distracting thoughts and emotions so to better be in the moment.

Time is going to pass, no matter what you do in life. It can be nice to have a drawing or something that you have created to show for your time, or even just to keep as a record for yourself of some moment in your life.

Even if you have had a bad day, you can turn that around and productively redirect that energy into colour and form - that is something positive. On the other hand, you can also throw your picture away and let all those thoughts from the day go along with it when you have finished processing all of that colour and form!

That is all from me for now.

Best wishes to all!