In The Moment

WORKSHOP SUMMARY + RESOURCES

Thank you for arriving with such open minds and ready to play.

Here is a summary of what we explored together —
Plus some resources for those inspired to keep exploring beyond the workshop experience.

IDEAS WE EXPLORED:

BEGINNERS MIND

Beginner’s mind is a state of openness and curiosity—like approaching something as if for the very first time. When we bring beginner’s mind to a practice or experience, we let go of preconceived ideas about how it should go or how it went before. Instead, we meet the moment with fresh eyes, like a child discovering something new—more playful, present, and willing to explore without judgment.

ANCHORS

Knowing that our minds will inevitably wander, we use anchors as a way to focus our awareness and attention. We get to strengthen the quality of our attention each time we return to the anchor.

While anchors such as focusing on our breath, or a candle flame are common. In this workshop, we explore physical points of contact, like the tip of our pencil, pen, or brush on paper to bring our attention back to each time.

WABI SABI:

The Japanese aesthetic and concept of Wabi Sabi means embracing imperfection as a way of seeing and appreciating the world.

We begin to see an authentic beauty in worn surfaces, broken things, in scars, and even in our wonky drawings — giving ourselves and others permission to show up as is, imperfect, messy, and human.

JUST THIS

This is a beautiful idea that helps us remember how to distill the fullness of a moment. How, we’re able to notice and appreciate the simplest of things so much more deeply, when we bring full mindful awareness, attention, and presence to one thing at a time.

PRIMING THE SENSES

In a brief chocolate-tasting meditation, we deliberately slowed down and directed our attention to our senses: sight, touch, smell, taste, and sound, and were able to drop into a more perceptive, open state.

You can do this practice with anything you can taste: chocolate, fruit, first sip of coffee/tea/wine, first bite of any food etc…

In experiencing a simple sensory meditation with something pleasurable or beautiful, we are more easily able to connect to our physical body, and thus to a more embodied sense of expansion and gratitude — setting the stage for a range of creative mindfulness practices.

MINDFUL TASTING PRACTICE

COLLECTING “ELEVATED” MOMENTS”

Collecting Moments is essentially a gratitude practice that is more embodied, due its sensory focus. Notice how it feels to savour moments like these, and how this practice can immediately change your state.

Favourites moments generated by previous workshop participants:

Sliding into bed with fresh sheets (esp. if they’ve just been hung outside)
The deep quiet at night after kids have gone to bed
The very first sip of coffee
Watching a child you love, fall asleep
Sweetness of bedtime cuddles
The swell of emotion in a piece of music
The warmth of sun on your face
The first sound of the cardinals early in the morning
The quiet after or during a heavy snowfall
Stepping out of an airport into a new city
The smell and feeling of coming home
Bird Murmuration

CREATIVE MINDFULNESS PRACTICES

MARK- MAKING

We are inherently built to express and make marks. Mark-making is any mark made on any surface with any implement. This practice is a beautiful way to connect internally/externally and when slowed down, and done intentionally, can help to down-regulate our nervous system.

PRACTICES TO EXPLORE:

Explore ‘drawing your breath’ as a way to both check-in and impact the quality of your breath.
Use sounds or music to guide you in mark-making.
Using a pencil, pen or brush, express your inner state (like an internal body scan expressed visually)

BLIND CONTOUR

A practice of embracing imperfection as well as sharpening our noticing skills…

Find something interesting in your line of vision.
Maintain focus, without looking at paper.
SLOWLY trace its contours, notice, and record as much detail as possible).
IT WILL LOOK strange and wonky — find the WABI SABI (the beauty of the imperfection) in it.
See how it somehow captures the energy of the thing, in an interesting and unexpected way.
Perhaps fill in some of the interesting shapes afterward with another colour.

INK + FLUIDITY

Remember the feeling of delight and calm in your chest as your brush first touched the wet paper, how the ink slowly bloomed across the surface?

Explore how you can bring a sense of expansive FLUIDITY into your day?

BONUS PRACTICE

Try writing one of these reminders on a post-it-note and placing it around your physical space as a visual cue.

WABI SABI
JUST THIS
SAVOUR
PAUSE
SLOW DOWN

RESOURCES

BASIC SUPPLIES

Black fine-tipped pens - I’m a fan of ‘Le Pen’ brand, Muji fine line pens, or Pilot V5 Hi-Tecpoint 0.5 pens
Pencils (Blackwing brand is my favourite, but a regular pencil is fine too)
Dry-erase markers/board
White Pens - Uni-ball Signo Broad
India Ink - I often use the Speedball Brand
Watercolour paper - I like ‘ARTIST LOFT’ brand from Michaels for experimenting with.
Keep a small sketchbook or notebook in your bag
Larger sketchbook/paper
(play with scale and how it feels in your body to work bigger or smaller)

CREATIVE MINDFULNESS
SPOTIFY PLAYLIST

A playlist to respond to with pencil, pen, markers, dry-erase marker, or ink + brush.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7jpCrH2e21sUPrggDzXc7V?si=533f40a4352a44ee

BOOK SUGGESTIONS

Stop Look Breathe Create by Wendy Ann Greenhalgh
The Art of Mindfulness by Wendy Ann Greenhalgh
The Zen of Creativity by John Daido Loori

Choose A Muse

1:1 CREATIVE EXPRESSION SESSIONS

For those interested in continuing this journey, but would like some guidance, you can explore my 1:1 + small group sessions.

These sessions make a meaningful gift to yourself, or a loved one, and can be used to get you started on a new creative journey, or to mark a significant occasion or transition.

Now that you have this beautiful foundation, I can create a session for you from a much wider range of materials and methods, customized to your interests, such as watercolour/ink, collage, mindful photography, shadow-drawing, free-writing, and much more.

Learn more about 1:1 sessions here