Incorporating mindfulness practices into our daily routines can result in wide-ranging benefits for our mental and physical health, including stress reduction, memory-related benefits, and increased emotional regulation. What’s stopping people from taking advantage of these benefits? These practices are widely viewed in our society through the lens of meditation or yoga, which can sound inaccessible, or even boring to some. In a time where overstimulation is prominent and social media is constantly grabbing our attention, some of us may benefit from a less obvious, more engaging approach to mindfulness. This is where art and creativity come into play. 

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What Is Mindfulness?

Despite gaining popularity in the United States over the past few decades, there can still be some misconceptions about what mindfulness is actually about. To give some context on what this concept is and how it’s used, we first need to dive into its history a bit.

Mindfulness is a practice that has endured for thousands of years, stemming from eastern religions and philosophies, specifically Buddhism. The Buddhist religion  focuses primarily on the journey to enlightenment, incorporating forms of meditation to achieve a state of mind in which one experiences a profound and nonjudgemental awareness of every aspect of themselves and their environment. This is the experience of mindfulness. Noticing the sounds you hear, the temperature of the air around you, the feeling of your breath cycling through your body – All without judgement.

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The Benefits

Regularly and intentionally entering a state of mindful awareness boasts many well-researched benefits. Some of these manifest as emotional and cognitive improvements, while other positive changes might occur in one’s physical health and wellness.

Here are just a few examples of the potential benefits of incorporating mindfulness into your day-to-day life:

• Overall reduction in stress
• Increased resilience to stressors and negative situations
• Decreased rumination (dwelling on negative thoughts)
• Decreased depression symptoms
• Improved focus
• Increased working memory and improved executive functioning
• Improved functioning of the immune system
• Improved emotional regulation skills

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Creative Alternatives to Meditation

In contemporary American society, the term “mindfulness” has become synonymous with meditation, yoga, and breathwork. While there is a great deal of value in these practices, they can also feel like an intimidating place to start for people who are just beginning to explore the benefits of mindful awareness. 

In addition to the potentially daunting aspects of mindfulness practices, the majority of us have a built-in source of distraction in our day-to-day lives: our phones. Frequent notifications, obligations, and temptations to scroll through apps like Instagram and TikTok result in burnt-out, frustrated, easily distractable brains. Not really the ideal place to start when beginning your mindfulness journey.

So how can we bridge the gap between doom scrolling and meditation? Well, we can get creative (literally) and pour our focus into making art. Now I don’t necessarily mean this in the “let’s make a masterpiece” kind of way – There’s no requirement for artistic ability when accessing a state of mindfulness through creativity. All you need is an open mind and a little bit of creative curiosity.

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Using Art-Making as a Mindfulness Tool

In conducting a brief internet search on this topic, you may find suggestions along the lines of mandala drawing, mindful doodling, or drawing your breath. These activities aren’t necessarily a bad place to start, but they’re also not always ideal for a variety of reasons.

Mandala making, for example, is an artmaking process rooted in eastern philosophies involving the creation of patterns that emanate from one central point. This process provides an easy-to-follow base structure for mindful drawing, but can bring up ethical concerns of cultural appropriation if introduced without respect and education on the history of the process. Mindful doodling and breath drawing exercises can also be useful tools, but may be challenging to start on your own if you’re just beginning to experiment with mindfulness activities.

For creativity and art-making to be truly impactful in achieving a state of mindful awareness, it needs to be tailored to you as an individual.  In his book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi explains the profound psychological state of awareness and focus achieved through creative expression. This “flow” state, as he calls it, is experienced when an individual is engrossed in the activity they are participating in, and are doing so without judgement of their own ability or the outcome of the activity. Sounds a lot like mindfulness, doesn’t it?

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How to Find “Flow”

Though it may sound daunting, achieving this “flow” state may be easier than you might expect – In fact, you’ve likely already experienced this state of mind at some point in your life.

Take a moment to think back to a time when you felt a natural joy, rhythm, and confidence while working on something specific. What were you working on? Why do you think you had this experience of ease and joy? Maybe you were cooking your favorite recipe or working on a home-improvement project. Maybe the outside world melted away for a moment in time, and all that was in your line of focus was that experience. If you can recall a time in your past that matches this description, then you’ve at least had a brief encounter with being in a state of “flow”.

Now that you’ve recalled a past experience of being in this state of mind, try your best to translate its most crucial aspects (the things that made it so enjoyable and easy to focus on) into a creative experience that you can incorporate into your daily or weekly routines. I know, easier said than done. Here are some examples to get you started:

The Art Part

It may take some patience and trial & error to find what creative practice works for you, so keep in mind these points as you embark on your journey to find flow:

• The process should relate to your interests and curiosities. If you’re interested in nature, use that as inspiration!
• The art medium you choose (paint, pencil, clay, etc.) should be accessible for you and enjoyable to use. If you have the motivation and means to access a pottery studio,  great! If not, that’s ok – Find something that fits within your interests, abilities, and budget.
• You don’t need to be “good” at art to benefit from this! This is all about the experience, so leave any self-judgement at the door.

Finally, be patient with yourself and listen to your intuition. Your personality and interests will help guide you to a creative process that works for you, so just enjoy the journey!

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References 

• American Psychological Association
• Coholic, D., Schwabe, N., Lander, K. (2020). A scoping review of arts-based mindfulness interventions for children and youth. Child & Adolescent Social Work Journal, 37(5), 511-526. 
• Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience. Harper Perennial.
• Lindsey, L., Robertson, P., Lindsey, B. (2018). Expressive arts and mindfulness: Aiding adolescents in understanding and managing their stress. Journal of Creativity in Mental Health, 13(3), 288-297. 
• Wardi-Zonna, K. (2020). Finding Buddha in the clay studio: Lessons for art therapy. Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association, 37(1), 42-45.