In Session Two, “Catching Breath” we offer you a shortened Artfulness session. Since so many of our excuses for taking time for ourselves are about how busy we already are and our lack of time, we want to reinforce that it is important to take time for breathing, meditating, and process-based, nonjudgmental art making, even when we feel we are too busy to do so. Actually, that is when we probably need it most.
Linda Hancock & Darryl Harper
Linda Hancock, The Director of VCU’s Wellness Center, and Darryl Harper, Chair of VCUarts Department of Music, chose to teach about their very different approaches to mindfulness practice by taking the time to have a conversation about it. Linda has been a long time advocate of incorporating mindfulness into student life at VCU. Darryl has the unique perspective of a jazz musician, who can share how improvisation brings him into the present moment in a heightened state. They want you to know the importance of finding what works for you, and to keep searching until you find the right fit.
Chioke I’anson
We tend to hold our stress in rather than letting it out. In this breathing exercise, Chioke I’Anson leads you in letting go of that stress, as you breathe out twice as long as you breathe in.
Elizabeth Bambacus
Lose yourself in this guided meditation in a scene set beneath a weeping willow on a warm, sunny day.
Choose one art activity.
Drawing mandalas onto stones (or other found objects or magazine clippings) is a meditative practice that yields effortlessly beautiful results.
Join dance educator, Eric Rivera, for “Finding One’s Inner Center, mindful movement stretches that can be done as a daily routine to improve your body and mind.
Live in and capture the present moment while doing this time-lapse video activity, with help from VCU Media Specialist, Max Schlickenmeyer.
In “Writing the Present Moment,” Mary Shelden leads you in a short 10 minute long writing activity that opens you up to what you see and feel in that moment.
Join Justin Alexander, Director of Percussion Studies, and his students in a round of percussion sounds, using rhythms to calm the mind.