In session three, “Restoring Stillness” we focus on times of stress and feelings of burnout. Mindfulness and nonjudgmental process-based artmaking are not meant to cure you of stress, but can be helpful tools in managing your stress.
Patricia Kinser is a nurse practitioner and Assistant Professor in the VCU School of Nursing, who does research on mindful interventions for various populations. In this video, she frames our thinking on how we should approach our own stress and shares potential coping mechanisms. She encourages us to try a variety of approaches but always with self-compassion. And Jill Ware, from the VCUarts Depot, shares her personal story of how a new art practice, from dance to drawing, gave her a mindfulness practice free of judgment and how it affected her positively during an extremely stressful time in her life.
In this very soothing and calming breathing exercise, we take a moment to notice our bodies’ natural rhythms and let go of any anxieties we are feeling at that moment.
In this guided meditation, Mary uses her relaxing voice to lead us in an exercise for our imaginations. We conjure up a safe and comforting place and feel it, sense it, and know that we can always return back to it.
Choose one art activity.
Coming soon.