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, 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.
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.
Lose yourself in this guided meditation in a scene set beneath a weeping willow on a warm, sunny day.
Choose one art activity.