Pause & Pivot
May's Art Practice to Help Bolster Mindfulness, Acceptance, and Skillfully Using the Power of Pausing
Because we believe when you live your life creatively—the art will take care of the rest.
The Pause Is Our Most Underrated Tool
Out of every word The Art of Rest has been playing with so far this year, I have to tell you all that pause has been giving me that feeling of “oh my god, yes. Why do I not do this more often?!”
In a busy life, we do not always get the luxury of stopping something entirely. Or making a different decision once we’re mid-stream. Full-blown breaks are not always possible, but pauses, other the other hand, are a nourishing way of checking in.
When we pause, we get the opportunity to decide if we are just taking a beat to breathe, or if we want to pivot our course of action ever so slightly.
This month’s mindful art practice allows us to play with these concepts in a highly tangible way without a lot of fuss.
Grab Your Supplies & Get Set Up
Grab your favorite art supplies, or your cheapest pen and paper, and come along for the ride.
As a note— this month’s voice-over serves as a guided practice so feel free to pause the recording here, gather your supplies, and dive right back in together.
Make sure you have a paper and some form of writing, drawing, or painting utensil. This pause processing project can also be done with something three dimensional like clay, if you’re wanting something more tactile.
If your paper is small, I would recommend taping it to the table or surface you’re drawing on, or using larger pieces of paper that are less likely to move around as you draw.
Let’s Start With A Pause
Before you even begin, give yourself permission to pause. The pause can be brief and attentive, or slower and more intentionally bringing the attention inward. Take a breath or two noticing what you’re drawn to.
Don’t begin creating yet, but just notice in this pause if there is an impulse to begin. Get curious about where this impulse is pulling you. Is it a sensation in your body to move? A color that’s catching your eye? A shape that feels resonant?
Permission To Begin
After this initial pause, begin by drawing, painting, or playing with something simple— A shape. A Line. A Color.
Let this settle in. Focus on how it feels in the body, rather than how it looks in front of you.
Give this a couple of minutes to have a mind of it’s own.
Playfully Pausing
While you’re still in the middle of your exploration, find a full-stop. Perhaps close the eyes, notice where the breath is. Notice the body’s posture, ease, or tension points. Briefly scan the body, the mind, the energetic curiosity and ask yourself one question:
Do I want to continue this? Or do I want to shift it?
Listen to the impulse. Try not to be too logical about it. Do you want to shift? Or do you want to continue? On a full cycle of breath, notice what shows up in this pause, make a distinct choice, and then continue with your creative practice.
Repetition As Reflection
Cycle through this process a couple of times. Notice if pausing for longer or shorter gives you a deeper sense of ease. If you have the time, move through this cycle a number of times experimenting with different lengths of pausing.
Notice if you have a tendency to pivot or persevere. Neither one is right or wrong, just notice what you’re trending towards today.
Come To A Close
Whenever this process is feeling complete—or maybe even slightly before you’re fully satiated—go ahead and bring this practice to a close. Notice whatever you notice. Pause one final time to do a bit of inventory around what you felt.
As you shift into the next part of your day,
Ask yourself
Would you like to pivot, or persevere? Trust the process.
With smears of creative colors,
Dagny Rose
Our Community Announcements:
Freeflow River Camp — August 22 - August 25 — Freeflow Institute — An adventure for women of all backgrounds, focused on cultivating river skills, resilience, and tools for creative expression in a supportive, connective environment | Women Specific | Registration Ends May 10
Ground: Forest Retreat — May 29 - June 1 — Yoga, Sauna, Music, Great Food— My dear friend, and extraordinary yoga facilitator is hosting a cozy, spring yoga retreat. The cabins are built right into the hillside an hour outside of Missoula and it will be a sweet mixture of yoga, food, sauna, and time on the land. Her very affordable pricing keeps this yoga retreat accessible and is absolutely worth checking out.
Two Week Land-Based Training — August 7 - August 22 — The School of Lost Borders — This training is an experimental immersion ceremony model that is designed to inspire, strengthen, and create rites of passage containers and ceremonies for women in the modern day.
This sub-section of The Art of Rest, is all about—you guessed it—The Art!
Here we explore the creative practices that bring vitality into our lives. Whether we are creating for the pure joy of it, finding ways to have our art help make our lives better, or intentionally honing in on our creative practices or dreams, “The Art” is going to regularly touch into our creative pulse5.