Mindful maker

DIZIN IDA HOSSEINIAN

additional benefits to the practice through sharing."

Mindful crafting hands over the trust to our inner creative, allowing us to express ourselves through the art of making. Letting go of judgement is a key focus of mindfulness and manifesting this through craft can feel like a safe way to be ourselves and be imaginative. When we take responsibility for mistakes in our work and learn how to correct them, we practice patience, confidence, and independence in a safe way. Mindful crafts work well on an individual basis, although studies show that group crafting adds additional benefits to the practice through sharing. Evetts, Miller, and Gay conducted a study using mindful craft guidelines in students. Feedback from the students indicated the usefulness of crafting guidelines in allowing them to uptake leadership roles.

Mindfulness is defined by an awareness of the present moment and non-judgemental acceptance. By being fully present in the moment, we can reduce stress, gain insight and experience true joy. Although a simple principle, in practice mindfulness meditation can be much more challenging to achieve. Guided meditations can provide a strong foundation for our practice, but reaching a meditative state is not necessarily the ultimate way to practice. Socalled ‘mindful moments’ focus on the natural harvesting of a sense of awareness through everyday activities that may include eating, showering, or walking. Several mediationbased mindfulness practices have been developed at universities across the world. But there’s a gap in alternative forms that the practice can take. The world is ever more mass consumerism focused, which leaves little space to fulfil our need for creativity. Crafting can be defined by a need for this creative input. The repetitive act of many crafts such as needlework, knitting, and sculpturing encourages a meditative state and crafts such these give a tactile foundation for our practice. For example, when we knit, we learn to observe to stitches and patterns with our full attention. This practice of relaxation, while also keeping our thoughts in check, harnesses a sense of peace and focus. This is how crafting can be a practice of mindfulness.

At Imperial, mindfulness is offered on an extra-curricular basis as part of a new social society formed this year. And mindfulness is becoming more popular amongst college campuses worldwide, but it is far less widespread amongst STEM disciplines, despite these subjects being stressful for many learners and staff. Art is often insufficiently acknowledged in the field of science, despite it playing a key role. The skill of distinguishing patterns, shapes, and spatial relations allow scientists to become more well-rounded with regards to their observational skills. It also allows them to make clearer representations of the data obtained. It would be positive to see more artwork shared within Imperial, particularly through shared activities such as mindful crafting sessions. Do you have ideas in ways that mindful crafting could be incorporated into Imperial’s community?