Is Drawing Mindful?
Doodles, stick men, scribbles. How often do you let your pen flow and create shapes? Eva Lai explains why drawing can be the perfect mindful practice.
By Eva Lai
There are so many things we used to do as kids that would fill us with joy and excitement, but very few of us carry these practices on into adulthood. One such practice is drawing for drawing’s sake - you know, doodling, letting the pencil just glide across the page with no need for rigid structure or constraint. We spoke to Eva Lai, founder of Zense Space, to see how drawing can be a wonderful practice of modern mindfulness.
Here are Eva’s 5 reasons drawing can become a mindful practice.
1. Emotional expression
For some of us, putting how we feel into words can be difficult. That’s totally normal. One of the most wonderful things about expressing ourselves is that there are so many creative mediums to do this through - one being drawing. Through abstract lines, shapes and mark making, we have the opportunity to draw awareness to what’s going on inside, and perhaps use pencil and paper as a way to heal.
2. Fun for fun’s sake
As adults, we like control, and in most things we do we crave an “outcome” or results. Sometimes we forget how to play, to tap into a more childlike state of creating for creation’s sake. Drawing is a reminder that we can create joy without the need for a certain result. Getting messy is also a great practice of surrendering- to let go and see what happens. So if drawing isn’t your bag, painting might!
“As adults, we like control, and in most things we do we crave an “outcome” or results. Sometimes we forget how to play.”
3. Observation & awareness
We all create our own interpretation of life’s events, but sometimes we add unnecessary meaning to them, then get upset when triggers arise. Life drawing can help us to see things exactly as they are, seeing our shadows as well as the lighter sides. From that awareness we can hopefully transfer it into our everyday lives.
4. Meditative movements
Theres’s a type of mindful drawing called mandala. Carl Jung referred to it as "the expression of self". Mandala is the path to the centre, to individuation. As we draw in repetition, we can hear our inner dialogue clearly and begin to understand and observe the self.
5. Finding your flow
When we are engaged in a fun calming activity like drawing, we can forget about our phones, the external world, and go inward for a little while, slow down from our busy lives, and just breathe. Achieving a flow state of mind is something widely spoken about in the wellness world, and sometimes it can seem like a super complex thing to achieve. But it doesn’t have to be! Letting your pencil glide across the page and seeing what happens is such a simple yet fantastic way of experiencing this flow-like state of calm.
Fancy giving it a go?
If you’re new to drawing and want to try in a guided space, check out Eva’s workshops at the link below. You don’t need to be an artist, or even be able to draw very well it’s just about giving it a go.
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Eva is a yogi and artist in London. After spending a decade in the fashion/ art industry, she founded Zense Space as a platform to experiment growth (as a business & a person). It is her joyful attempt of trying to make sense of life ~ through making “Zense”.
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