How are you doing? I genuinely mean that, to you, who has come here to read this post in this moment.

As I laid down on my yoga mat this evening decompressing my back after being outside in the garden all day, arranging plant pots, organising the garden and generally cleaning the space getting it looking a little more presentable, I thought about people and I began to wonder how others out there were doing. I wondered what people were engaged in at that moment, are they enjoying this space where we have more free time? Are they spending more time with their families and what does that look like for them? I hoped in that moment in my heart that despite the calamity, that people in general are doing alright and at this point have found some peace in the situation that we are all in together.

Maybe you’re reading this and you have not found peace within this time or managed to find yourself in a new rhythm. Maybe you’re feeling anxious, angry, let down or even sad. I invite you to take a moment here with me. Bring to mind something or some place that brings you comfort, that makes you smile, that makes you feel warm inside. This could be your pet, a friend, a lover, a family member, a body of water some place like the ocean or a lake. Maybe it’s a smell. Think of that thing or that place right now and hold on to it in your mind.

After you read on and get the gist of this, close your eyes and be with whatever it is that brings you comfort at this time. Interact with it, see it in your minds eye, touch it, think about it’s feeling, listen to it, embrace it. Taking deep belly breaths notice how this interaction makes you feel in your body, this place or thing that brings you comfort and hold the feeling - this experience in your body, for a few moments or however long feels good to you.

Know that this

is something you can

come back to and do

at anytime.

I thought of this as I laid down on my mat. I thought of the flow and peace I have found during this time, I felt that not everyone may be feeling this and I thought of something I could offer. There have been many ideas bubbling up in the last three months. I wrote an entry entitled Practice As Purpose back in January, speaking on what felt at the time and what I now know to be the transformation of my work, of myself, and the way in which I conduct myself as an Artist.

During the last five years I have mainly been in practice. I have been spending dedicated time with myself, getting to know myself at a very deep level. I have been emptying out what I no longer need to carry, hold on to and identify with and peeling back and pulling off layers, in an attempt to have the most authentic version of myself be present, unearthed. It is my desire to live and move and operate in the world from this place, my most authentic being. Struggling to play along or even be a part of the fashion industry or in this world’s system because I can see the whole operation for what it is, I have been slowly developing my own ‘curriculum’ if you like, not just for my life and daily living but for my work and all that I want to bring out from this space I have been incubating.

All that shall come from this space out into the world as offerings to others has been put in practice by myself. Everything that I look to offer to others through experience and intentional shared space are all things that I have spent time practicing and are activities that have aided me, supported me through my journey and my growth thus far. My desire and intention is to share these practices that I hold so dear to my heart and sacred because of what they have been to me (in times of despondency, confusion, and sadness), to share these practices with others and opening space for us to explore ourselves together through the playfulness of art and creation.

So much healing can come out of self-acceptance. As I spent time on my yoga mat this evening in pigeon pose I came to realise this. That this is what this work or this overall practice I’ve been in is bringing me to. The acceptance of myself, the knowing that I am okay and there’s nothing I need to do, chase, or accomplish to warrant that.

I wish to hold space for others to enter into exploration through art, through play, through creativity and upon this to experience their own healing, whatever this may be.

Until the next post.