Meditation with Needlework

One of the new twists on an old story is meditative embroidery, knitting, crochet, or other needlework.  Of course, a lot of us want to be calmer, less stressed out, and more mindful.  We may have heard about meditation (sitting in solitude and observing the mind), and it all sounded pretty good and maybe useful.  But some of us find it almost impossible to sit quietly in one place for any length of time without something to do.  The sitting would be difficult enough, let alone trying to find peace and stillness at the same time.  

Surprisingly, there is an answer you might not have thought of: needle crafts.  Apparently, one of the ways to painlessly move into meditation is by knitting, crocheting, or doing some other type of needle work.  Yes, that’s right.  That winter scarf might be the very path you have been looking for to take you to a calm, peaceful state.  When you are sitting quietly, keeping your thoughts gently on your work, you might be able to still your mind and find some peace. 

Now, this probably means doing simple, repetitive stitches in a rhythm, not worrying whether the piece gets done, and not really caring much how it looks.  Cross-stitch seems perfect for this.  However, perhaps those really difficult patterns are not for meditative purposes, nor do they promote peace.  In fact, they often cause one to say unfortunate things and throw the offending item across the room.  This is not the project we are looking for.  What we want is a stitch (or a pattern) that is familiar--one that can be done without too much thought.

In this case, the needlework is meant to be simple.  It should be mostly the focus of attention and a way to quiet your thoughts.  If your mind starts to wander (and it will), you bring it gently back to the project and try not get too attached to what you are thinking about.  For this purpose, a straight piece of work would probably be best.  

You will want to find a quiet place to do this practice, somewhere you won’t be distracted.  This probably means not working in front of the TV set with the football game or a Hitchcock movie going.  The idea is to concentrate.  And you want to cultivate a regular practice by doing it every day for a certain length of time.  The theory is that if you have a way to manage stress on a regular basis, you will have something to turn to when things get bad--or worse.

Through meditation, you will probably notice unfortunate habits of mind—you know, those nasty stories you tell yourself about the past or the future.  These may not be true—the past is over, and the future is not yet.  We all get ourselves worked up and unhappy over these stories.  By being still and watching our thinking, we could get to recognize these thoughts and learn to let them pass.  Once you see what you’re doing, you might be able to change it.

So that’s the idea: needle crafts to find peace.  Don’t worry about progress, don’t worry about perfection, and don’t worry about complicated patterns.  Just do it.  This sounds rather simple, but it is certainly worth a try.