The Meditative effects of Crochet
First a bit of history...
The history of yarn art, believe it or not, in relation to crochet began in the 16th century. Crochet is not nearly as old as knitting, knitting began in or around the 5th century. The Vikings left pieces in many of the bogs of Northern Europe, and some are dated between 800-1066, to the Vikings it was known as "looping" or Nalbinding.
For some people, the thought of sitting still quietly in a room without sight or sounds is quite bothersome. When meditating with their eyes closed, breathing slowly in and out and chanting a mantra is just not their cup of tea.
When you learn to crochet, it is so easy to get to a place where you no longer need to look at your work, but you can watch TV or read a book as you crochet along your project. You can even meditate as you crochet, just by counting or repeating the pattern as you go.
But imagine if you will, you have your needle and yarn and you are sitting in your favorite place. Be it on the front porch of a cabin or the beach house near the ocean. A gentle breeze blows as you sit there calmly chaining 2, double crocheting in the next stitch, chain 1, single crochet in the next.
I find myself taking my projects everywhere, sometimes sitting in front of the kids school, crocheting as I and other parents wait for the kids to come running after the bell rings. Or other times, I will take it with me when i go to visit family, riding along in the car, even when I visit family in the hospital.
To me there is just something about keeping my hands and my mind busy that is calming. I suffer from a neck injury, one that I have to live with for the rest of my life, and crochet is the only way sometimes that I can take away the thoughts of pain.
I am active, walking a mile or so a day, I do yoga (Kind of- not really good at it) and other exercise to help keep my spine moving and bending. But there are days, when it is difficult to even get out of bed, let alone think of exercise. Yet, I do it.Then, when all of it is completed, I sit down with my needle and my yarn and begin my next project.
Perhaps crochet is not for you, but maybe you can find something to do like building models or painting or even bird watching, that can be your go to when you need to meditate.
No one ever said that you cannot learn something new, nor continue something that you already do, but just use it as a way to meditate and calm your body, mind and spirit.
And yes, sometimes a hug is the best form of meditation, a long gentle hug with someone can be healing.
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