Meditation and Stress-Management Through Ancient Painting Techniques
January 19, 2013 by Robyn Hussa Farrell
Filed under Art Therapy, Creative Art, Expressive Arts, Expressive Arts Therapies, Featured, Mindfulness, Recovery, Role Models, Self-Care, Wellness, Writing and Poetry, Yoga, Yoga and Meditation, Yoga Therapy
I recently learned of a style of painting called suiboku-ga or Sumi-e that originated with Zen monks — the artform itself is a meditative practice. What better stress-management tool could there be? It employs art, yogic teachings, meditation and mindfulness.
With gratitude to a yogi that I have followed for about 8 years named Leza Lowitz who works with a suiboku-ga artist named Akiko Tanimoto to paint yoga postures using these meditative techniques.
Here, Akiko’s instructor offers a 6 minute video to learn how to paint this way yourself, which I highly recommend watching. The act of watching the video is incredibly meditative as well!
Inspired by the work of Ms. Lowitz and Ms. Tanimoto, I combined their artistry into the following:
image property of Akiko Tanimoto
Other images for you to enjoy by Sumi-e artist Kazu Shimura:
Flickr Sumi-e Kazu Shimura
Flickr Sumi-e Kazu Shimura
