Spiral Drawing Creative Meditation

This creative exercise, spiral drawing, is brilliant for aligning body, mind and breath. It’s something I often do before embarking on any deep work such as writing or before my main drawing practice to loosen up and re-centre myself. It’s also a lovely standalone creative mindfulness exercise to doodle when you have a spare 5 minutes or need a screen break.

It turns out I’m in great company when it comes to spiral drawing as a mindfulness exercise. In her wonderful book ‘Syllabus’ Lynda Barry suggests you do a top-down body scan as you go. Here’s a video of Lynda doing this exercise.

This creative mindfulness exercise is the perfect example of creativity and mindfulness working together and also a useful method to help eliminate anxious thoughts and feelings. All you need is a pen/pencil and a piece of paper.

“Get the lines as close together as possible without letting them touch. If they touch, you get electrocuted.” — Lynda Barry

Instructions

As Lynda Barry says, this is an exercise in both relaxation and concentration. If possible, set aside a minimum of 5 minutes for this exercise.

1. Before you start take 3 breaths.
2. Draw a dot in the centre of the page. On your next inhale start to draw your spiral.
3. Your task is to get the lines as close together as possible without letting them touch.
4. You must allow your hand to move with your breath and not the other way around.
5. Experiment with taking deep breaths or counting breaths (for example, inhale for a count of 3, exhale for a count of 6).
6. As your spiral gets bigger, experiment with loosening the grip of your hand on your pen or pencil. Does this have an effect on your breathing?
7. If your mind wanders, as minds do, bring it back to the page and your breath.
8. You could even try filling a whole page with spirals.

Follow along with me!

Reflection

• What did you notice while drawing? Did you find it hard to move your hand in time with your breath?
• What happens to your drawing when you deliberately change your breathing?
• Did your mind wander or did you concentrate for the full 5 minutes or allocation of time?
• What overall effect did breathing and drawing have on your body?

And Finally…

I would love to see pictures of your creations. Email your images and thoughts to info@georgiestclair.com or tag me @georgiestclair on Instagram

Have an inspired day!

Georgie x