Movement does not always mean that you have to be out walking, hiking, dancing. Sometimes our bodies are exhausted. Yet to focus, some of us need to be doing something. I have found that when my body is exhausted and I need to pray through movement, art and creativity become my prayer source.
I am a fiber art oriented person. My first entry into fiber arts was when a congregant who was moving away asked me if I wanted her old loom. She told me she heard me mention my dream of owning a loom and learning to weave. It had been sitting in her house for years unused and she wanted to give it to someone who would put it to use. I excitedly welcomed the loom into my life!
When it showed up in my apartment, I was overwhelmed. There was so much to learn I had no idea where to start. A wonderful artist friend patiently walked me step by step through the hows of warping a loom and weaving. Off I went.
I will admit my first warping was a spiritual lesson in patience. The warping knotted horribly and I remember laughing out loud when I realized that this spiritual practice began with the warping. God was going to teach me how to untangle what was tangled in my life!
Then I began weaving. The rhythm of the shuttle back and forth across the loom became prayer. The movement of the pedals was prayer. Each time I sat down at the loom I lost track of time and place. I was present with the fiber, the shuttle, the loom, the Sacred. I would describe it as Zen.
If I was stressed, I would weave and come away with inner peace restored. If I was anxious, I would weave and feel the anxiety leaving my body. If I was angry, I would weave and notice love and joy coming back into my being. It became and still is a physical form of prayer for me.
The more I wove, the more interested I became in fiber arts. I wanted something that I could do when traveling. So I taught myself to knit. Knitting did not capture my heart in the same way. I tried crocheting. Click. Crocheting gives a similar experience to weaving. Something releases as I crochet. I learned to crochet heart pouches and it became like what I imagine those who knit prayer shawls experience -- each heart pouch a prayer for whomever receives and uses it.
Knitting did click in a unique way, an unexpected way. I had bought bulky yarn and could not figure out how to use it or why I bought it. Something made me watch YouTube videos about arm knitting and I was off. I lost myself in prayer, creating arm-knitted artistic pieces. Each tells a story. Each has a spiritual healing energy knitted into it. They are art. They are healing. They are power objects. They are prayer experienced and embodied.
Art opens our hearts to the movement of the Sacred. As we embark on something creative, Spirit enters into the process. Prayer happens whether we are conscious of it or not. Our hearts express what our minds cannot. The Sacred weaves into that expression healing, hope, peace, joy, compassion, grace.
You do not need to think of yourself as an artist. I didn’t. A mentor called me a master weaver and it took years for me to take that in. I still struggle with that. I do own myself as a creative person who lets fiber art flow as prayer.
What is your creative passion?
It can be anything. Keep your mind open. Creativity is not boxed into traditionally understood art forms such as painting, fiber arts, wood working, writing, etc. Creativity is also cooking, gardening, and more. Be open to owning the ways in which you are creative and experiment with how they can become prayer.
May your creative passion take you deeper and deeper into the flow of Spirit.
