Haiku

Tonight at session three of my art therapy group we began by drawing with both hands simultaneously. I'd never tried it before and it was harder than I thought. I easily started doing a sort of scribble drawing with my eyes closed but when I opened them again I had a harder time. I wanted to use one hand or the other, rather than both. I also felt timid venturing over to the left side of the page with the yellow in my right hand or onto the right side with the green in my left. It was an interesting exercise that I'd like to explore again.

Our therapist then had us draw a circle on the page before closing our eyes and focusing on our breath. When we became centered she asked us "where is your self located?" and "what do you know about your centre?" Not thinking too much we were supposed to feel the questions and focus on any images that arose. We then opened our eyes and created what we had seen. The right half of my circle outline was made of a bent female figure in red. Her head was at the top looking inward towards the centre and her body followed the circle around to the bottom where her feet bent under her knees, escaping the boundaries of the circle. Her hand came forward into the center of the circle ending with her hand directed upwards. In the centre of the cirlce there was a white/yellow radiating glow, surrounded by blackness with dabs of earthy green. After we finished we described out loud what we drew, in the first person, as if our artwork was speaking... I am hunched, protective, nurturing, hidden, glowing, warm, grounded.....my self is in my belly....another member of the group commented that it was courageous to go outside of the circle which I hadn't even realised myself. I really felt as if I was hiding or protecting my self which I suppose makes sense as there were hurtful words spoken and hearts made sore this week and I am still perhaps smarting from issues at work over the last month.

After the warm-up we were to write a haiku poem about ourselves and then do a piece of artwork about it. Haiku she explained is a 5 syllable line, a 7 syllable line and then a 5 syllable line again. She said it was ok if we didn't stick to the haiku format if something was flowing. Mine ended up being 5-5-7-6-5 and read something like the following.

Toes sink in the sand

at the ocean's edge

I pause, waiting for Summer

Still, I watch the waves dance

Soon I will dance too

I sketched feet (with graphite pencil) on yellow sand next to the blue playful water (using watercolour). The figure lifts her pink/purple skirt to expose the legs, the fingers simple pencil outlines grabbing tight to the flowing folds of the colourful fabric. The calves and feet are the focus of the drawing. I suppose this may have come partially from my head (rather than the heart) since as I mentioned last week, a similar image arose in my head in response to the poems that were read last week. But this week I really feel like a deep knowing has occurred and now I am pausing, waiting, watching for the right time to act and this image seemed appopriate. Steady, grounded and strong, yet playful, knowing, watching, pausing at the edge of change.

I just realised that I could edit the above to fit in Haiku format...

Toes sink in the sand

I pause, waiting for Summer

At the Ocean's edge

I watch the waves Dance

Standing still, I'll dance soon too

When I am ready

I think I will try some more this week. How about you?

Love and Peace XX