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Meditation by any other name

Writer's picture: Rebecca (a yarn enthusiast)Rebecca (a yarn enthusiast)


I learned to crochet at around age 10. My grandmother taught me how to crochet a chain stitch and that Summer I made countless bookmarks from yarn.


Years later with young children of my own, I went to the local yarn shop in Emmaus, Pennsylvania and learned how to knit. I made a number of knitted items and rekindled my love of fiber crafts that year. I even recalled the basic crochet stitch my grandmother had taught me years before and added a couple crocheted pieces to my collection of finished work.


The time I spent knitting and crocheting ebbed and flowed over the years and I often found my schedule too busy to accommodate me sitting quietly and enjoying the rhythmic pace of yarn and needles or yarn and hook. I missed it – but just didn’t have the time.

Once my young children had grown into adulthood and left home, I found a lot more free time in my schedule and was happy to be able to pivot to my yarn hobbies in that new phase of life.


Around that same time, I also wandered into studies in metaphysical spirituality where I began to explore practices like meditation.


I learned many wonderful things in my time as a member of an organized metaphysical spiritual organization, and am grateful for the time I spent in that community and all I learned. Today as I find more time is available for me to knit and crochet, I have found an interesting intersection between these 2 phases of my life.


My yarn time ramped up proportionately to the fear that was rising around the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020. Large blocks of time at home in isolation and the ready availability of online shopping and contactless delivery gave me an opportunity to explore more challenging patterns and more intricate yarns as well as to spend time on silly smaller projects – just because.




As the pandemic dragged on and other life challenges popped up here and there, I increasingly found myself turning to my yarn stash and knitting needles or a crochet hook to calm my mind and settle my nerves. It worked every time.


I realized that much like the practice of meditation, where new students are taught to “follow the breath”, each movement of the crochet hook or knitting needle to pick up a strand of yarn, loop a strand over or slide it here or there is as rhythmic as our breathing.


Like a meditation practice, I found myself benefitting from the time I spent in the rhythmic knit and purl or the chain 3, yarn-over, pull through the loop. I knew my yarn meditation practice was in full swing when I found myself headed to the local yarn store one evening after a difficult day at the office. It has become my go-to practice for finding peace, calming my nerves and returning to my center.


Some of this is due to the fact that the first crochet hook I ever held in my hand was my grandmother’s, and the first chain stitches I made were guided by her patient hand. Other factors include that my great-grandmother also crocheted and I have many wonderful childhood memories of my grandmother and her mother, crochet hooks and yarn.


I also have fond memories of learning to knit and those first items I knitted: a yellow owl vest for my toddler daughter and a baby blanket for my infant son. Those were simpler times with less stress, although I likely did not understand them as such at the time.

Many people believe that a spiritual practice needs to be done in a spiritual setting, surrounded by the accoutrements of consumer spirituality such as Tibetan bowls, gongs, and meditation pillows.


While there is nothing wrong with any of that, we should take care to remember that true spiritual practice is not performative, and can be as simple as some yarn and metal utensils. I supercharge the impact of my yarn meditation practice by doing a lot of my work for others (gifts).


As I closed the door on my affiliation with organized spirituality, and a pandemic settled onto our land; I learned that everything I had been searching for and tithing toward and seeking – was already here.


If you’re seeking peace, solace or answers to some of life’s more difficult questions, I encourage you to look back at the seemingly simple activities you once enjoyed and consider reconnecting with them.


I found peace in colorful strands of yarn in various widths and fiber content. Your peace may lie in cooking, sewing, mechanical tinkering, nature or any number of hobbies and skills. The “what” doesn’t matter. It only needs to be something that speaks to your heart, brings you joy, and grants you some peace.


And,… instead of tithing your money to some talking head with dubious credentials; give to your local food bank, donate to Ukraine relief or turn your hobby into a way to serve others.

Many people send me messages that they agree with my perspective, but are still attending a metaphysical center or church for the socialization. I support that 110%. You do you! ❤️ but I’ll bet there are socialization opportunities related to your new spiritual practice, too. (I’ll be socializing at the local, independent/neighborhood yarn store later this week).


We don’t need people with credentials and titles or a spiritual organization to teach us “how” to do our spiritual practice. We simply need to reconnect with our true selves and the things that resonate with and support us.


It’s really that simple.

 

(C) 2023 Stich 'n Dish

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Pittsburgh, PA, USA

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