Awakening through Art and Meditation
“I am standing blindfolded in front of a large sheet of brown paper. We have just had a half an hour break from a meditation on our habitual ways of being and coming back we have moved into the art room, have picked 2 colors and put on blindfolds. The instruction is to “spend 10 minutes on moving with what your body wants to do”. I am surprised that it doesn’t feel scary at all. I enjoy letting my body express through the colored crayons and when I take off the blindfold I am inspired to continue and expand on the shapes that I have created.”
I participated in the retreat “Awakening through Art and Meditation” at Tögel Art Center in September 2025. The retreat was led by Laura Shekerjian, an experienced meditation teacher that I had met once before, and Sigridur Eythorsdottir, who I mostly knew as the mother of my partner Rósanna, but who has also been practicing psychotherapy, meditation and art therapy for many years.
The retreat was largely what it said in the title. We practiced meditation guided by Laura and then went into the adjacent room and practiced art (painting) guided by Sigridur. I was invited to lead Tai Chi in the mornings before breakfast and was pleased to see the positive impact this had on the other practices during the days.
The themes of the retreat that I remember were:
Moving from sterile to living awareness.
We can become aware of ourselves in many different ways. It is experientially massively different to observe my breath from a tight mind-space, from a space of embodiment and from a space of pleasure where I allow the breath to move me.
Being less stiff and more fluid.
Noticing how tension (like worry) leads me to become small and stiff and how it is possible to make a widening movement by being with experience and not holding myself as separate. And by trusting the separation when it is there without holding on to it. Identifying more with space and less with the contraction.
Moving out of the habitual.
I found a new interest in the importance of becoming aware of my habits (in all aspects of life) as the habitual will always be in the way of growth. At its worst the habitual will mess up my life, at its best it will keep me at a plateau.
Laura gave us a good picture of how the habits of mind can be understood by describing a room full of boxes that you have to go around to get out. There could have been a direct way to the door, but somehow you have put these boxes in the way, so now you need to do a weird little dance around them every time you want to go out the door. The story made me remember cleaning up my grandfather’s house where he had hoarded stuff for years and only had one slim path from the main door to his bed. For some people I imagine that their inner house looks that way. Some people even seem to have angry dogs in their inner houses, that bark as soon as anyone comes close.
I thoroughly enjoyed the mix of guided meditation and painting practice. I found the whole experience to be simple in the best way and found it just lovely to get to express myself through art.
