Put aside 1 hour for this but there is no time limit. This activity is meant to keep us in the “being” mode where we can give our mind a break (parasympathetic nervous system) from the stress of always “doing”.
Here is a digital collage I created using Canva. For this exercise, I didn’t have anything in mind, I just placed random images and text onto my canvas. Once complete, I spent time looking at the themes that emerged such as travel, animals, and the colour yellow. While doing this, my mind is present while observing, turning this into a mindful seeing practice. If my mind wanders, I am aware of it and guide my mind back to the image.
Combined in this activity are three practices:
- Breathing practice – close your eyes and listen to your breath, observe your body for 10 mins.
- Collage practice – drop visuals and text onto your canvas, don’t think too hard just allow yourself to be free and have fun.
- Seeing practice – observe your collage for about 5 mins, taking in the themes, colours, patterns and textures.
There are two ways you can approach this exercise:
- Breathing > Creating > Seeing
- Create > Seeing > Breathing
How to produce a digital collage:
- Sign up at Canva.ca for a free account
- Select “Create Design” top right hand corner and pick a format
- Go to “Elements” located on the left hand side to search for images
- Go to “Text” located under Elements to add text and explore fonts and sizes
- When finished click “Share” >Download>JPG>Download to save file
Alternatively you can also make a paper collage by cutting and pasting clippings to a sheet of paper or scrapbook. I use the digital format because I don’t have access to clippings to work with.
Be sure to come back to your collage whenever you want to do a seeing practice. You can print it out, move it to your device or place as your computer wallpaper.
There is much more you can do with Canva than I have outlined here but this will get you started and exploring the ecosystem. Have fun and feel free to share your finished collage!
