Slow Stitching Stress Reduction: Engaging hands frees the mind
I’m bringing together health coaching and textile arts to bring some much needed relief to caregivers. Those who spend many hours each day caring for another person frequently put aside their own needs, and this provides them a time and space where they can care for their own souls and bodies.
This process is also helpful for those who have experienced trauma and PTSD. Our bodies remember traumatic events in order to avoid repeating them, but it can mean difficulty in concentrating, in following through on daily tasks, in managing emotions, in order to be ready if it should happen again. Slow Stitching is helpful in calming the body’s response to stress.
Airplane passengers are instructed to put on their own oxygen masks before helping others. Caregivers are better able to carry out their tasks if they take time out for their own care. Stitching has been shown to reduce heart rate and lower blood pressure, and frees up the mind to do some thinking.
Slow Stitching is not about needlepoint, cross stitch, quilting, or crewel, but about the process of putting a needle and thread in and out of a piece of cloth. It is not about making a finished object, or doing something “right”, but about the process and the journey. Students may rediscover things about themselves that have been long buried or see changes in their stitching related to changes in their lives.