health benefits of knitting – Sycamore Cove Knitting

Take a deep breath, take a seat, and just knit. As knitters, most of us know the secret to winding down, tuning out, and experiencing a deep sense of calm.

Many people call this experience “mindfulness.” It’s something crafters have known and practiced for hundreds if not thousands of years. If you do a Google search for the definition of “mindfulness,” you find this: “a mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique.”

Sound familiar? Knitting allows you to put everyday cares aside, focus simply on the movement of your hands, and truly live in the moment of whether you need to be knitting or purling at this specific second of your life. Some of us need an intricate pattern to accomplish this. Others of us use a simple pattern we know by heart. It all accomplishes the same thing, the state of mind we now call mindfulness.

Hope you’re having a wonderfully calm day of knitting and mindfulness, Cindy

Recommended new book:

Mindful Thoughts for Makers by Ellie Beck: An excellent, well-written book on the meditative nature of crafting by hand. I truly enjoyed this book and read it at one sitting. I appreciated the author’s thoughts on slowing down, taking a break from our busy lives, and enjoying the pleasant simplicity of crafting. She also reminds crafters that it’s the process – not the finished product – that’s important. This book would be great as a gift for anyone who crafts – sewing, woodworking, knitting, crochet, and any other handmade crafting activity.

Cynthia Coe is the author of The Prayer Shawl Chronicles, a collection of interrelated short stories about knitters and those they meet through knitting and sharing prayer shawls.

It’s been a bad week here in America. Two mass shootings, stock market volatility, and the usual political divisiveness. Nerves are frayed, and many of us feel the stress.

For those of us who knit, a breather is just a couple of knitting needles and a ball of yarn away. If you’re suffering from jangled nerves, facing personal challenges, or just dealing with ordinary stress, pick up those needles and knit. You can knit anything – it’s doesn’t matter. The easier the project, the better. The point is to take a few minutes for yourself and your own mental health, check out from the rest of the world, and enjoy the peace and quiet for a while.

In times of deep stress, I’ve always turned to my knitting needles. Several years ago, as I waited to travel to another part of the world to adopt my youngest child, I learned that the children in his orphanage could use handknitted hats and scarves. Delighted to hear this, I used this knitting time to soak up my stress and calm my nerves. When it came time to finally travel, I had an entire suitcase full of warm knitted hats and scarves for children who had no personal possessions, plus scarves for all their caretakers.

Knitting can heal. Knitting is our own little time and space where we can re-group, re-think, and prepare to face the realities of the world once again.

Blessings for peace and resilience, Cindy

Cynthia Coe is the author of The Prayer Shawl Chronicles, fictional short stories about knitters of prayer shawls and how their gifts bless people they know or have never even met. The story “Hats for Orphans” is based on her own knitting of hats while an expectant adoptive mother. Available in e-book and paperback at this link.

Tag: health benefits of knitting

Knitting and Mindfulness

Stressed? Sit and Knit Awhile