Crochet - My Yoga

Hello!

Some time ago Kate from Fox Lane mentioned how she used her crochet projects for her meditation. This got me thinking...

I often call crochet my yoga. Those who know me in person are probably well aware that I am not the calmest person... Quite the opposite actually! My hands are always busy and I have problem sitting still. Especially when my mind gets bored. And my mind gets bored easily. Very, very easily.

Over the years friends, family and doctors recommended all sorts of things to help me calm down/to help me rest in myself. So I tried several of them:

- Autogenous training: Drove me mad! I left the sessions feeling for unrested (and quite aggressive)
- Sports (lot of them): Worked but in the end I found training 7 days a week a bit too much
- Yoga: Some classes were far to esoteric for me and others helped but only for a short time. I was relaxed for about 2 hours and then got back to my normal self

And so on... You get the picture.

In the end, I found my salvation in Australia. I told you before that Michelle's family crochets a lot. And I got sucked into the whole thing. While I learnt to crochet in school, I never saw the whole appeal until 2008 when I was surrounded by yarn and crochet hooks. I started to crochet everywhere: at home, on the train, in front of the opera house, at uni... My mum's birthday present - a blanket - was finished while I wrote my first masters thesis. It kept my hands busy and my brain free to wander and explore ideas. It is as if crochet helps me to focus.

Some years later, it still does.

Projects with  a repetitive pattern calm me down and let my mind wander (without any purpose or goal). Granny Squares and blankets like the Corner-To-Corner ones are perfect for this purpose

Projects which involve counting like Amigurumi distract my brain from being overactive. It shouts of scary and crazy ideas and calms me down - a lot!

New projects with new stitches keep my mind happy and occupied. My mind loves to learn new things and has a very fond spot for new crochet patterns (even if they can upset me when they don't work). The funny thing is that I have no patience in real life. Things have to happen right away and I hate waiting. It's different with crochet. I don't mind trying something over and over until it works. Funny, huh? Like therapy...

So, crochet is my yoga! Even better than actual yoga if you ask me: one can crochet (almost) everywhere! Plus there doesn't need to be a calm environment!

Take care
Anne