Looking to refresh your mindfulness practice? Step outside: The flowers blooming all around you can actually be powerful meditation tools. Picking blooms and arranging a bouquet, when done mindfully, becomes a fragrant and calming moving meditation—one that may help you feel just as relaxed as a session on your cushion would, says Anthony Ward, author of Being with Flowers. Before you begin, take a few deep breaths. “Allow your focus on the flowers to create space in your mind,” Ward says. Then, try his tips for building a beautiful arrangement every time—so you can focus on the practice, not worry about the end result.
1) Use odd numbers: Always work with at least three of each different kind and color. “Designs look better with odd numbers of each varietal,” says Ward. “It’s a key proportion in sacred geometry.”
2) Color and species diversity is key: Ward’s favorite color combo is blue and yellow, though any hues far from each other on the color wheel will work. Try not to repeat flower species in different colors. For example, pair pink roses with white lilies rather than with white roses.
3) Scale matters: To keep the blossoms as the focal point, don’t go any taller than one-and-a-half times the height of the vase.
By Deanna Kern, Photo: Jennifer Olson; Prop Stylist: Nicole Dominic
This article was first published in the print edition of Yoga Journal Singapore, which is now Yogahood Online.
