Needle work is a deeply meditative and embodied ritual. A simple and immediate form of practice where the movements of my hands, posture and breathing slowly relieve my mind of internal noise, creating an expansive internal sense of calm, of space, and of suspended time. Each stitch is a chant itself, inviting stillness and presence.

I tap into an experience that arises outside of my knowing, a creation beyond the conceptual grasp, and a silence that feels palpable. My attention in silence “both observes and participates at the same time” (Sardello, p. 61); attentive to the direct body movement and rhythm of repetition as I do needle work.

Attending to the movement of the body and the thread eases internal tension, inviting a soul-aligning rest. It is a return to the self and a form of dissolving – a symbolic death. (*)

 

w i t h i n a n d w i t h o u t

 
 

s u s p e n d e d m e m o r i e s

 

Our experiences remain in our bodies. Desired and unwanted, they resurface in most unexpected ways. At those times of resurfacing, something is activated, offered and/or unmade. The workings of the inner self always find a way of delivering themselves out of now and here, as if out of nowhere – a deliberate act of the body that wants to be seen, in direct response to memory of its own experience.

Needle work has always been important to my interior self. A way of softening and experiencing directly what is happening within. It is a sensitive process that requires a delicate balance between the body, the fabric and a needle. Every stitch, tightening and loosening of the puncture marks and a trail of thread left along story the interior. In the process of making, I am unmade and made again. (*)