Japanese Calligraphy for Mindfulness and Relaxation: Creative Self-Care

1. Introduction: If you've ever wanted to learn about the 2 thousand year Art, Japanese calligraphy and how it ties into being more mindful and intentional in our data. Then this class is, are you Nice to meet you all? My name is Oreo cutoff. I've had the pleasure of being a student of Japanese calligraphy for over 15 years and have been gifted that calligraphy name, say SEM. I have learned that survive practice and understanding of the principles of Japanese calligraphy. It can teach us how to be more mindful and present in the moment. In this class, we'll first explore the history of Japanese calligraphy and how it ties into Japan's three traditional arts. Well then go over the five main principles of Japanese calligraphy and understand how it guides us in understanding how to be more present through a practice of writing calligraphy. From there, we'll explore the creative flow state of Japanese calligraphy called machine, which is mind and no mind. And then we'll wrap up with understanding how Japanese calligraphy ties into our overall lifestyle. For your class project, we move on to the practice portion of Japanese calligraphy, where you will be tasked with writing one of my favorite Japanese characters that I think really connects us with ourselves. Which means to feel. This five-day Japanese calligraphy challenge, which is your class project. You will be writing every single day for five days. And this will really serve as a foundation of starting your Japanese calligraphy journey. I hope to see you there. 2. Japan's Three Traditional Arts: Welcome to your class on Japanese calligraphy for mindfulness and relaxation. Let's first start this class by exploring the traditional Japanese arts. Japan has what we call the sun, which translates to Japan's three traditional arts. These arts are rooted in 2 thousand years of practice. The principles of each art are said to show us how to connect with ourselves. And concepts that you may have heard such as Bobby Sabi, which equal each year all parts of these arts. And it's through these practices. Now we can understand what it means to understand these concepts. So what are they? So you may be able to guess, because the three pictures here connect to the three arts. But they are Japanese calligraphy, flower arrangements, and tea ceremony. So these are what we call Japan's three traditional arts or dental son-in-law. What's really interesting about these traditional arts is that we can see what it means by looking at how it's said and written in Japanese. So here on this slide, you'll see that the three traditional arts are listed. So calligraphy and Japanese is shoudl, flower arrangement. The second one is cuddle. And tea ceremony is subtle. And you'll see here that even if you don't understand Japanese, the way that you write it, there's two characters for each art, and the second character is the same. So if you look, this isn't Deloitte in Japanese. And it's a really important japanese character. Because what it means is it means path, way, and journey. And so if we translate that, these arts actually mean the way of writing is what shuttle is. And that's because the first character, HSL, is the word for writing. And so this means that Japanese calligraphy is the way of writing. Pharm arrangement or caudal, which is the second one. You'll see is the way of flowers. And this is because COP, which is the first character here, is the Japanese character or flowers. And last but not least, saddle. It is the way of t because SOP, which is the first character here, means T. I want everyone to take a moment to take a look at these three arts. I always find it so fascinating how even within these words, if you take a look at the meaning behind it, I feel as though it gives it a deeper sense of what this art is. Like I mentioned though, is a really important character in Japan. Because this character, which means way and path, is something that reminds us that it is a journey to understand, to practice, and to live a life practicing these arts. And so it said that these arts can provide us with the opportunity to understand how we want to shape our life's journey. 3. Japanese Calligraphy Overview: So let's take a deep dive into understanding shuttle, which is calligraphy, or as we just learned the way of writing. There are three main components when it comes to calligraphy. There is a piece of paper, we have a brush and you have sweet ink. And so at a very high level, Japanese calligraphy is the art of writing. Calligraphy. Using a Japanese calligraphy brush, dipping it in ink and writing it on paper. 4. Principle 1: No Double Dipping: So let's dive deeper into the Japanese calligraphy principles. And what I mean by principles is that they are various rules that we want to be able to understand when we are practicing Japanese calligraphy. The first shuttle principle is no double-dipping. So what we mean by this is that one must finish each character with the ink that they have on their brush. So Japanese calligraphy has different characters. Each character has a set of strokes that are included within each character. When you are practicing Japanese calligraphy, typically, you can't go back and double dip for each character. And so what this means is that you are respecting your past decision and adopting your art accordingly. You know, it's interesting because the natural notion is probably trying to go back and dip in more ink to finish your character. However, what Japanese calligraphy is trying to teach us is that there is no such thing as being able to go back to the past and change your decision. What you can do, however, is except this decision and learn to adapt your art. And through practicing this principle. What's really fascinating is that you'll learn that there's so much ability in adopting your art through changing the pace of your strokes, through changing the way you use your brush. And it actually creates something that you wouldn't have been able to if you did go back and try to put on more ink to finish the character. 5. Principle 2: One Stroke Only: The second shadow principle is one stroke. Only. Know same stroke can be repeated when you are writing a certain character. Once you write as character stroke, it cannot be repeated. The significance of this is that it shows us of life's impermanence and moving nature. I will share that. When I was practicing Japanese calligraphy growing up, this one was very hard for me. Sometimes you have certain strokes that you aren't necessarily the biggest fan of, and you wish you could do it again because it ruined the balance. It doesn't look as though you wanted it to. There are an infinite amount of reasons why you want to redo a stroke. And sometimes I will even say, I will be honest and shared that I tried going back and doing it again. And I thought that no one would notice or my teacher wouldn't be able to tell. And I would go about it and trying to do another stroke. But what's interesting is that what you learn over time is that one, it is. You can definitely tell that it has been repeated and there is a sense of inauthenticity that comes to life when you observe a piece that has had, had multiple strokes for the same stroke. Second, you'll see that even though you initially may have thought that it would have looked better, it does ruin the piece in many ways. And you will see that if you move past the struggle of and desire wanting to go back in time to repeat a stroke and let go. You will often be surprised by the pieces that you are able to complete when you accept this task decision. And you learn how to complete your piece. With this principle. 6. Principle 3: Character Flow: So the third shoudl principle is character flow. So each character that you write has a flow or order of strokes that we want to follow. And these are created when the words originally came to place. And this is because there is oh, order of process within the strokes that align with the character dynamics, with the balance. And it's really created in a way so that it's most natural when you are writing these characters. And what does this teach us? So this teaches us not. There is an importance of process and order. I think it's a really interesting time that we're in where there seems to be this notion that you want to get to 0 to a 100 overnight. And it's almost an expectation that you want to do more as better, you want to jump to achieve certain things. But I remember having this natural inclination when I was younger as well. But I am reminded through this principle, not there is a process and there isn't important to appreciating and taking time to learn about these processes, to go through it, to appreciate it. And so this principle of character flow reminds us that it is okay to appreciate the beauty and taking our time to understanding the process, to learning the steps. And really almost it's a way of giving ourselves permission to enjoy the slow, enjoy the process, and enjoy the order. 7. Principle 4: Perfection is an Illusion: Shadow principle for perfection is an illusion. And Japanese calligraphy, the concept of a perfect piece does not exist. When you're practicing calligraphy, you do use your teachers piece as a guide and example. However, you are not meant to simply copy their work. This is really interesting because it touches on the concept of lobby Sophie. While Hobbes, hobbes is often used in the design world, if you take a look at the deeper meaning, it's something that you could use in the way of approaching your life. Will be savvy. Is this idea that to be authentic is to follow nature. And nature has three main properties. One that is imperfect, one that is impermanent, and one that is incomplete. So you will see that the principles of calligraphy aligned with this principle number four, that there's no such thing as perfect is very much an example of this. What you will find is that by letting go of this notion of trying to be perfect, it allows our mind to be calm. And it gives us a moment to be mindful and understand that it is not that we are going for perfection, but it is going for creating a unique piece that aligns with your craft. 8. Principle 5: Calligraphy Name: The fifth principle of shovel is Google. Goggle is your calligraphy name, is gifted to you by your calligraphy teacher. When he, she or they believe your calligraphy speaks its own truths. When you are learning Japanese calligraphy, you are training under a specific teacher. And so I trained under Kurosawa since it up north in Sendai, Japan. And what's interesting is that there's not necessarily a set year or years of experience or certain level that you are given a Goggle. It's actually given to you once your teacher believes your calligraphy has a language or character of its own. We explored in the last principle that perfection is an illusion and we're not meant to simply create a copy of what our teacher is writing. You are meant to use it as a guide and create your own piece. So how do I know this? I have had the pleasure of practicing calligraphy ever since I was a child and over 20 years of experience being a shadow students. And my calligraphy name that was given to me is say set. C is the character for stars. And saying means to rinse, to cleanse and purify. And so he gifted me this name because he saw and also wanted to remind me that he hoped that my writing would illuminate the dark sky with the brightness of shining stars. This is a really important moment within Japanese calligraphy. And this principle reminds us that it is not at a certain point that is externally validated of whether it's years of experience or a certain rank that you are given a calligraphy name. It is more when you're writing has a life of its own. You're writing speaks your truth and is a reflection of your inner world. 9. Calligraphy Flow State: Mushin: Using and practicing these principles, the ultimate state that you want to achieve while practicing calligraphy is a state called machine, which is written here. Machine translates to mind of no mind. And it is a mental state where you are free of all thoughts, all desires, and all assumptions, and you are fully present. And in the moment. Let's take a look at this word. So the first part of this word means nothingness and shrink, which is the second character here, is the character for your heart and your soul. So here it's telling us that the state is where our heart and our soul is completely empty. There's nothing. This you may be thinking right now is harder to achieve than it looks on paper. Because if you are thinking about being in machine, you're actually not in machine. So in calligraphy, this idea is that instead of focusing on achieving the state which would be not beneficial to the state, what we wanna do is through the practice of calligraphy achieved such a state. This may be similar to the flow state where, you know, in psychology it refers to this idea where you're completely in the moment and you lose track of time. 10. Japanese Calligraphy x Mindfulness: So how does calligraphy tie in with mindfulness? Let's take a look at the principles that we've reviewed. The first no double-dipping and one strip only. This principle is said to teach us that while we can't go back in time, we can accept and learn how to adapt our art of now to create something truly unique. Is this idea that we cannot go back in time. That is the same with calligraphy, but also in life. And it is said that through the practice of this principle in calligraphy, we're able to understand how to be more present, how to accept and appreciate our past decisions, and work to be flexible and adapt our art. I remember when I was practicing calligraphy, these two principles were really challenging for me. I didn't know why. We couldn't go back and put on my ink or repeat the same step. But it was through the years of practice that I would then reflect on the pieces that I have wrote to see that it is one not as authentic. You could see that it no longer holds than a natural movement of time within the piece. But also, you learn that once you accept the fact that you can't go back in time, you can create the most stunning pieces of changing the pace of learning how to work with the brush. You're able to express and create something that you wouldn't have been able to if you were caught up in the moment of your past decisions. Here, this helps us to be mindful because it reminds us that we can't go back in time. But what we can do is accept our past decisions and learn how to then make different decisions based on respecting what you've done in the past. The second is character flow. Here we explored how Japanese calligraphy characters have a order and process to each character. This is to really respect the natural process and order of things. How does this tie in to mindfulness? Sometimes right now in this day and age, there's this notion that we want to get to 0 to 100. And I click of a second, or we want to be able to achieve a certain level of mastery in five times quicker than what the average person does. Or there's almost this expectation that faster is always better. And the more quicker you're able to achieve something, it means that we are better. However, I think that Japanese calligraphy helps us to understand and really accept that we all have our own way of doing things. And there's beauty in understanding that things take time. There is an order to things, and mastery is not something that you cannot cheat your way into doing. And I think that's also said in life where you don't have to always go so fast. There's so much beauty that you perhaps would not be able to recognize if you didn't take your time in life. And so I think that this principle of character flow reminds us of this. The next one, letting go of perfectionism. We explore that in Japanese calligraphy. There's no such thing as a perfect piece per se. It's more about learning how to be able to create something that speaks about who you are while using your teachers. Pieces as a guide. This one was really important for me in my mindfulness journey. I really struggled with perfectionism growing up. And I will say it led me to short-term excellence in many ways. But inside, I was always very stressed. I was really scared. I thought that if I wasn't perfect, I wasn't good enough. And it really was a constant stressor for me. Through understanding this principle of Japanese calligraphy, however, it allows us to let go of this notion that there is such thing as a perfect piece. And calligraphy there really isn't. And so what we will find is that allowing yourself to not be perfect is what will help us relax. Take a few deep breaths and being more Kong and in the moment. Next, a tool to check in with ourselves. It is said in Japanese calligraphy that are light, are writing does not lie. While our mind may trick us sometimes to say everything is fine or I'm not stressed. It is said that if you look at your pieces that you've written, it will tell you the truth. There are many times where I thought I was completely in machine. I was very present and I thought I did a great job. Only two. After finishing my piece, take a look at what I've written and you could see that I was distracted. My writing is not smooth, clear, It seems confused and it actually has helped me throughout my years to be able to check in what's going on inside me through seeing the pieces that I have created. So taking a look at Japanese calligraphy and how it ties into mindfulness, what we want to do is take a step back because Japanese calligraphy is an expression of how we want to take care of our well-being. Here we have the wellness framework that's inspired by Japanese culture. There are four main aspects of this. Let's talk through each one. The first one, presence and mindfulness. This is the one where we have been exploring in this class where we talk about the traditional Japanese arts and how it's Principles teach us how to be more present and mindful today. Next, authenticity and lobbies, albedo. So here we are understanding what it means to be authentic and how to be authentic by appreciating lobbies, Hobby, Lobby. Sabi has three main principles. We accept and appreciate that we are imperfect, incomplete, and impermanent. By understanding these three principles and applying it to our authentic self. It gives us a framework and way of thinking how to be our true selves. Next, body and soul care. This is this idea that for holistic self-care and to really have a lifestyle where you are taking care of yourself in its entirety is to take a look at your body as well as your soul. Last but not least, if you guy, guy is the Japanese concept that refers to reason for being, unfortunately, it has been mistranslated and miscommunicated as the AQI Venn diagram. But this is not accurate. In Japanese culture. There's no such thing as a Venn diagram. And this Venn diagram was created by a Spanish astrologer. Name Andrews is an Aga, irrespective of the CQI concept. Guy is much more about how you can be your authentic self every day and take action accordingly that aligns with who you are. 11. Class Project: 5-Day Calligraphy Challenge: So now that we have been able to explore the principles and how it ties into mindfulness. Let's jump into your class project where you get to practice. What we've learned today. Class Project is a five-day Japanese calligraphy challenge. What I would love everyone to do is first go to the class resource section of this class. And you will find a PDF that's called the five-day Japanese calligraphy challenge. Here it's going to include a workbook that includes the instructions that I'm going to go over now, as well as the accompanying self-reflection questions. This workbook is to be completed over the course of five days. And each day there is a Japanese calligraphy practice section along with the reflection questions. So for the calligraphy writing piece, while I did share that, it's typically done in with a calligraphy brush and ink. What you can do is actually have a calligraphy pen. If you have one, if you don't, no worries. You could use a drawing pen, a marker, a pencil. Really whatever you have available. And I will share that these are the Japanese calligraphy pens that I typically use when I practiced calligraphy. And so I will provide that in the class description. If you are curious about those pens as well. Each day has a calligraphy practice page and a reflection page in the workbook. You can be able to find which day is appropriate by looking at the title section. So for example, for your first day, please kindly compete the day one pages. Please make sure to read the daily reminders page before completing your daily calligraphy practice and reflection. These are reminders that you want to read before you do each calligraphy practice and reflection. And they're really serving as reminders for us to check in with ourselves, to slow down, to really help create a moment of presence for you before you practice. For day five, which is the last day of your class project, there is an additional page that will serve as the wrap-up of your project. Please kindly take a photo of this page and upload it to the class project section of this course. That would love to see everyone's pieces as well as what the piece means to them, which is a part of the last exercise for wrapping up this project. And lastly, if you have the time, I would love it if people can leave a comment on one other project. Building a sense of community is really part of self-care. And going back to the holistic body and soul care, community is in a central connection that the soul seeks. And so this really helps us and reminds us that we are all on this journey together. For the five-day exercise, we are going to be writing the character count, which means to feel every single day. And this is going to be really interesting because you will find that now that we have a base of writing the same character, you're able to explore your practice even further every day by observing your experience. So let's now take a look at what KM or to feel means. This is a Japanese character for two feel, which is red. And what's really interesting about Japanese characters is that it is pictorial. Meaning the word and the way it was formed can help us understand what it is trying to tell us is made out of a top section and a bottom section. You'll see on the top-left, there is a box and this represents your mouth here. And on the right-hand side, this is the character for AKS. So the first part is telling us that you are gasping from the movement of a large ax. And then the second part, which is the bottom in green, is the character Cocoa. Cocoa is the character. That means your heart and your soul. This is telling us that to feel comes from our heart. So combining that to feel means that it is the interactions that move your heart and soul that make you feel something. And second, to no one's feeling through your five senses. This is such a powerful insight. I believe tells us about what it means to feel something, is telling us that one, to feel something comes from your heart and your soul, your mind, but your soul and your heart. The second part is saying that it is through what we see in this world where our senses, for example, our mouth is gasping from an outside incident of an ax. To feel is to know your feelings through the five senses that your body is telling us. I wanted to go over the character flow as we learned in this class. And Japanese calligraphy has an order for each character. And here is the order that you want to follow from one to 13. And to ensure that you are respecting the character float. You will find that within each day, this character count and the order is available on the workbook so you don't have to print it out here or how this course available while you're practicing the workbook. And lastly, like I mentioned, there's going to be some self-reflection questions included within the workbook. And this is a great moment to check in with yourself and really find that relaxation and calm. So here we have a self-reflection section that's going to be included within each day. And there's three areas for focus, presence and ease of writing. And what I would love everyone to do is write themselves from one to ten in terms of their experience. There is an additional section for writing down any thoughts, emotions, or feelings that may come up for you as you're writing your daily calligraphy piece. Keep in mind that the intention is to be in a complete flow state. However, because this is most probably your first time trying it. There will be thoughts, there will be emotions, there might be some hesitation, some nerves that come off for you. I would love everyone to understand that this is completely normal. And what we wanna do is through practice. Really see our progress on how our inner world is reflected in our writing. So each day you'll have four practices for each column that you write. And the intention is that every day you're going to have four opportunities to write com. Then you're going to then move on to the reflection. How was your experience writing these calligraphy pieces? Did you find yourself having a lot of presence, focus, ease of writing? What other thoughts, emotions, and opinions came up for you. These are all really important and insightful things that you can observe while you are practicing Japanese calligraphy. 12. Wrap-Up: This wraps up our class on understanding Japanese calligraphy for mindfulness and relaxation. I hope that this class was interesting and informative and learning about this 2 thousand year art and how its principles can teach us how to be more present and mindful. In this moment. I'm so excited to see everyone's class projects and see everyone's count, which is one of my favorite Japanese characters because it's a visual representation and word that really helps us understand that to feel something is to understand that we both have a body and soul and hard to take care of. Like I mentioned, Japanese calligraphy ties in with this overall approach to well-being. I am the founder of monogamy, which is a Japanese wellness company with the mission to empower individuals to achieve sustainable personal wellness lives. And it is our vision that we imagine a world where the vast majority of people will have a inner knowing of their authentic selves. And it is my belief that when we create moments of presence, creates moments of mindfulness. For our inner world to come out in the form of art. We can have moments where we understand how to be ourselves. Here. We didn't show this earlier in the class, but to wrap up, I really wanted to take a step back and really tie into how Japanese calligraphy is a representation. How you can create a sustainable lifestyle round yourself. And so there's four main aspects, presence and mindfulness, authenticity, and while we soppy, understanding your reason for being and taking care of herself holistically for your body and soul.