“To me, mindfulness is about sustained attention to the present moment. When I’m on the wheel I am constantly tuning into subtle tactile feedback: the pressure of my fingers, the moisture of the clay, the speed of the wheel, I even notice my own breathing slowing down very slightly. My pottery has been a kind of natural training ground for mindfulness without me necessarily realising it at first!” (James Fitzgerald)
Like mindfulness, creativity practices can catalyse qualities and experiences of presence, awareness and concentration, supporting practitioners to deepen their experiences of connection with themselves and their craft in significant and meaningful ways. In similar ways to keeping our attention on our breath or body sensations whilst meditating, creative practitioners anchor their attention into specific elements of their practice to support a fuller arrival into each present moment of experience.
“Many potters unconsciously sync their movements with their breathing—especially when pulling walls or shaping forms. I have noticed over time I now do this naturally. This rhythmic coordination reinforces calm focus and can deepen both mindfulness and flow”.
James Fitzgerald is a practicing potter who discovered mindfulness by accident whilst focusing deeply on tutorial videos. Concentrating as fully as he could on the techniques of experienced potters required intense bursts of absorption which suited his dyslexic and visual learning style. Over the last 7 years his creative and mindfulness practices have developed side by side, inextricably informing each other. James found that he was naturally developing a mindful stance towards his work as a studio ceramicist, a stance that has resulted in states of creative flow whilst throwing or glazing his work.
“I’ve heard creative flow, also described as flow state, is what happens when that focused attention becomes immersive and effortless. I feel so fortunate to experience this on pretty much a daily basis. My perception of time distorts, my ‘ego’ and self-consciousness seem to drop away (or perhaps just become irrelevant), and my actions, such as brushing on the glazed, trimming, throwing etc feel almost automatic”.
Based in Penrhyncoch, near Aberystwyth, James started his studio career in 2019 and sells his hand-thrown wares at markets. Here, informal conversations about his creative process, the concepts of mindfulness and experiencing states of creative flow keep coming up, and although James receives a lot of positive feedback about his talent, he always reminds people that it is a practice of mindful repetition that is the key to his ‘success’ in being able to earn a living through selling his own pottery.
“The repetition/practice is really the building block that started my mindfulness journey. Centring clay, wedging, trimming, carving, pouring the slip cast moulds etc—these are repetitive actions. Repetition to me quiets my mental chatter and stabilizes my attention. I’ve talked to friends who meditate and it sounds similar to meditation practices. Once the mind settles, it’s easier to transition from mindful awareness into full creative flow”.
Pottery is not without frustrations, the work can and does involve collapsed pieces, kiln failures, glaze surprises. James is clear about the importance of treating the process over the final product as the primary experience and whilst this is not always easy, this is what ultimately supports mindfulness and flow.
Mindfulness has also supported his ability to notice thoughts of ‘things not looking like he wants them to’, or stories of ‘not getting anywhere with this’, without getting overly caught in them and taking them to heart. Letting go of judgement is an ongoing process that he practices and despite the real pressure of his creativity being his self-employed livelihood, he attributes mindfulness as being a big part of why he does not tend to feel overwhelmingly stressed.
Future hopes include continuing to grow and develop his creativity and he would love opportunities to exhibit his work. James is clear that as his technical skill increases, he can take on more complex forms without becoming overwhelmed, and that states of mindful flow happen when challenge and skill are well matched.
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