Here is the third part of your Autumn Ritual, where we bring it all together to help you ease into the colder months. A big reason why I’ve been practising natural dyeing since 2018 is that it helps me reconnect to the living world and feel part of the Land. This includes tapping into the various gifts that each season brings. My (not so secret) ulterior motive in sharing this knowledge is to help you remember that we are all part of the web of life.
First, a Quick Recap of What We’ve Learned
In the first part of this Autumn Ritual, you discovered the Pomodoro Technique, an effective way to manage your time, while also allowing small pockets of rest. You got a chance to relax and clear your mind with a quick meditation gifted by yoga teacher Jenise O’Brien. Integrating this meditation into short breaks between tasks allows you to resume your work with a clear mind and a calm heart. If you haven’t seen the first part of this ritual, I truly recommend you check it out before continuing reading!
In the second part of the ritual, you experimented with the craft of flower hammering or tatakizome. This is a great way to be mindful and experience a state of creative flow without needing to sit still. It also results in some wonderful prints on fabric or paper! Make sure you check out the flower pounding tutorial if you haven’t already.
I’ve received great messages from those who’ve already started trying out the Pomodoro Technique, Jenise’s meditation and flower hammering. I can’t wait to see how this next prompt will help you build on what you’ve already learned so far!
A Message From the Landscape
After having learned the hapazome technique for botanical printing, you’re probably wondering how long the prints will last. You may even be considering adding printed flowers or leaves to your favourite garment.
I hear you! But before we go there, I want to offer you an alternative path.
The botanical prints you created are more than just a lovely way to get creative and release some pent-up stress. They also come with a message for you. Once you understand this message, you’ll be able to feel at ease with the changes that life –like the autumn– brings. And this results in true peace of mind.
So I suggest you make yourself a cosy cup of tea, grab a notebook and pen and keep on reading.
Shifting Your Perspective to Embrace Change
Using your plant-printed piece as a journaling prompt can help you navigate the uncertainties of change. It stops being a decorative item and turns into a meaningful token of your personal growth and self-discovery.
Let’s get started:
- Place your printed fabric or paper in a visible part of your home, studio or office. You could stick it on the wall next to your computer, for example! It doesn’t need to be your masterpiece, just a small sample will do.
- If you’ve found the Pomodoro Technique helpful in organising your day, continue doing it. During one of the short breaks, take a moment to do Jenise’s meditation.
- On your next short break, consider a quick journalling exercise. Don’t stress out about answering all the questions. These are merely suggestions for you to consider:
- Take a look at the prints you made and think about their living counterparts outside. Do they still look the same? How have they transformed?
- Does your body feel the same way as when you picked and printed your plants? Have you started dressing differently or have you adjusted your daily routine to accommodate shorter days?
- How does your body feel when you think about these changes within yourself? Does it tense up anywhere? Is it at ease? Does your breathing change? What’s coming up?
- Think about how the plants that gifted you their prints will have changed in 3 months’ time. Will they look the same? Will they even be alive?
- After some weeks have passed, observe your plant print carefully. Does it still look as when you first printed it? What has changed?
- If you can accept that the vegetation outside has changed and that the prints themselves have possibly changed too… can you accept that you will continue to change throughout your life?
- Repeat this journalling exercise once a week as you move through the autumn, reflecting on how much the seasons, your flower print and you are changing.
- When your plant print fades completely, consider printing again over the same surface, just like the blooms of spring emerge from the soil after the winter.
Click here to download these instructions as a printable PDF! That way, you’ll have them handy for your journalling sessions.
Take it Easy
If you’re already starting to stress at the thought of adding another thing to your daily “to-do” list. Just breathe. You don’t have to do anything. This journalling prompt is simply an invitation, and no one will read it but yourself.
Start small. Dedicate just five minutes a day during one of your breaks to contemplate what comes up when you observe your plant print, jotting down your thoughts. Over time, you’ll find that this simple habit can help transform your outlook on life. Not only does it foster mindfulness and self-awareness, but it also allows you to document your journey through the seasons and the shifts within yourself and the landscape.
What if You Want Your Prints to Last?
Ok, so you’ve accepted that everything changes and that life is all about seasons and cycles. But can flower prints really stay on fabric for longer than a few weeks?
The answer is, yes they can – depending on what kind of plants you use and how you prepare your fabric or paper.
If you want to learn how to use plants to produce long-lasting colours and prints on fabric, I’ve got a one-day retreat coming up! It’ll be on Thursday 26 September at the Deerstone Luxury Eco Hideaway in Glendalough, Co. Wicklow. Not only that, but it will also include gentle yoga sessions with Jenise O’Brien, whose lovely voice you already heard in the first prompt of this Autumn Ritual. It will be a beautiful way to welcome the Autumn Equinox by giving your body and soul some creative nourishment in community.
I truly hope to see you there, among the Wicklow mountains 💚
