What is Imaginative Mindfulness?

I use this term to describe a varied set of practices that can support our wellbeing, recovery from stress and personal growth.

The Collins Dictionary defines imagination both as ‘mental creative ability’ and ‘the ability to deal resourcefully with unexpected or unusual problems, circumstances etc’ – and I think this speaks to the importance of recovering our imaginative selves.

The approaches I share encourage the development of self-kindness, creativity and embodiment. This can include meditation, but it doesn’t have to!

For those of us who find it challenging to inhabit the body, imaginative practice can provide a bridge: although the imagination and embodiment might seem like polar opposites, they both emerge from our right brain’s way of inhabiting the world, which isn’t very strongly encouraged in modern westernised culture. Thankfully, we can discover tools to reconnect with this way of being for ourselves.

(My own understanding has been greatly enriched by the wisdom shared by people like Peter Levine, Iain McGilchrist and Sandra Ingerman).

I’ve shared my perspective on imaginative practice in more depth in my posts on Creative Mindfulness and Imaginative Mindfulness .

The selection of my resources below includes examples of the many ways you could get imaginative about mindfulness, to find the practices that support you best.

If there is something here that particularly appeals to you, we could use it as our starting point in a One-off Session.

Meditations:

For a taste of imaginative practice, you might like to try Support Your Self (6 mins), Imagining Compassion (7 mins), or Supported by the Earth (20 mins).

Find them on the Meditations page – please read the guidance note on the meditations page before you use these.

Videos:

This pair of videos explore imaginative ways to reconnect with the natural world and with the flow of life:

Opening to Life part 1: Reconnecting (10 mins)

Opening to Life part 2: Receiving (13 mins)

Poems

Some short poems about being human are on my Mindfulness Poems page.

Blog posts:

Creative practice as an anchor

Supported by the Earth

Surrendering to Flow

Allowing Energy to Transform