Welcome to the Accessing Mindfulness through image-making quick guide. Use this guide to explore resources supporting accessing mindfulness through the practice of image-taking and image making. There are “how to” videos, links and examples to help develop skills in mindfulness, photography and art.
All images (c) 2023 Amy B. Eilertsen. All rights reserved.
What is mindfulness?
The root of mindfulness is to live in the present moment. Suspending the chatter in your head about the past or the future allows for a connection to being here in the moment, and letting go of the burden of rumination and worry.
Mindfulness is a moment-by-moment awareness of thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations and surrounding environment. Being mindful is related to be open, nonjudgmental, friendly, curious, accepting, compassionate and kind.
Mindfulness practices aim to cultivate mindfulness state. These practices can be formal (e.g. breathing, sitting, walking, body scan) or informal (e.g. mindfulness in everyday life).
During and after COVID, nurses have experienced high levels of burnout. Providing evidence-based support for nurses has been a hot topic, where more than 30 research articles focusing on the benefits of mindfulness for nurses were published in 2022.
Studies found :
1. In nurses, mindfulness has been shown to reduce anxiety, stress, depression and can lower cortisol levels. An eight-week mindfulness-based stress reduction course promoted better sleep for highly stressed nurses.
2. In the general population, mindfulness improves well-being, personal accomplishment and a sense of having more time (time affluence).
The Role of the Arts in Improving Health: WHO
The World Health Organization, Europe published a scoping report: What is the evidence on the role of arts in improving health and well-being. For this report, 900 publications were reviewed and a meta synthesis covering 3000 studies and 700 individual studies were preformed.
This WHO report showed that the arts have been shown to aid in:
- Improving health prevention and promotion, management and treatment of illness
- Participating in the arts— visual, movement, music, drama— improves the realms of the:
- Affective- positive emotions, rejuvenation
- Evaluative- life satisfaction, vitality, resilience, well-being in general and at work
- Eudemonic – sense of control, purpose, autonomy
"The lens can provide an anchor to help become more connected to the present "
The Mindful Gaze:
Attentional observation.
Patient, contemplative looking, what Shari Tishman dubs “slow looking,”requires sustained attention and curiosity in the face of visual stimuli. In return for this effort, it delivers information in droves and nuance far beyond what a quick glance at an image allows.
Subject: What do you see in the middle ground, or focus of the following image?
Foreground: What is in front of the subject?
Background: What is behind the subject?
How do they relate?
Four essential elements of mindful photography:
Experience th moment through the five senses. The process of is the product
The process of the making images mindfully is the product of this experience. Mindfulness is a tool to unlock
“The universal human yearning for something permanent, enduring, without shadow of change.” - Willa Cather.
“Nature is a mutable cloud which is always and never the same”. -Ralph Waldo Emerson
“The aim is: creating photos in a non-judgmental way with compassion toward self and others”
Ideas for approaching mindfulness photography:
About me:
Artist and registered nurse who seeks to inspire nurses and other healthcare workers to reduce stress through mindful photography.
Resources
Nourian, M, Nifard, L., Mohammad, A., Barati, M., Allahgholipour, A.R. (2021). The imparct of an online mindfulness-based stress reduction program on sleep quality of nurses working on COVID-19 Care Units: A clinical trial. Holistic Nursing Practice. Vol.35, No.5.
Hossam N Alhawatmeh, Mohammad Rababa, Mahmoud Alfaqih, Raya Albataineh, Issa Hweidi & Awwad Abu Awwad (2022) The Benefits of Mindfulness Meditation on Trait Mindfulness, Perceived Stress, Cortisol, and C-Reactive Protein in Nursing Students: A Randomized Controlled Trial, Advances in Medical Education and Practice, 13:, 47-58, DOI: 10.2147/AMEP.S348062
King, Camille & Rossetti, Jeanette & Smith, Thomas & Raison, Megan & Gallegos, Deana & Gorman, Rodney & Moscatel, Sarah & Smyth, Siobhan & Watson, Jean. (2019). Effects of a Mindfulness Activity on Nursing Service Staff Perceptions of Caring Behaviors in the Workplace. Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services. 57. 10.3928/02793695-20190626-01.
Fong, J.S.H., Hui A.N.N., Ho, K.M., Albert, K.M., Lee, A. (2022). Brief mindful coloring for stress reduction in nurses working in a Hong Kong hospital during COVID-19 pandemic: a randomized controlled trial. Medicine Vol. 101, No. 43.
Sulosaari V, Unal E, Cinar FI. The effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions on the psychological well-being of nurses: A systematic review. Appl Nurs Res. 2022 Apr;64:151565. doi: 10.1016/j.apnr.2022.151565. Epub 2022 Jan 15. PMID: 35307128.
Reynolds, Staci S. PhD, RN, ACNS-BC, CCRN, CNRN, SCRN, CPHQ; Sova, Christopher MMCi, BSN, RN, CIC. Memes and Poetry: A Descriptive Analysis on Creative Arts Therapy to Reduce Health Care Worker Burnout. Journal of Nursing Care Quality 37(3):p 245-248, July/September 2022. | DOI: 10.1097/NCQ.0000000000000618
Kline, J., VanRyzin, K., Davis, J.C. Parra, J.A., Todd, M.L., Shaw, L.L., Haggard, B.R., Fisher, M.A., Pettit, K.L., Beck, M.L. (2020). Randomized trial of therapy dogs versus deliberative coloring (art therapy) to reduce stress in emergency medicine providers. Academic Emergency Medicine: A global journal of emergency care.
Wexler TM, Schellinger J. Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for Nurses: An Integrative Review. Journal of Holistic Nursing. 2023;41(1):40-59. doi:10.1177/08980101221079472
Credits:
2023©️Amy Eilertsen. All rights reserved.