Regaining sanity one stitch at a time. This is the name of a group I just opened up yesterday for stitching practice. I had multiple consumers show up and it was amazing. As some of you know I have been incapacitated for some time and my main practice has been sewing. I thought I would share the benefits I got from this to consumers and I saw amazing results. Since this is not a buddhist class we did not sew anything like a rakusu or a kesa but I just had them do back stitches on lines I had put on some fabric. Normally groups are rowdy but once they started even those going through mania seemed to very focused on this simple task. I had one girl with severe schizophrenia who cant draw a straight line who had the best stitches and no outburst which is miraculous. I was nervous still being a little sick and this being my first day back but it turned out great. My friend Nick who is a Chan buddhist monk told me that the practice sounded great as long as I don't turn them into a mental health sweat shop. I just thought I would share.
Gasho
Chris