This July, I’ve given myself permission to pause.
Not a retreat, exactly, but a recalibration. I’ve been recharging through rest and meditation, giving my mind, body and spirit space to breathe. In the swirl of projects, it’s easy to slip into autopilot. But this month, I chose to move with intention.
Each morning begins with stillness. I open the Hallow App and let the rhythm of guided prayer set the tone. Then, I walk to the studio and press play on my new morning playlist, an alchemical blend of sound designed to unlock flow. You can listen along here: Sky Garden STX Morning.
Between weaving, knotting, writing, and Zooms, I wander the garden paths, letting the plants teach me how growth happens, slowly, silently, often beneath the surface. Stillness is part of the process. Stillness, I’m learning is not absence. It’s part of becoming.
I’ve also been deep in the writings and music of Saint Hildegard of Bingen, a 12th-century mystic, composer, and healer. She saw divinity threaded through every leaf and sound, and believed that body, mind, and soul must be nurtured in harmony. Her word viriditas, the greening force of vitality, has been echoing in my studio practice. It reminds me that rest isn’t a break from creativity; it’s fertile ground for it. Rest is a sacred act of preparation.
This season of slowing down is giving rise to new ideas, new rituals, new ways of listening, to my materials, to my ancestors, to the whisper of the quiet voice within.
Rest is not retreat. It’s remembering.
Theda
