Clay Meditation – A Practice That Started at HANDFUL

Before Clay Meditation became a workshop, it was personal. It began in a moment when my hands expressed what I couldn’t say. Clay became a way to regulate myself – not to create an object, but to stay present. To feel and to access what was hidden inside.

Today I call the format Clay Meditation. And yes – I created it. Not because the world needed another method, but because I found something in the organic material clay that I couldn’t find elsewhere.

What is Clay Meditation?

It is not a pottery class. And it’s not a traditional meditation session. It is a space where the material itself sets the rhythm. Clay leads, we listen.

There is no instruction to “make something beautiful.” Instead, there is an invitation to notice:

• the weight and warmth of clay in your hands

• the breath shaping your gestures

• the relationship between material, body, and awareness

• how form emerges when you stop forcing outcomes

  
  

Nothing needs to turn out perfect. Nothing even needs to remain. The object is only a trace – the experience is the real work. In the end of the Clay Meditation we let go of anything created in clay. What we take home is the experience and the shift in body and mind.

Why clay works

Clay is honest. Clay is bodylike. Clay is natural. It does not allow multitasking. You can’t shape with your hands while your mind is somewhere else. The body knows first: here, I am present.

There is no better way to ground yourself than by working with earth itself.

What makes Clay Meditation at HANDFUL unique?

This method grew out of my artistic research – out of performance work, material studies, my meditation practice and self-reflection, and the question of how much memory and emotion a material can hold.

In Clay Meditation, I don’t guide you as a crafting instructor. I guide you as a facilitator of process and presence.

The experience comes before the object. The now before the result. The sensing before the evaluating.

Who is Clay Meditation for?

For people who don’t need more productivity, but more presence. For creatives who function well but feel disconnected. For anyone craving stillness – without having to sit still.

Sometimes clay becomes a bowl.Sometimes it gets recycled.Both outcomes are equally meaningful if you were truly present while creating.