knitting >= meditating

I love knitting on circular needles. I love knitting, in general, but knitting on circular needles gives me a peculiar pleasure of which I can't seem to get enough. Maybe I just like knitting hats, but I'm pretty sure this applies to socks, too.

So, last night, as I was knitting with this fabulous baby alpaca and silk blend yarn, it dawned on me that in my moments of restlessness it's much easier to knit than meditate. Rather, it's much easier to meditate by knitting.

Last night, I ripped out stitches and began the project again twice. Each time was greeted with a thought of "this time I'll get it right" coupled with the realization that the actual knitting was such a peaceful activity (given said yarn), I had no problem doing it over and over and over.

In the past, I've tried to force myself to meditate when I felt restless. It's never worked out. Some might say I didn't sit there long enough or do it "right" or whatever, but that's just nonsense. When your body wants to do something, you should find a way to honor its desires. If my body doesn't feel like sitting still, who am I to force it to, anyway?

Knitting gives the body the motion it craves while simultaneously allowing me to sit on my butt. I tend to sit in the lotus position when I knit because: 1. it's more comfortable to me and 2. my crotch gets hot when I create things with my hands. (My sacral chakra in effect.) So, as I knit in lotus position, mumbling the names of the stitches ("knit one, knit two, knit three, pass slipped stitch over") and rocking to the beat of the knitting, my mind clears. I've yet to knit something so large that my hands run on autopilot, but I do notice a serenity come over me that is highly reminiscent of more traditional forms of meditation.

And, I like it.

I imagine lots of folks like it and that's a big part of why hand knitting is all the rage these days. You can create while quieting your mind. That's something our Busybody Society can appreciate, yeah?

I still like regular, ol' meditation. Don't get me wrong...nothing really beats just sitting with one's self, as far as I can tell. But, there are so many ways to meditate (social, productive, trance, etc.), it's always nice to "discover" that you've been doing another kind without being completely aware of it.

Off to do more productive meditation... The hat is almost complete.