“My post on Insta’ would be ‘What is meditation?’ and I would hashtag it #MeditationArt110 and #IntroToTheVisualArtsAndMeditation .

This is a picture of my friend Sadao doing what he loves to do: write and create music. He loves to rap, and feels happy whenever he gets a chance to write up lyrics for a song and create music. He tells me that he feels “present” during and after he raps, telling me of a state of serenity he achieves through music. He’s bee practicing with music and rapping for 4 to 5 years now, and still does it to this day.

What does it mean to meditate? What is meditation? For the most part, the pre-concieved answer to that is quite simple: it’s LITERALLY meditating. But is it? Meditation has many meanings, and what is gained through the physical and literal sense of meditation is a state of peace. Meditation, I feel, is ultimately achieved by most artists in the world, whether it’s through graffiti writing, photography, installations, painting, and all other art mediums in the world. However, can this state of mind be practiced in other forms? In, perhaps, the forms of dynamic leisure activities or hobbies? Meditation can be anything that you feel gives you that “state of peace”, a state of mind where you feel completely relaxed and not thinking of the constant stresses of your past, present and future state. It is at this point you feel one with yourself, and your mind feels uplifted in the end. This can be achieved by doing anything, from going surfing, doing yoga, rock climbing, visiting museums, taking photography, etc. What ever it is that makes you feel at peace with yourself, that is true meditation.

So, an idea I had for our 7th week activity for my Intro to the Visual Arts class was to post something on Instagram of us trying to obtain serenity or an image of yourself in the environment of which you obtained that serenity. For example, let’s say you find yourself achieving peace through the meditation of hiking. Get a picture of yourself hiking in the woods, desert, etc. or perhaps a picture of yourself gaining that peace through meditation, and it’s environment behind you. Post it on instagram with the hashtag(s) #MeditationArt110 and/or #IntroToTheVisualArtsAndMeditation. Doing this will allow us all to reconnect online later and see how we all achieve our meditation!