Meditation can be such a gift. And yet, sometimes when we need its gifts the most, meditation can feel the hardest.

During times of anxiety, depression, chronic pain, uncertainty, or simply a difficult season of life, sitting quietly with everything we are feeling can sometimes feel overwhelming, even flooding.

We live in a world that has taught us how to keep going, stay busy, distract ourselves, push through, and do the next thing. Most of us haven’t been taught how to simply be still with ourselves.

So when we suddenly ask the body to stop, close our eyes, and sit quietly with everything that is there, it makes sense that something inside may say, I need to move. I need to do something.

Slow Drawing gives us something gentle to do while we learn to be still.

One line. Then another. And another.

Despite the name, this really isn’t about drawing or making art. There is nothing to create, nothing to get right, and absolutely no artistic ability required. It is simply slow, repetitive mark-making.

I like to think of them as lines of stillness.

Our hand continues to move, but slowly. The repetition creates rhythm and flow. We breathe. We notice. Thoughts come and go. Feelings may arise. We don’t need to push them away, figure them out, or change them. We simply make the next mark.

And somewhere within that gentle movement, we begin practicing the pause: that small but powerful space between what happens and how we respond.

We aren’t forcing ourselves into stillness. We are gently learning stillness through movement.

Along the way, we practice many of the gifts of meditation: mindfulness, present-moment awareness, distress tolerance, nervous-system regulation, and the ability to stay with what arises without immediately needing to react to it.

Sometimes all those little marks happen to become something beautiful on the page. That’s lovely, but it’s never the goal.

The practice is the process.

The Slow Drawing Circle began in 2020, when so many of us were searching for connection, and this beautiful little community has continued gathering ever since.

Every Friday, we meet online for one guided hour. An hour to step away from the noise, breathe, make our marks, and anchor ourselves in this moment.

No artistic ability. No performance. No need to clear your mind.

Just paper, a Sharpie or pen, and an hour you give back to yourself. Watercolors are welcome if you’d like them, but completely optional.

Fridays at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time

Your monthly contribution goes directly toward our Pay It Forward program, allowing the hour you give to yourself to create a ripple beyond our circle, too.

One line. Then another. Then another.

Lines of stillness. Learning to find stillness within the movement.

100% of contributions to the Slow Drawing Circle go directly to our Pay It Forward program. 💕