As Sashiko becomes the trend, some exaggerate the word itself. By just looking up the word online, we can find so many “words & concepts” related to Sashiko – like, Recycle, Upcycle, Sustainability, Appreciation (to what we have), Mindfulness, Meditation… you name it. Unfortunately, some of the concepts are misleading about what Sashiko is for someone’s profit. However, at the same time, some of them are very true yet not “verbalized (introduced)” well in a process of Sashiko’s development. One example is the psychological benefit we can get from Sashiko (putting aside that Sashiko “was” a form of stitching for survival).
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My wife is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist with Ph.D. She regularly encouraged me to go to the Graduate Program to be Licensed saying I am very talented in Counseling. Interestingly, what I share as my “ordinary” is somewhat eye-opening information to her. I say [don’t consider Sashiko as the “heroic medicine”] – it will not “cure” the issue. However,Sashiko may have something to keep us healthy like how Japanese diets may improve our health. I hope that my stories here become like “Japanese Food” for your healthy diet (although I may not be realizing it).
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As I want to support her, I try to learn “psychology“ as much as I can. Then, I found “Morita Therapy” as a treatment for mental illness in Japan. Its approach resonates with my understanding of Japanese, and I am actively learning the practice & mindset there. Sashiko is NOT a form of treatment or medicine – but I find a lot of similarities in Morita Therapy & Sashiko from the perspective of appreciating Japanese culture. If you are interested, I can elaborate on this story more later on. One principle is to stop “judging” if the illness itself is “bad”. So is Sashiko – your Sashiko will be there when you stop judging your stitches, and what I teach is how NOT to judge the outcome.
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刺し子とはまた別の注目のされ方というか、こちらは日本人の私でも触れるに少々勇気がいるというか、英語圏で日本語そのままで使われている言葉に「民藝」があります。私の勉強不足は否めないし、「刺し子は民藝なの？」という質問には「場合による」という返事で逃げ回ってきているのですが、重い腰を上げる時が来たのかもしれません。勉強せねば。
（一番の勉強方法は日本を回ることなんだよなぁ）。誰か民藝を語りたい人いたら是非、お話を伺わせて下さい！！
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2023-11-02 06:03:17
「MORITA Therapy」日本語では字が間違えてしまうかもと英字を選んだよ😅 ぜひ、お話し聞かせて下さい😊
森田療法ですか？昔ちょっと調べた事があります。一時期、何に対しても病的に不安になっていた時期があり色々と人に聞いたり調べたりしていたので。。
🙏🏼🪷☸️🧵🪡
日本民芸館にお問い合わせをしても良いかと。
初めまして😊
民藝ってかなり主観的だし禅問答みたいなところがありますが、キーワードとしてよく使われるのは、ものの「健全さ」と「素直さ」ですよね。
例えば陶芸で言えば、濱田庄司や河井寛次郎などの作品に力強さを感じますが、それは「どうだ！俺を見よ！」と言うような主張の強さではなく、静かでありながら美しい強さです。「心の在り方が仕事に現れる」という考えがありますが、その作品に宿る魂が健全であるかどうか、というふうに私は解釈しています。
素直さに関してはいわゆるアーティストのように変な工夫をして作られたものではなく、ゾーンに入った職人などによって作られたものがそうかと思います。
柳宗悦も文書の中で東北の刺し子を讃えておりましたし、実際に日本民藝館でも刺し子の展覧会が行われていたので、刺し子は民藝の一部と言えるかと思います。
Just my two cents😉
ところで、今アメリカで民藝って流行ってるんですか？
いつも投稿から学ばせていただいております。いつか運針会にも参加したいです！
😍 Beautiful!
作家が作っても、庶民が作っても、その物がその技法で仕上がっていたら、民藝と呼んでいる気がします。
Yes, elaborate on Marita.
This post came at just the right time. Fascinating, thank you. I am just learning about Sashiko and am really interested in the ‘psychological’ benefit and therefore your posts are so informative .. I will now look up morita therapy.
Please share more stories about Morita therapy and Sashiko, I’m interested very much to learn more about it.
I would love to hear more about this. I suffer from depression in general and also seasonal depression and have been finding learning sashiko to be very soothing… which I will need more and more as it gets darker. I am looking forward to stitching things for friends and family as the holidays approach and letting the thoughts be in my stitches.
Got it. Thanks for the healing properties, which come from regular practice, as always. Just do it. 🙏🏽🌸
As all art I find sashiko healing indeed. When your brain is working to quide your hands and simultaneously seeing beautiful things appear in front of your eyes, not to mention realizing that you are doing something to support sustainability it is candy for the 🧠. I am a solution focused art therapist also using art for self therapy and was happy to find sashiko that full fills all that I like: recycling, beauty, philosophical ideas. Thank you.
@conniestradalavin ❤️
@mmontero.arte 😍