Trust the Process – Jacqueline Aaron

Trust the Process: The Creation of Holistic Art

Jacqueline Aaron

Perhaps the biggest epiphany that I’ve had in my life is to “trust the process.”

To me, trusting the process means to be a vehicle for something greater, knowing that it’s not up to you to control the outcome. As a matter of fact, trying to control the outcome can completely diminish it!

I learned this lesson very experientially (is there any better way?) during a yoga therapy certification program that I took in 2001. It was set up as a practicum, so I had to give yoga therapy sessions to more than 100 people.

At the beginning of each session, clients were asked to set an intention for what they wanted to receive from their one to two hours on the yoga mat. Some clients wanted relief from physical pain, some wanted to simply relax, while others wanted clarity on important life issues.

The first mind-blowing insight was that inevitably, each person received what they had asked for via their  intention by the time the session was over. The second mind-blowing insight was that it was not up to me to “make their intention happen.” Whew! What a relief! All that I had to do was ‘facilitate’ the yoga therapy process in which I had been trained as purely as I could, without getting in the way, and magic seemed to happen. This happened again and again.

This same process holds true in the creation of holistic art.

Here is the process: I sit down on a paint tarp on the floor and spread out my paints on the tarp. I do Reiki, a Japanese technique of relaxation and stress reduction also known as palm healing, on the canvas and ask that I be made a vehicle for what needs/wants to be painted on that day. I ask for the strength to trust the process for those inevitable moments when I’m looking at the canvas and it makes no sense to my conscious mind. I pull out the tubes of paint whose colors seem to be calling me on that day, and then — I begin.

The more that I can stay in the process, trusting the paint strokes that I make moment by moment, the more fun and flow I experience. The second that I pause and start to over think what I’m doing, or worse yet, ask someone else’s opinion of what I’m doing, everything comes to a screeching halt!

I have no idea what will be painted on a given day as that is truly like opening the prize in a Cracker Jack box — you never know what you’re going to get. While representational art paints what is ‘known,’ say an apple, holistic art opens to the mystery of life, which is unknowable and therefore, by its nature, always a surprise.

So, one month ago I created a painting called “The Birth of  Colorado.” I felt very rested, energized and focused that day and worked for five hours in the flow. I was so focused that I didn’t really mind the quiet, editorial chatter of my mind — it was actually pretty funny because it was like riding a roller coaster. If I had given in to it, I probably would have thrown up!

Here’s how it sounded: “Oh, wow, I really like that color  combination!” it began (top of roller coaster). Then, all of a sudden, the commentary changed to, “Uh oh, oh no, the color is getting really, really muddy (bottom of roller coaster).” “Hey, wait a second, now it looks like cacti are being created, and what was muddy now seems like desert sand — cool (top of roller coaster)!”

As you can see, the process came with some highs and lows. Art was created that day only because I stayed steady and aligned with trusting the process, so that what wanted to be painted could be revealed — “The Birth of Colorado.” Never in my wildest dreams could I have cognitively painted it; I had to open to something greater and be a vehicle.

The reality is that our greatest endeavors happen when we align with something greater and humbly take on the role of being the vehicle. There are many metaphors, but I like to equate it to the classic Slurpee. In our finest moments, we are not the Slurpee; we are the straw for the Slurpee — the universal life force — to get to where it needs to go.

Personally, I find myself in the role of vehicle when I create art, teach yoga, do Reiki, write and speak. I encourage you to consider where you are a vehicle in your life — perhaps it’s when you create beauty with interior design or perhaps it’s when you’re speaking with a friend in need of support. In the end, we are all straws for the grand Slurpee of life — just be careful not to bend the straw.

Jacqueline Aaron is an experienced marketing and communication professional, a Reiki practitioner, a yoga instructor, a yoga therapy practitioner, and an artist. Her artwork has been displayed at the Promenade in Bonita Springs through the Center for the Arts of Bonita Springs.