What is Mindful Flower Arranging?

I encourage my Floral Healing Coaching clients to engage in “mindful flower arranging” or practicing mindfulness while arranging flowers. My favorite definition of mindfulness is “non-judgmental present moment awareness” from John Kabat-Zinn.

What does non-judgmental present moment awareness mean?

Mindfulness brings us into the present moment and the here and now. The present moment isn’t always so fun or comfortable, which is why we often look ahead to the future or distract ourselves with thoughts or worries about the past. Mindfulness focuses our attention back to the present moment in a non-judgmental way. It allows us to be in our experience without needing to escape or change it.

How can I practice mindfulness with flowers?

An easy way to practice mindfulness is to tune into the 5 senses. There are so many ways to do this with flowers! You can choose one sense to focus on for a whole meditation or you can cycle through all of them. I like to sense what people are needing or would benefit from in the guided Floral Healing Meditation (FHM). Here are ways to practice flower meditations using your 5 senses.

1. Sight

Notice the colors, shapes, textures and patterns of the petals, pollen, leaves and stems. Are they shimmery or matte? Are the petals the same color on both sides? Look at different flowers of the same kind and notice how they are different.

2. Hearing

Put your ears up close to the petals. Often times sensing into hearing with flowers involves a spiritual element. Can you hear a message that they are sending to you? You most likely won’t actually audibly hear it, but ask them what they’re trying to tell you. What do you need to hear from a flower right now? If this is too woo-woo for you, you can touch the petals or leaves while they are close to your ears to hear the sounds they make.

3. Taste

Some flowers are edible. Typically, we don’t do this in a FHM but when I grow calendula at home, I love mindfully eating a petal and noticing the effects on my body, mind and spirit.

4. Touch

You can pick up your vase and notice the temperature sensations. Or you can touch the petals and notice if they are soft, rigid, prickly, etc. See if you can come up with labels for what you notice about what you are touching. Notice which flowers you are drawn to because of how they feel.

5. Smell

You may want to choose flowers that have a scent to them. It’s so fun to tune into your sense of smell with flowers and see what the bouquet has to offer. Breathe deeply and fully and notice how it feels to inhale the scent of a beautiful bloom.

When exploring the 5 senses, be curious! Let go of any expectations to have your meditation be a certain way. Just because you’re being guided through a meditation and asked to hear what the flowers are saying, doesn’t mean you’re going to hear anything. Whatever experience you have in a meditation is okay! There’s no right or wrong way to do it, just be curious and see what happens.