Nothing brightens up a room like a bunch of fresh flowers. But the perks of beautiful blooms can begin before they hit the vase. We asked floral subscription company Posy & Posy to share their tips on how flower arranging can help us find mindfulness, and nip stress in the bud
It has become increasingly clear that when we pause, leave our phones in another room, and just be in the moment, we achieve a sense of calm and feel more relaxed.
So, if like us, you find it hard to still your busy mind, why not try getting your creative flow on, be still and make life beautiful with flowers? It’s a perfect way to enhance your focus, concentration and sense of calm, and we believe it will bring so much joy into your day.
Here are some tips on how we achieve our version of a mindful state and some of the subsequent benefits we have found when arranging our flowers.
1. Make a date with yourself
OK, it may seem obvious, but think about it. So many of us rush through the day switching from task to task, activity to activity, and have the ever-present feeling that we need to achieve loads, but actually we end up achieving little, and are not kind enough to give ourselves some real time.
Be purposeful about setting your date time every week. Think about flower arranging as being experiential; go out to source your flowers, stop to talk to the sellers, learn about the varieties you’ve bought and make this all part of your flower arranging date.
2. Set up your space
Before you start, create a quiet space in your home that will be yours alone while you lose yourself in the flower arranging experience.
Now, lay out all of the things you will need. Turn on your favourite playlist and consider how you are going to put your collection of blooms together.
What flowers should take pride of place in the vase, and where are they going to be displayed?
Spend time focusing on the selection of flowers. Notice the different textures, colours, shapes and scents. Lose yourself in the simple joy of arranging flowers beautifully.
3. Scent and colours
Blue hues are calming and peaceful. It’s no accident that floral designs are often brought together with a hint of the colour. Beautiful, natural blues can be achieved with ethereal delphinium, seasonal hyacinths and textual thistles.
For scents, we don’t all have access to lovely, scented garden roses all the year round. But the smells of the arrangement are important triggers for inducing relaxation and calm. Try introducing lavender into your arrangement, the soothing scent is known to have relaxing properties and comes in so many pretty shades of blue and purple. Why not cut and keep summer lavender? Once dried you can add it into winter wreaths, and even try making lovely Christmas tree decorations with sprigs of natural lavender tied with velvet ribbon.
4. Invite a friend
Mindful practice is usually something you would think is exclusively alone time. But we have recently used some studio time to get together for meetings.
It’s surprising what a session of crafting time together can achieve. The creative flow really resulted in some ideas within our team that I’m not sure would have occurred in the usual office setting. Take our lead and try hosting a strategy meeting as a creative activity, you might be pleasantly surprised with the results.
Connect with your equally busy friend group in a mindful way, that is also fun and creative. Why not host a wreath making date, get everyone to bring interesting floral ingredients, beautiful twigs, leaves, berries foraged from nature, and spend time creating together.
5. Appreciate
Whatever you do with flowers, appreciate the joy and beauty of your blooms, take pleasure in your creation, give it pride of place in your home and really take the time to notice it. A study from Harvard University even showed that, if you’re not a morning person, placing fresh flowers in your kitchen or dining room can give you an energy boost to start your day.
Arranging flowers is a highly meditative act, a modern and creative pastime that injects a regular dose of “me time” and gives us the time to really observe the beauty of nature. Flower arranging is not simply decorative, it is an engaging and thoughtful practice that, even in our busy lives and city-living, puts us back in touch with the beauty of nature.
Posy & Posy are a unique floral recipe subscription service. Prices start from £28 per box, and are available from posyandposy.com
