Uptown residents partake in generations-old hobby with a goal in mind<\/p>\n
By Dave Fidlin |<\/strong> Reportero SDUN<\/p>\n Lisa Thurn has long practiced meditation and enjoyed the generations-old pastime of knitting. But until recently, she never thought the two regular lifestyle regimens could be woven together.<\/p>\n Thurn is one of several Uptown residents using knitting as a means to crochet and calm her mind through a growing movement involving contemplative meditation. As with many practices, namely yoga, knitting and spirituality can be intertwined as a meaningful discipline that can help a person focus on their thinking.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been a knitter most of my life; it\u2019s just been something that keeps my hands busy, and I enjoy making things for other people,\u201d said Thurn, who works in the biology department at San Diego State University. Thurn was one of about a dozen participants in a recent class, Intentional Knitting, offered through First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Diego. She said she will be applying the techniques to her lifestyle.<\/p>\n \u201cI used to watch TV while I knitted, but I think I\u2019m going to stop doing that,\u201d Thurn said. \u201cI\u2019ve found that doing something as simple as counting the stitches is very calming for me. It\u2019s an opportunity to empty my mind, and that\u2019s a very freeing feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n Liz Jones, Director of Religious Education and Family Ministry at First Unitarian, offered the Intentional Knitting course earlier this month. Although it was a one-time offering, Jones said the possibility is open to its return next year, likely in the summer.<\/p>\n A number of books are available for those who would like to implement intentional knitting into their lives until a decision about the class returning is made.<\/p>\n \u201cKnitting really is a perfect spiritual discipline that is ideal for meditation,\u201d Jones said. \u201cWe always think about yoga, but knitting works just as well because it quiets the mind and engages the body.\u201d<\/p>\n For persons with limited mobility, Jones said a practice such as knitting is an ideal means of forgetting one\u2019s cares for a period of time.<\/p>\n Uptown resident Bobbi Beer, 71, is not an experienced knitter, but took Jones\u2019 course because she has long studied meditation and various forms of spirituality. Beer has scoliosis, a curvature in her spine, making a traditional form of meditation challenging.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is very helpful to me,\u201d Beer said. \u201cI think it would be a great benefit not just to disabled individuals, but anybody.\u201d Beer, who has a background in occupational therapy, said the art of tuning out distractions is important in her profession.<\/p>\n \u201cI seem to deal with something that a lot of Americans struggle with,\u201d Beer said. \u201cMy mind is full of chatter because I\u2019m inundated with so much stuff every day. It\u2019s like I have two radios turned on all the time, and they\u2019re tuned to different stations. That is the way my mind is operating most of the time.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite scoliosis, Beer said she is committed to taking time out each day and tuning out the distractions through a method that works for her. She is currently working on a scarf.<\/p>\n \u201cSince I\u2019m new to this, I\u2019m making mistakes,\u201d Beer said. \u201cBut you know what? Mistakes are okay because that\u2019s not really the point of this. I\u2019m going to take a half-hour every morning and spend time meditating through knitting. If I don\u2019t do that, the cares of the day will rush in.\u201d<\/p>\n Regardless of the purpose, Jones said knitting through a meditative, spirit-minded lens can reap great benefits for people willing to make the practice a part of their daily lifestyle. Other example of knitting with a purpose could include creating a blanket for rescued animals at shelters or a \u201cLinus Blanket\u201d that could be given to an organization and eventually given to a child in distress as a means of comfort.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a wonderful opportunity to pray for and think about others,\u201d Jones said. \u201cWe can share love through the act of knitting.\u201d<\/p>\n For people engaged in social justice, knitting can also be a therapeutic\u2014and meaningful\u2014method for expressing the passion behind the cause.<\/p>\n Uptown resident Patricia Christenson has found a renewed purpose for her mission-driven hobby. In the past four years, Christenson has been knitting caps for Yayasan Bumi Sehat, a nonprofit, Indonesia-based organization aiming to meet the needs of mothers and infants in the country.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I\u2019m knitting, I can sit and think about the baby who will get the chance to have the cap I\u2019m creating,\u201d Christenson said. \u201cI meditate and think about how I hope the baby receiving it will have a long and happy life.\u201d<\/p>\n Christenson lived in Indonesia for a period of time and routinely visited the country as a child. She plans to visit Yayasan Bumi Sehat and other areas of the country during a travel scheduled for this fall.<\/p>\n \u201cI have a very deep connection to that part of the world,\u201d Christenson said. \u201cKnitting and meditating makes it all the more meaningful to me.\u201d<\/p>\n Jones said, \u201cIt reminds all of us that there\u2019s a larger purpose behind what we\u2019re doing.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Uptown residents partake in generations-old hobby with a goal in mind By Dave Fidlin | SDUN Reporter Lisa Thurn has long practiced meditation and enjoyed the generations-old pastime of knitting. But until recently, she never thought the two regular lifestyle regimens could be woven together. Thurn is one of several Uptown residents using knitting as […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":244528,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Knitting takes on a new meaning","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11551,11593,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-244529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-no-images","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244529\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\u201cI\u2019ve also enjoyed meditation because it calms my mind.\u201d<\/p>\n