Haiku as a Mindfulness Practice
by Agnes Bourne, ASID, FRSA
I first became interested in haiku as a form of mindfulness practice when I read work by Matsuo Bashō, a 17th-century haiku poet, who describes it as, “Simply what is happening in this place in this moment.” I already knew that haiku was just 3 lines — 5 syllables, followed by 7 syllables and completed with 5 syllables — but I had not combined it with mindfulness practice. “Seventeen syllables!” I thought. “What better constraint could there be in naming precisely what is happening right now?”
I usually write haiku in the evening, as a reflection on the activities of the day. It is like a benediction and a meditation…both a summary and an inspiration. And there are days when starting with the practice sets the tone, as well. Haiku moments are creative in both my personal and professional life, as they open my awareness of reality and feed my creativity at the same time. I find myself becoming acquainted with more words and how they create new ideas together.
As a mindfulness practice, haiku feels like an act of compassion or loving kindness. It is shared in speaking and/or writing like a good luck charm or a beautiful pebble. We all speak to each other, literally, and in the ways we move in the world, and we’re always listening to what we say. Noticing and reflecting is a shared conversation.
Of course, not all haiku is heady! My favorite lines are the most playful, like this one I wrote for my son’s dog, Coco, who is enormously fun:
Bless you sweet darling.
You make me smile and giggle.
Let’s just play all day!
Agnes Bourne will lead our Mindfulness Works session, exploring haiku, on July 9 at 9am at Teton County Library.
A specialist in color and planning, Agnes has been working in design for more than 60 years and is the namesake of her own furniture collection, in galleries and production in San Francisco and New York. She has been awarded medals of distinction from the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID), The Smithsonian Institution, Cine Arts, and more, and has been named among the most influential designers of modern times. She’s served as a trustee to national, international, and local boards supporting the arts and design, and as a resident of Jackson, she has been practicing mindfulness with Becoming Jackson Whole since its founding.
Agnes recently published a Daily Haiku Journal, for which she wrote a haiku every day for a year, creating 52 (weekly) chapters. Copies are available at Valley Bookstore in Jackson.