As many of you will know, I wasn’t always a potter. I used to be a business crime lawyer in the City. My clay journey started with evening classes.
When I started working with clay, for the first time in my life, I stopped feeling like I needed to be more than I was. In my pottery classes, I learned to sit with myself and be okay with that. There are lots of theories about the “flow state” that we can enter when we do crafts like pottery but, essentially, what I experienced is what the Buddhists refer to as “mindfulness”. When I was working with clay, in the safe boundaries created by the class setting, I was able to stay present and conscious in the moment whilst allowing feelings, thoughts and bodily sensations to arrive, without having a deep-rooted sense that I was getting life wrong. For the first time ever, it was not about achieving or performing, it was just about being present with what I was doing.
Prior to my evening classes, I had tried to learn to meditate, as a lot of people told me that it would be good for me, but I hated every single minute of having to sit still in an uncomfortable position. I also tried yoga, but as I am not naturally very flexible, I just felt ridiculous in the class, and for years, I wore my dislike of yoga as a kind of badge of honour. Looking back, everything in me objected to being told to be present with myself. I felt so uncomfortable that I found practical reasons why I didn’t like it (“Jeez, I mean, it was just a bunch of kale-drinking, skinny, bendy girls in skimpy outfits”). I now think, that for a lot of people, if you tell them to just sit down with all their unresolved emotions running riot inside, it can be a very traumatic place to be. For me, my worst nightmare was having to be with myself, so no wonder I responded to meditation and yoga in the way I did.
With clay, I slowly learned to be with myself, and once I could do it at the studio, I started being able to be with myself in other situations too, and yes, you guessed it right, I am now one of those annoying bendy, kale-drinking yogis!
Clay facilitated so many positive changes in my life and I now have the privilege of watching a lot of students embark on a similar journey. I still don’t know exactly what it is that makes working with clay so powerful, but I do know that it’s absolutely magic and that I wish that the whole world could experience it. Seeing students float out of our doors after their classes gives me more joy than I can start to express.
I feel that our studios have always played an important role as healing spaces for Londoners, but with Covid, what we are providing seems even more needed than ever. I hope you decide to come and experience the clay magic for yourself, and if you are unable to attend a class due to current financial hardship, please email me at stine@skandihus.co.uk. We are slowly getting back on our feet as a business, but we are still able to offer a few concessionary spots to those in need of healing.
Come join the SkandiHus clay revolution. We are trying to make the world a better *plate*, one ball of clay at the time!
With love,
Stine x
