Mental Health and Knitting: A Beautiful Balance!

Introduction

Mental health is a prominent feature in our society, with many avenues to explore in the pursuit of wellbeing.  They range from reading books and seeking therapy to self-help gurus instructing you on the best way forward.  But how about mindfulness as an option to reach the balance that your life needs?   This can be reached by investing in yourself and allowing your mind to create its own solace.  Knitting can be a safe space to explore your need to escape life’s pressures and it’s actually a more popular solution than you think!

How Knitting Can Help with Anxiety

Knitting is a great escape from everyday life, the act of moving wool along a needle in a controlled action uses the brain in such a way that short and long-term memory are engaged, working together to produce feel-good endorphins.   It is a known fact that if a person is feeling anxious, scared, fearful, or even terrified, focusing on a skill that requires locating items, counting or measuring prevents the brain from focusing on the anxiety.  This is because it can only focus on one thought at a time and distraction allows the panic to gradually subside.

Knitting Therapy for Mental Illness

Knitting (or crocheting) is indeed therapy, for the mind.  It requires skill, planning, and an ability to focus, but most important of all, once the skill is mastered it will ignite a passion in the crafter to create.  Creating should never be underestimated, it is a route to well-being that goes back to our genetic roots.  We were created to survive and then we evolved that to LIVE.  Knitting and/or crocheting is a mental health plaster, it helps to bring about a feeling of accomplishment, a sense of achievement, in a private world that may be a hostile environment.   The very act of completing small sections and being able to put them down is really conducive to mental health episodes, enabling the creation to evolve at a pace to suit the crafter.

Knitting as a Form of Self-Therapy

Taking control of your mental health is a positive way to help promote inner wellness and knitting can be a great help in reducing stress.  The repetitive act of knitting or crocheting can actually develop into a form of cathartic meditation, healing both the mind and the body in one sweep.   Knitting does not need to be an isolated activity either, the growing trend for crafting as a whole is encouraging groups to share their makes, or pattern ideas, even meeting in a face-to-face group in some areas of the country.  These connections to people are exactly what are needed in the aftermath of a global pandemic and crafting is a great way to develop social bonds.

Conclusion

Taking time for yourself is not a luxury, it is a must, an unequivocal need!  To ignore your mental wellbeing would impact every aspect of your life, whereas to embrace it would enhance and bring about an inner calm, allowing you room to maneuver and breathe.   You have one life, live it well, and listen to your body and the next time you feel anxious, don’t stress, instead pick up some needles and start knitting.