Get Your Hands Dirty

By Gail Belsky

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When was the last time you had soil under your fingernails or clay stuck to your hair? Think back: There was a reason you enjoyed building sand castles, sculpting with play dough and whittling sticks. In addition to being fun, it felt good…literally.

“We have various senses for a reason -- to gather information, to create pleasure -- and our sense of touch is as important as our senses of hearing, tasting and seeing,” says Nancy Monson, crafter and author of Craft to Heal: Soothing Your Soul with Sewing, Painting, and Other Pastimes (Hats Off Books 2005). “There is great pleasure to be had from feeling different kinds of things.”

Reconnecting with those positive experiences of doing things with your hands creates a sense of well-being, according to Dr. Barbara Becker Holstein, author of The Truth: I’m a Girl, I’m Smart and I Know Everything (The Enchanted Self Press 2008). “Whenever we go back to a successful time in our past, we feel integrated. We start to arouse earlier sensations of pleasure from way back.”

Even if you didn’t spend your childhood making mud pies, you can easily discover the joys of working with your hands as an adult. Classes in horticulture, landscaping, pottery, metalwork and woodworking are offered around the country in community colleges and adult schools, private studios and professional workshops. Here are some of the reasons why you just might want to take one:

Be in the Moment “I did the horticulture program at our local community college. I loved every minute -- the art, the science, the sweat of it. I think the pleasure comes from being able to reach into the physical universe and make something. The other thing specific to gardening is being outside…with the breezes, wildlife and plants. I can get out of my head being in that space.”
-- Jeannie Hanson, Sacramento, Calif.   

Block out Stress “I’ve taken several classes in jewelry-making and metalworking to learn a hobby that was low-tech and did not involve the computer. For me, it’s unique since it's so tactile, and really feels like I’m ‘working’ in the old-fashioned sense, actually building something tangible and concrete out of raw materials -- in my case, sheet metal -- and turning it into something pretty. Also, I have to purely focus on the task at hand, so it’s like meditation and a relief for my brain.”
-- Anandi Raman Creath, Redmond, Wash.

Lift Your Spirits “I have taken many classes that involve working with my hands, from pottery to using natural dyes. For me, creating things with my hands is not only relaxing, it keeps my spirits up. I enjoy seeing the end results of something my hands, mind and heart have created.”
-- Rev. Jennifer Ann Bowers, Colorado Springs, Colo.

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