Mind over matter: Georgia Museum of Art hosts Morning Mindfulness program

By Kathrin Merritt

Morning Mindfulness, a program held by the Georgia Museum of Art, lets participants meditate and enjoy art in various exhibits.

Meghan Gerig

All of the vastly beautiful and individual pieces offered in art museums can be overwhelming to try to absorb.Thanks to the Morning Mindfulness program at the Georgia Museum of Art, participants gain new  mindsets to view the exhibits with a different approach.

Morning Mindfulness is dedicated to enhancing audience engagement with art and within their everyday lives. The program meets every other Friday and is led by various instructors who teach innovative ways to view life’s surroundings. Each lesson is held in different exhibits to keep the audience coming back.

Sage Kincaid, the associate curator of education at the Georgia Museum of Art, is passionate about the skills and lessons taught throughout the program. Each technique helps build the participants’ connection with and understanding of the art pieces through thoughtful physical movement.

“We had a walking meditation in the sculpture garden, which was an embodied response to these kinetic sculptures that were moving in the wind,” Kincaid said. “So along with the movement of the sculpture, people were being mindful of their own bodies as they walked.”

Morning Mindfulness promotes self-reflection and also encourages in-depth conversations through art. The new levels of understanding unlocked from the sessions create new grounds for connection.

“I love when people come back together and they have all of these things that they want to talk about — all the wonderful things that they noticed in a painting,” Kincaid said.

Calm, clarifying and inclusive

Participant Jeanette Bowers, who attended the sessions for over two years, likes that the program allows her to develop a deeper understanding of art while also giving her time for contemplation.

“It clears my mind, for one thing,” Bowers said. “It’s just kind of nice to be able to reflect, not only on life — looking at the artwork, I think, helps us understand a little bit better about different things we haven’t considered.”

Bowers said she admires that the program serves a variety of people and is open for all in the Athens area.

Morning Mindfulness, a program held by the Georgia Museum of Art, lets participants meditate and enjoy art in various exhibits.

Meghan Gerig

“There is a lot of youth that comes frequently but you also see a lot of retirees,” Bowers said. “I’m just really pleased to know that it’s available to all of us. It’s not designed for any particular group, it’s available and open to everyone.”

Newcomer Patricia Dixen has attended the program consistently for three months. She said she’s appreciative the program combines meditation with discovering the art museum.   

“Having the first part where it’s really just settling yourself down into the meditation, but then moving and transferring that onto an image, so that you’re looking at a painting or a photograph or something like that, adds a nice richness and depth to the experience,” Dixen said.

A look inside a session

The instructor for the session held on Friday, Nov. 9 was psychotherapist, marriage and family therapist and yoga therapist Tom Camp. Camp focused this session on calming the mind. He led the class in warm-up breathing exercises and 15 minutes of sitting in utter silence.

After the sitting meditation, participants were invited to move around and view the art in the galleries closed off for the program, a process Camp referred to as “walking meditation.” Next, the group reconvened in the main gallery room for a brief discussion of the art. Finally, Camp led a closing meditation centered around deep breathing.

Camp’s meditation practice is rooted in the evolution and redefinition of yoga. He wants to focus on the fact that yoga used to be accessible to everyone, no matter their fitness level.

“Ancient yoga was not physical fitness. It was preparing the body to be able to sit and not be distracting to the mind,” Camp said. “So the purpose of all the poses, really was to strengthen the body, to be able to be in a position with meditation… so finding ways that yoga includes everybody, not just the physically fit, is something that I think is evolving in the community.”

The Morning Mindfulness program will wrap up its fall sessions on Dec. 1 but will be back for the spring semester starting Jan. 12.