Guelph artist encourages embracing mindfulness with ‘A Little Box of Calm’

GUELPH – Between the everyday hustle of working life, to the unexpected events that always seem to arrive at the worst time, it’s easy to get lost in the ever flowing pace of life.

Artist and mindfulness coach Roxana Bahrami recognizes this and has set out on a mission to encourage everyday people to tune out of the hustle of life and instead tune in to themselves.

“I’m a self-taught artist. My specialty is pointillism, and as far as I remember, I’ve been doing dot painting,” said Bahrami.

“From the very beginning, I realized it had a very positive impact on me, but it was exactly 10 years ago that I realized that if it has that much impact on me, it’s on me to pass it on to others.”

Bahrami began her mindfulness journey in 2016, when she pursued mindfulness teaching and began taking clients from her home studio before moving on to teach workshops at local organizations and universities.

“Gradually, I moved into online teaching, and of course, the audience moved from just Kitchener-Waterloo and Guelph to Ontario, beyond Ontario, B.C., and even in the US,” said Bahrami.

“A few months ago, it was like a kind of aha moment. Why do people need to come to me either for face-to-face workshops or online workshops? Why don’t I put together a simple and small package, which has all the fundamental well-being and mindfulness that I learned throughout this journey, and give them something?”

And thus, A Little Box of Calm was created.

The box includes 10 simple dot painting exercises as well as all of the supplies needed to complete the work. 

“The intention is not making someone an artist. It’s just giving them ... the basic permission to pause, and it’s all about slowing down and doing meditative drawing,” said Bahrami. 

“When it comes to slow drawing or dot painting, we are talking about some kind of ... repetition, and doing this kind of repetition helps our mind or brain to stay in the moment and be grounded."

Everything included in the box is by intentional design, right down to the size of the canvases.

“It’s small. You can hold it in your hand, and each exercise, based on the size of the cardstock is designed to be completed in maximum 15 minutes,” said Bahrami.

“Why? Because we human beings would like to see the final result of something and say ‘check, done.’”

The box includes a small stand so once complete, the piece can be displayed.

While the initial batch of boxes has already sold out, Bahrami is still accepting orders on her website.

To order, visit roxanabahrami.com.