By Crocker

Beat the heat, and chill during this summer's Artful Meditation series at the Crocker! Join Adult Educator Coordinator Erin Dorn and guest instructor Ian Koebner, the director of integrative pain management at the UC Davis School of Medicine, for beginning meditation instruction in the galleries.

Quiet medittion in front of Stephen Kaltenbach's Portrait of My Father, 1972-1979. Oil on canvas

“Many people mistakenly think that they’re not ‘good mediators’ when they try to clear their minds but their thoughts naturally wander. But when you offer them a guided experience involving slow-looking with a work of art that attracts them, their breathing often slows, and many describe a quiet — albeit powerful — sense of serenity that washes through them."

Erin Dorn,
Adult Education Coordinator, Crocker Art Museum

In recognition of Dorn’s work to enhance the community through these programs, as well as her effort to help shape the Hemera Foundation’s Meditation in Museums initiative, the foundation — which supports innovative organizations that foster basic human goodness in individuals and society — has awarded a $7,500 grant to bolster her research and program development. With 87 percent of her recent program participants reporting “complete satisfaction”, Dorn is focused on supporting participants of her mid-summer Artful Meditation program as well as a unique sound meditation program planned for the fall.

“We see this as one fascinating way that the public can experience art and museums and be all the better for it,” says Dorn. “While many of our program ‘graduates’ return to the Crocker to continue meditating on artwork, we give them tools and techniques that they can use anywhere, anytime, in their daily lives.”

According to the National Institutes of Health, exercises in meditation may help practitioners achieve greater psychological balance, improve coping abilities, reduce pain, improve sleep, lower blood pressure, and even calm digestive issues.

The Crocker's summer Artful Meditation series starts June 25, 2017.

Top Image: Guided meditation in the Crocker's Historic Building ceramics gallery.