Finding Your Focus (and Zen) Even During Stressful Times with Kate Ward

Christine Li  0:01  
Welcome back to the Make Time for Success podcast. This is episode number 133. 

I've had the pleasure of showcasing the work of different talented artists in recent episodes. And today I continue that pattern with my lovely guests to Kate Ward. Kate is a textile artist with a love of travel and the esoteric and she has developed over time a holistic approach to creativity. She is passionate about textiles, environmental issues, and living a meaningful life. She is the founder and host of Zen stitching, where she combines her love for the Japanese art of Sasha co stitching, mending her clothes, reducing waste, and encouraging mindfulness in her community of students and followers. And then herself, I was immediately connected to Kate and all she has to teach all of her life. Wisdom I learned so much from her. In this interview, we covered many different topics, including how to use your time well, how to change your habits to reduce your stress, and even how stitching can be a source of wonderful meditation, and pain management if you use it in your own life. Let's go listen to this beautiful episode together now.

Hi, I'm Dr. Christine Li, and I'm a psychologist and a procrastination coach. I've helped 1000s of people move past procrastination and overwhelm so they can begin working to their potential. In this podcast, you're going to learn a powerful strategies for getting your mind, body and energy to work together so that you can focus on what's really important and accomplish the goals you want to achieve. When you start living within your full power, you're going to see how being productive can be easy, and how you can create success on demand. Welcome to the Make Time for Success podcast. 

Hello, my friends. It's Dr. Li back again for another wonderful episode. Today, I have the good fortune and pleasure of welcoming Kate Ward on to the show. Kate is a textile artist and the CEO and founder of Zen stitching Kate and I are new to each other, so I can't wait to get to know her and her work better. Thank you, Kate, for being here with us today.

Kate Ward  2:38  
Hi, Christine. It's so lovely to be here with you.

Christine Li  2:43  
Thank you for being here. Can you please let us know everything that we need to know about you and everything you'd like to share?

Kate Ward  2:52  
Well, that's such a big an open ended question. It's sometimes a little bit difficult to know exactly where to start. I guess a good starting point is maybe how Zen stitching came about a business. Yep. So I am a textile artist and I have been pretty much throughout my whole life, I was very fortunate to grow up in a family that really encouraged creativity. And there was always some knitting or some cross stitch or some sewing of garments happening. So this was kind of like a natural thing for me to be involved with and create. And through a series of serendipitous events, I ended up at art school studying textiles. And from there, I had the good fortune of doing an exchange with the Kyoto seca university in Japan. And for those who may not be that familiar with Australia, we are quite influenced by the closeness of the our proximity between Australia and Asia. And so we've got a lot of these wonderful influences that come through. And so going across to Kyoto, and being totally immersed in the culture was really quite a formative step. In my progression throughout life, it was there that I really, really developed the love of the Japanese aesthetic, and their way of approaching everything within life. So it's kind of that's kind of sowed some of the seeds for how my path has continued. And so I've always been interested in the esoteric and the just the unexplained things that we can tap into to wish intuition and that kind of thing, as well as combining it with travel. So going and immersing ourselves in different colors. which is and experiences and taking ourselves out of our comfort zone, which can be quite challenging, but also quite enlightening, as well. And so that kind of, I don't know, I guess I just develop the love of doing that. And I combined my art practice with studying and traveling. So I've had the opportunity to study and travel all over the world. So that's kind of how I like to do a lot of my making and creating and my one of my life philosophies, I guess you could say. And then the Zen stitching bit came into play, because about, probably about 10 years ago, I was doing some teaching, in fact, I was doing a lot of teaching. And I teach an adult education course here and rush around, and I teach an adult education course there. And there was lots of rushing between all of these part time teaching jobs that I had. And one of the courses that I was going to teach, I was asked to create a sampler ahead of the course, so that people had an idea of what they're going to learn. Because up until then, I really did do it by the seat of my pants. And I was like, Ah, okay, I guess I can do that. So I had to try and squeeze this, you know, creating this sampler in between everything else. And it was during that time, and I didn't force myself to sit and stitch. And I came to realize quite quickly that I actually really enjoyed the process. And the, through the setting and the stitching, it really embodied a sense of calmness and centeredness, and a feeling of well being. And it was just through those experiences that then stitching came about, I'm like, Ah, this, this stitching brings me peace. And yes, that's kind of how it all began.

Christine Li  7:08  
Wonderful. So regarding the teaching that you were going to one class and the other class, you weren't teaching stitching necessarily, or that was just a small piece of what you were teaching. And then the stitching became the main focus for you.

Kate Ward  7:23  
Yes, that's right. So because I have a lot of experience and a lot of textile techniques, I was teaching screen printing on fabric and Shibori dyeing with Indigo and natural dyes, and, you know, a whole gamut of things. And it was when I sat down to do the stitching, that's when I really decided that's what I really wanted to focus on. Because I really did enjoy the process of that creativity and stillness.

Christine Li  7:52  
Wonderful. Did you feel that you needed that in your life at that time, that maybe some emotional factors or some stress factors, or I guess I'm asking what your emotional state was, and, and what the improvement might have been? If I may ask?

Kate Ward  8:14  
Absolutely. And that's a really good question. So yeah, so I was busy juggling a lot of things, and there wasn't much downtime or me time. So it was kind of thinking about what had to be done. And then moving to the next thing, and without much space in between. So it was, I don't know if stressful is quite the right way to describe it. But it was definitely hectic, you know, like it was just something had to happen, then another thing, then another thing, then another thing. And so the ability to sit still. Generally, when you're stitching, you have a favorite chair that you like to sit in, and it's generally in the favorite part of your house or you. If it's nice outside, you can take it outside and sit in the sunshine. So it becomes a real ritual in itself, because you're generally making a nice cup of tea, if it's cold or cold drink if it's warm, and you create this really nice environment almost unconsciously, because you're sitting down to do something that you enjoy doing.

Christine Li  9:23  
I love it. I love it. You're making me think about a bunch of things, including the COVID era, and how everyone had to I guess most people had to be inside and to find different activities for themselves. So I'm wondering what happened to your business and the interest in your work during the COVID era. But also, the other thing I'm thinking is how common it is for people to feel like they don't have any time in between and that they almost didn't bother looking for it because how it Is that ever going to work? So could you comment on both?

Kate Ward  10:04  
Yeah, absolutely. So it's really interesting that you should say that because it was in the beginning of 2020, just before COVID became what it did, that I thought, I'm really going to focus on Zen stitching as a business this year. And I was really interested in the online model, I really wanted to be able to reach and have a wonderful audience. One thing I haven't shared with you yet, although you can probably tell is I am Australian, by birth, and I've got quite the accent. And so I've got a lot of friends and followers in Australia, as well as here in Nova Scotia. So I wanted to do something where I could reach many different people from different parts of the world. So in some senses, COVID was a wonderful experience for me to have some time to focus on learning how to be on camera. I don't know about you, but I was so nervous the first time I had to get on Zoom or anything like that. And which is funny, I think we're all kind of quite comfortable with it now. So in some senses, COVID was very beneficial, because a lot of people were looking for something to do with their time indoors. One of the great virtues about stitching is you don't need a great deal of materials to be able to get started, like, you literally need a needle, some thread and some fabric. And if you want to get fancy, you can get some other things too, you know, but so most people have those kinds of things lying around. And if not, they're easy to get one way or another. So I really liked that ability to be able to use things to hand, that's something that's quite strong. In my ethics, I really like to use what we have recycle where possible, which is why I really like to encourage people to mend their clothes. So that's one of the aspects of the then stitching is mending our clothes. So that's kind of how that came about. Not to mention, just the soothing, or how soothing, the stitching is. So because COVID was so stressful, particularly in those first couple of months, where we just didn't know what to expect. The ability to be able to sit and create and let the mind be free, whilst the hands were busy was really beneficial as well. And I've had lots of people reach out to me in response to those experiences as well. It's it's really quite heartwarming to hear, you know, I've had people who have their children have gone through chemotherapy. And so one way that they've found solace is to be able to sit and stitch and another friend has lost her father recently. And so her way of working through her grief was to be able to sit and stitch. So it's it's really wonderful how it touches on many aspects of healing, as well as providing an outlet for creativity. At the same time,

Christine Li  13:35  
wonderful, I'm sure I'm sure many people benefited from getting to know you and your your art and your approach during the stressful height of COVID. Yeah, yes. Can you talk about the other question, which was about the feeling like time is so compressed and in such short supply? And where can we find the time for art for creativity for stitching? For being able to clear our mind a bit?

Kate Ward  14:07  
Yeah, that's a good question. And thank you so much for bringing it up again, because I'd forgotten what what the question was. And it is it's such a good question, because I think it's something that a lot of us really do struggle with this feeling of not enough time, and being overwhelmed and trying to squeeze everything in and how could how could we possibly do at all and I think it's really helpful with for me and with the way I like to approach things is, is two different angles to that. So one is I have a morning routine, where I like to get up and I'll do some journaling and I'll do some reading. And I'll do some meditation, do some exercises, and I'll also do some stitching. So that is part of my My gentle waking up practice in the morning. And that has come about from me consciously deciding to get up a little bit earlier every day, and giving me some me time, which I find, if I do that the rest of the day just goes really smoothly. Not all of us have the luxury of being able to do that. But that's one way that I've been able to make a point of including some creativity into my life, because generally, you know, come seven o'clock, the world's awake, and everybody else wants your attention. And you can very easily get sidetracked by all of the different demands that are placed on you. So just that little bit of time in the morning is really helpful. But the other really great thing too, is say you're not a morning person, but you're really interested in in being a little bit more creative. If you break your segments, or your projects into five or 10 minute segments, it suddenly makes what seems like it could be a really over arching the immense project. And if you do just a little bit on a daily basis, it makes it so much more approachable. Now I know that even that kind of concerned a little bit like well, how, how do you do that. So for example, if I'm doing some stitching, one day, it might literally be getting the fabric, you know, looking through my fabric sesh, finding something that I want to work with that kind of thing. So literally just doing that. And then the next day might be because I do a lot of the Sashko stitching, it might be drawing up the pattern. So spending a little bit of time putting that together. And then so you're kind of doing things incrementally, step by step, rather than trying to find time to spend a whole day doing it, which even I who aspire to do that in my art studio, it never happens. Whereas if you break it into smallest smaller bits, it's so much more achievable. And then one last thing I've thought about with all of that is then once you've got it prepared, you can put it put it in your handbag, or in a pocket or something like that. And then if you've got, you know, five minutes waiting for the bus or the doctor's office or whatever, you could pull it out and do some stitching. And it's amazing how quickly you can get lost in your own reverie when you're doing that. And it's much more soothing than scrolling through Instagram or you know, any of the socials.

Christine Li  17:42  
I love this. As soon as you started talking about breaking things down into five to 10 minute segments, I thought wow, stitching is perfect for that, actually, because it's not like oil painting, and watercolor. You don't have to put away everything. It's just you could just stop, put it away, be at peace with that, and then pick it up whenever you next can. That's beautiful. Can you describe what she goes stitching is? You mentioned that and that technique? And is there a philosophy behind that technique?

Kate Ward  18:17  
Yes, yes, absolutely. So sashiko stitching is a form of Japanese textiles or embroidery. It started maybe four or 500 years ago, out and coming from a place of need or necessity. So to break it down even further than that, at its core level, it's mending and reinforcing fabrics. And through as time has developed, these stitches have become very beautiful patterns as well. So not only are they stitching that is mending your clothes or mending holes in garments, but they also have evolved to become quite intricate stitches. And what makes them so totally fascinating is growing up with Western style embroidery where you work on a little section of the project bit by bit with the Sashko stitching, you're actually doing lines of stitching. So it's all just running stitch which is super accessible for everybody, you know, it's just going in and out of the fabric. But you're doing these lines of stitching which make really helped to reinforce the fabric. So if you think of the way fabric is woven with the the the warps and the wefts, it's doing that so it really gives a lot of extra strength to the fabric. So that's in essence what sashco is, it's this very beautiful and or not ornate way of embellishing textiles it's which is Generally what it is used for now, but when it evolved, it was coming from necessity, fabric wasn't readily available. It evolved in the lower classes of Japanese society. So there are a whole lot of rules and regulations about the length of the stitch and the colors that could be used and all that kind of thing. So it's, it's quite a very beautiful art form.

Christine Li  20:26  
Wonderful. Now comes a slightly different kind of question. I guess. I'm wondering how you're focused on stitching, and the arts has reinforced you and your strengths?

Kate Ward  20:42  
Oh, that's a really good question. Um, I would have to say that being grounded is incredibly important. And as an artist, perhaps, but I'm sure many people experience the shiny object syndrome, where you want to do this, and you want to do this, and you want to do this, and there's all these things that you are on the one to do this. So I find just the ability to sit and focus and stitch. It's called active meditation. So when you're stitching, the same areas of the brain are being engaged as they would be if you're meditating. So it really is a great way to become focused, I guess you could say, and it's a way of being able to think through things without focusing on the problem. I know that doesn't really make sense. But you know, it's kind of like, you know, you're having a shower, and you're not really thinking about anything at all. And then the solution to yesterday's problem suddenly comes to mind, you know, it's that kind of thing, because you get lost in a reverie whilst you're creating, and these thoughts just kind of come to you. So I've found that through the stitching process, it's, it's just so beneficial on so many levels, I used to think it was a guilty pleasure. But I now have the science to back me up that it's actually really beneficial to

Christine Li  22:28  
I love this conversation, I could go so many different directions here. I feel this, I love this love this so much. And I could see stitching and the arts being a healing tool for people who are feeling overwhelmed, who are feeling like they are not in touch with their feelings and or their intuition. If they're feeling like they go blank in stressful circumstances, all these different situations. And then of course, it's just a lovely thing to do. I believe that whenever we do something lovely the world benefits, right. And we can we can do it on a very small level, we can do it in a private way, by just developing our focus, all of this tends to improve all the other things. So thank you so much for describing the beauty of what you found and what you currently enjoy and teach other people. Can you share some other stories about the students that you teach? And maybe some of the development that they have been able to enjoy because of getting connected with stitching?

Kate Ward  23:40  
Yes, absolutely. And so I think for me, this is one of the things where I really get so much from like, I just really love being able to share this experience with others, and then hearing back from them how beneficial it is because I think a lot of people start with the intention of wanting to learn the technique. And then they also realize just how therapeutic and beneficial it is on so many different levels. One lady that springs to mind, she's absolutely lovely. And she's been participating in many of my creative workshops over the years. And she she shared with me recently that one of the reasons that she really enjoys particularly doing the hand stitching is she uses it for pain management. And I found that really fascinating. Yes, yeah. So she has. She is a mature lady and she has sore hips. She has quite a lot of pain in her hips. And she doesn't. I think sitting for long periods is quite problematic. So she doesn't want to take traditional or you know, a lot of medication to combat So her way of being able to alleviate the pain is through stitching. And I can totally see how that would be the case, because you're taking your focus from your bodily pain awareness, and you're channeling it into this creative process. And I think sometimes even without trying, you just kind of become focused on what you're working to at hand. And so you have the, the focus and the concentration, but also the enjoyment of creating as well like what you're saying, and the ability to create something beautiful to share with the world. So she has found that tip stitching has been so beneficial for her in that sense, just being able to channel her energies, away from her pain and into creating beautiful objects. And it's stories like those that I've found, are so heartwarming, like I love to be able to share, share the love and the benefits with others. And the other one that really, that springs to mind and really touched me was there was a lady, an Australian lady. So she reached out to me afterwards. And she said, I really enjoyed your making Zen programs. So that's another aspect of what I do. And it's an online event. And there are lots of different textile artists. And they all share what they like to create with others. And this Australian lady wrote in and she said, I was in New York, my son was undergoing chemo. And I found that through the making process, it helped me soothe my anxieties of the process that her son was going through. And just through that process of focusing on what she was doing with her hands helped her really work through her feelings and her emotions whilst he was undergoing this treatment, and it just was incredibly touching to hear her say that it had helped her work through this process. And then it turned out that where she's from in Australia is literally just down the road from where my dad is. So it's just this another lovely serendipitous moment where we kind of know many wonderful people through the internet.

Christine Li  27:34  
That's amazing. That's amazing. So you just described in the first two stories that that stitching can help to alleviate both physical and emotional pain. This is incredible. I can see myself telling my colleagues about you, at least one of them. And I'm sure our listeners are really thinking about who they can connect you with and who they can help through through the arts and through more mindful use of our time and our hands. I love this. I love this so much, Kate, thank you so much for sharing this beautiful part of the world with us. Can you please share with us now how our listeners can stay in touch with you start to work with you and learn with you?

Kate Ward  28:20  
Yes, absolutely. So you can find me on the socials at then stitching. And I'm also online Zen stitching.ca. And I've put together some information for you and your listeners who might be interested in learning a little bit more about the Sashko and the Zen stitching. So if you go to Zen stitching.ca, forward slash friend, then you'll be able to find a whole lot of information on how to get started into this wonderful world of textiles and creativity.

Christine Li  28:56  
Thank you, Kate. I know you're gonna get a lot of new followers and, and friends through this episode. I so appreciate your time, your energy and the love that you're spreading. Thank you so much, Kate.

Kate Ward  29:09  
It's wonderful. Thank you so much for your time today. It's been absolutely delightful.

Christine Li  29:13  
Thank you. All right, my friends. You know what to do support. Kate, support yourself. Keep listening to the podcast and just know that there are options for you. If you're feeling stressed. If you're feeling time stressed. If you're feeling like you can't have fun, really, all we need is five minutes at a time and keep your ears open to these podcast episodes. So thank you, Kate. Thank you everyone for listening. I'll see you next week. Bye. Bye. 

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