Meet Your Teacher, Kerry Kopasek
Meditation Instructor & Designer
My work in the healing arts has always been rooted in the union of creativity and healing. I followed my passion for artistic expression and pursued a career in the architecture and design industry. While working as a designer, I practiced my commitment to healing and studied meditation under the guidance of Buddhist monks in the Gelug tradition. In my spare time, I completed three years of meditation teacher training and worked as an education program coordinator to develop meditation courses for the general public. The opportunity to connect design and meditation came when I was invited to serve as the principal designer of a meditation temple in Baltimore, MD, where I taught meditation to children. Today, I lead meditation classes for people with serious health challenges and their families aboard sailing yachts on the Boca Ciega Bay near the Gulf of Mexico.
During my 15+ years of teaching, I learned that integrating art into meditation practice allows for a better understanding of the overall meditation topic. Studies show the same areas of our brain are affected similarly while in meditation and while performing flow work (or art): this is when we're engaged in an activity that has our full attention, but allows for peace within our body and mind to be fully submersed in the moment. By beginning with a meditation on a particular concept of study and then performing an art reflective pertaining to that very same topic, we're extending the meditation. This process of meditating and then making is particularly effective for people who believe they are "unable to meditate."
Made in Meditation is intended to enhance the lives of those who want to use meditation and art as a vehicle for growth. The courses, classes, videos, and content are created and inspired by assessing individual and collective struggles.
My best friend, Christy Zuccarini, created a sister site, Made In Isolation, during the first months of the pandemic to shift thinking minds to creative minds. At Made in Meditation, we hope to create meditative minds.
Who is this for?
Why Art & Meditation?
The benefits of this method:
Flow
Making art can help you tap into a deeper and more quiet part of your mind and body. You enter into a state of flow and present-moment awareness.
Art Reflective
I refer to the art projects associated with each lesson as an "Art Reflective" as you are creating specifically to reflect on the class topic and extend your meditation through the use of art.
Subtle Reminders
Placing the objects around your home and work environment that you create while in your artistic meditation process, serves as subtle reminders to engage in that particular thinking while moving through your daily activities.
Waking State Meditation
By integrating meditation, art, and movement into one class you learn to bring your meditation off the cushion and into everything you do. You learn to meditate while in motion and transfer that into your personal and professional life.
Retraining
You are resetting and retraining your chemical reward system to recognize new experiences that create enhanced pathways of thinking and processing. Bringing more peace and balance into your life.
Clarity
This program of study is utilized to access different forms of learning and study to ensure a deep understanding and clarity on the meditation topic as a whole. Allowing you to fully immerse yourself in the class topic with all of your senses.
