THERE IS NO RIGHT WAY TO MEDITATE - Serio Comics 34
THERE IS NO RIGHT WAY TO MEDITATE written and drawn by Yumi Sakugawa, published by Abrams Media then Andrews McMeel and Simon & Schuster
Last week we took a break from enthusing about literary comics and graphic novels.
And enthused about the first American Superhero comic, SUPERMAN.
This week we’re enthusing about a self-help, psychological, spiritual, and wellness work of graphic literature.
THERE IS NO RIGHT WAY TO MEDITATE
Yumi Sakugawa
Yumi Sakugawa (she/they) is a second-generation Japanese-Okinawan-American interdisciplinary artist and the author of several books including
I THINK I AM IN FRIEND-LOVE WITH YOU
YOUR ILLUSTRATED GUIDE TO BECOMING ONE WITH THE UNIVERSE
and this one THERE IS NO RIGHT WAY TO MEDITATE
Her comics have appeared in The New Yorker, The Believer, Bitch, The Best American NonRequired Reading 2014, The Rumpus, and other publications.
Her multimedia art installations have been exhibited at the Smithsonian Arts & Industries Building, the Japanese American National Museum, and the Peabody Essex Museum.
A graduate from the fine art program of University of California, Los Angeles, she currently lives in LA.
Visual No-Thoughts
I have recently begun work on a project that has started to make me think about how much I think…
And whether or not that thinking is useful ;)
My formal meditation practice had lapsed a bit.
So I enjoyed re-visiting Yumi’s book.
It shows both formal and informal ways to not-think as much.
Visual New Thoughts
Yumi’s work in the graphic form are helpful in ways only written words sometime aren’t.
For example, here’s a way to replace negative with positive thinking in your day.
As you might be able to see objectifying your thoughts into a bubble outside of you, shows that thinking is not the only thing that’s you and might not even be you.
This visual device can thus then be used as part of the actual practice.
By visually showing how you can separate yourself from your thoughts, discard ones that aren’t helping you, and add thoughts that are, Yumi engages us in ways we might not understand from reading or hearing about the practice previously.
Visual Body
Yumi’s visuals also aid us in understanding how the body can be affected by meditation.
Yumi shows how one of the goals of your meditation could be to connect with the universal field instead of your particular body.
Whether or not this experience is true for you while meditating it can clue you in to your body.
Recently Revised and Expanded
A few years after the original, Yumi revised and expanded the original book for Andrews McMeel in July 2023.
This new edition includes new mini-sections, such as:
Grounding
Inner Child
Self-Love
Instagram
As you can imagine, Yumi’s work is very popular on Instagram.
It’s quite meme-like.
Which shows how similar memes can be to comics.
Here’s Yumi’s IG!
Thinking and Not-Thinking in SHOULD WE BUY A GUN?
There’s a fair amount of over-thinking, anxiety, and fear as part of the characterizations in the forthcoming debut.
And yet the characters learn to benefit from thinking a bit less.
Hopefully, I can keep doing so a bit more too ;0