Mud Therapy

I had heard of mud baths that heal aches and pains. I had heard of mud facials that removed impurities. But I had no idea how therapeutic mud could be. I don't intentionally smear it on my body, however, I do get rather dirty. Instead, I intentionally smear the mud with my hands. I am talking about the mud therapy I have found in which you throw pots. Technically, it is not mud, but clay.

I have been going to a studio every Thursday night for several months and getting my hands dirty. I am not very good, but I have improved over the last few months. I will never be an artist, in the way that others who go to this studio are, but I love to create pieces that are appealing to my eye. The main thing I love is the "me" time, where I forget about work, family issues, and old people. All I think about for three hours is what will I be able to do with that lump of clay; what makes me be able to make one lump of clay into something relatively tall and fairly symmetrical one time and the next lump of clay ends up a lump of clay after I have messed with it for 3o minutes.


I have been surprised by how much I love my Thursday Therapy sessions. I hate it when I have to miss it. I have wanted to learn how to throw pottery on a wheel for a long time. However, I thought it might turn out like all the other artistic endeavors I have tried--stained glass, painting, drawing, sewing, cake decorating, jewelry making--with some moderate success, and sometimes more than moderate investment, but nothing with which I felt I really had a connection. I have stuck with this longer than any of the others and don't see a place where I will tire of it. I could be wrong, but for now, I love my Thursday Therapy sessions with a benefit of having something I have created, some of it that I really like, to show for it. In fact, I need to start culling out the ugly stuff that is spilling out of my cabinets. I have a friend who suggested that I use it for a different type of pot-throwing therapy and just smash it when I am frustrated/angry. That might be a good idea. But for now, I will go get my hands dirty in the clay that heals my aches and pains and removes the impurities of my day.