ARTFUL PATH

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My husband, Mike and I had the utter pleasure of meeting you today and experiencing not only your stunning artwork, but your complete generosity of spirit. We just watched your Art of Mindfulness Documentary on YouTube and were so moved. I couldn't help but click on your resume...in light of our conversation regarding your students:) I see that you are an interfaith minister...more synchronicity as I am a music director for First Congregational Church of Stamford. I am happily awaiting the arrival of your book which I promptly ordered (from Bookshop.org). 
Peace, 
Tracey (and Mike) Marble

An innovative, creative approach to learn skills to break free from the fear and uncertainty that stand in the way of genuine happiness.
An innovative, creative approach to learn skills to break free from the fear and uncertainty that stand in the way of genuine happiness.
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“This is a thinking—out—of—the--box program author Janet Slom calls "MindfulnessBased Self-Expression" or MSBE. She encourages creativity, various art exercises, and entertaining possibilities we haven't dared to. Instead of living reactively, Slom urges we engage life as it is to experience our true selves and live joyfully.” 

—Sharon Salzberg, New York Times best-selling author of Real Happiness and Lovingkindness 
About the Book:
When you look at your life, do you feel it is working just the way it is? Or do you feel stressed and uneasy? Many of us are stuck in a pattern of living reactively, rather than proactively, and feel disconnected and uncreative as a result. Fortunately, there is another way.

An Artful Path to Mindfulness instructs readers through an experiential curriculum that integrates mindfulness meditation, creativity through art, and mind/body practices. The process introduces the fundamentals of MBSE; mindful, compassion-based applications infused with creative encounters including conversation drawings, fun art exercises, introspective body scans, yoga, breathwork, and opportunities for reflection. This workbook is a guide that can be followed specifically or adapted to fit your needs.  

The MBSE tools presented in An Artful Path to Mindfulness, offer a way off the fast track. By aligning art exploration with the core principles of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, as systematized by Jon Kabat-Zinn, this book is a path to your authentic, intuitive, and spontaneous heart that can inspire new levels of awareness and interconnected living. 

“This is a thinking—out—of—the--box program author Janet Slom calls "MindfulnessBased Self-Expression" or MSBE. She encourages creativity, various art exercises, and entertaining possibilities we haven't dared to. Instead of living reactively, Slom urges we engage life as it is to experience our true selves and live joyfully.” 

—Sharon Salzberg, New York Times best-selling author of Real Happiness and Lovingkindness 
About the Author:
Janet Slom, MFA, CFM certified MBSR instructor, Founder and Director of MBSE (Mindfulness Based Self Expression©) is an internationally acclaimed teacher, interfaith minister, EYRT 500-hour yoga and RAD trained dance instructor, and social entrepreneur. Janet currently serves as adjunct faculty for Lehigh University’s Global Village, a guest speaker at the University of Miami, and was adjunct faculty for the University of Massachusetts Medical School from 2004-2019. 

She is a renowned artist with works in public and private collections. Janet received her MFA from Massachusetts College of Art and MBSR teacher certification from the University of Massachusetts. Originally from South Africa, she currently resides with her family in Westport, CT and Miami, FL. 
Learn more about the program
About the Author:
Janet Slom, MFA, CFM certified MBSR instructor, Founder and Director of MBSE (Mindfulness Based Self Expression©) is an internationally acclaimed teacher, interfaith minister, EYRT 500-hour yoga and RAD trained dance instructor, and social entrepreneur. Janet currently serves as adjunct faculty for Lehigh University’s Global Village, a guest speaker at the University of Miami, and was adjunct faculty for the University of Massachusetts Medical School from 2004-2019. 

She is a renowned artist with works in public and private collections. Janet received her MFA from Massachusetts College of Art and MBSR teacher certification from the University of Massachusetts. Originally from South Africa, she currently resides with her family in Westport, CT and Miami, FL. 
“Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way; on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally.” Kabat-Zinn (1994)
An Artful Path to Mindfulness will guide you to your individual creative heart and use it as a tool for living a joyful and fulfilling life.
An Artful Path to Mindfulness will guide you to your individual creative heart and use it as a tool for living a joyful and fulfilling life.

Mindful Art Encounter: Freedom of Self Expression, please have a paper and pen with you and any colorful writing utensils you may find available while we explore our inner dialog through creative mark marking 


  • Let's take two minutes to drop in, having an awareness of the mind and breath in this moment
  • Begin by making a mark on your paper, now continue to make marks in a free and playful way, aware of your breath. 
  • Begin to create visual expression through shapes, dots, and lines of any form that allows you to communicate with yourself, heart to hand.
  • Stay open, no judgement, and as you continue, are you noticing anything? 
  • When you finish, take three deep breaths. Did you experience moments of playful engagement? What were your thoughts and judgements? 


Mindful Art Encounter: Drawing with Community; moderator is to open the whiteboard Zoom option and enable participants. Honoring the way your unique voice comes together with the voices of others is a way to stand in your own authenticity while standing with others, creating a community of kind acceptance, diversity, and inclusion. 


  • Everyone lower their gazes and feel into the breath, inhalation and exhalation in your own rhythm. A group intention will be set; presence, listening deeply to nonverbal communication, and awareness with intuition. 
  • One by one, each person can begin making a mark. 
  • Then at the same time, everyone makes marks, spontaneously. Position your marks or words anywhere on the whiteboard discovering yourself and how you work with others.
  • As you continue, what are you noticing? This process requires presence in each moment, engaging a quality of aliveness and process.
  • When an agreed upon stopping point is reached, let's pause and reflect. Now discuss. This image will be sent to each of you as a takeaway and reminder of this dynamic group conversation. 


The final moment can be ending with a poem:

“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and right doing,

there is a field. I’ll meet you there.

When the soul lies down in that grass,

the world is too full to talk about.

Ideas, language, even the phrase “each other”

doesn’t make any sense.

The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.

Don’t go back to sleep.

You must ask for what you really want.

Don’t go back to sleep.

People are going back and forth across the doorsill

where the two worlds touch.

The door is round and open.

Don’t go back to sleep.”

-Rumi-

why I wrote this book

I Believe Art Has Empowered Me and Art Empowers Us All!


The journey within these pages transformed my life. I was inspired to share these exercises for others to find a new, radical way of living on an authentic and meaningful path. A life with compassion, non-judgment, and inclusivity for ourselves and humanity. MBSE is a doorway to your heart, your uniqueness, and celebrating who you are.  No matter what circumstances you are facing, there is more right with you than wrong.  All beings have times of darkness and doubt.  You are more than enough, and you have all the resources within, to begin your journey of self-discovery.  May we learn to leave the world in a state of respect, beauty, and nourishment for our children, and our children's children.

In today's rush, we all think too much, seek to much, want too much, and forget about the joy of just being.   -Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth
A Passage from the Upanishads for All Time:

In this body, in this town of Spirit,

there is a little house shaped like a lotus,

and in that house there is a little space.

One should know what is there.

What is there? Why is it so important?

There is as much in that little space within the heart,

as there is in the whole world outside.

Heaven earth, fire, wind, sun, moon, lightning, stars;

whatever is and whatever is not,

everything is there...

That space is the home of Spirit. 

Praise for An Artful Path:

“A practical guide to unleashing our inner artist! Slom beautifully helps us step out of self-consciousness (and everything else that gets in the way), into awareness, connection and self-expression.” —Jud Brewer, MD, PhD, author of The Craving Mind

“A wonderful and wise book…filled with wisdom, kindness, and hope.” – Bob Stahl, PHD, coauthor of A Mindfulness- Based Stress Reduction Workbook

“Enter this book with an open mind and let Janet Slom guide you on the path of creativity. The joys of absorption, fearlessness, and discovery await. Give yourself enough time, take patience with you--and the rewards will be life-changing.” —Amy Gross, former editor-in-chief of O, The Oprah Magazine, and Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction teacher

“MBSE is an invaluable and innovative practice for accessing our unique creative flow and applying it to our lives. Slom is an inspiring and compassionate guide who offers an easy to follow methodology; even after a few exercises, MBSE effectively replenishes and enriches us. This book is an invitation to a dynamic exploration of self-discovery.” —Jeff Elster, Entrepreneur

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