This paper reports on a research project that investigates whether the making of drawn animation can be a mindful practice. The original intention of the project was to explore the potential application of Buddhist principles and practices such as mindfulness within a secular context to benefit art and design students who experience stress in the learning environment and who wish to examine learning processes more closely. The design of the project led to our use of the repetitive, haptic procedures and collaborative processes of drawn animation in combination with short-form mindfulness meditation techniques.

Sitting within wider developments in UK Higher Education that seek to enable students to engage meaningfully with the affective and extra-rational dimensions of learning, the paper reports on this ongoing work which was initiated by a UAL Curriculum Development research grant and now continues in collaboration with the Royal College of Art.

This paper was selected for further development into a book chapter and an extended version will be published in 'Animating the Spirited: Journeys and Transformations' ed. Tze-yue Gigi Hu, University of Mississippi Press (2019).