Mindful Housework Meditation with The Laundress

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Announcer: This is a Getty podcast.

[Rising, meditative music]

Lilit Sadoyan: Today we’re exploring The Laundress, a painting about cleaning and much more by Jean-Baptiste Greuze.

[Theme music begins]

 Welcome to Our Museum Mindfulness Meditation podcast, or OMMM. Part art history and part meditation, we use works of art from the Getty collection as inspiration for mindfulness and deep reflection.

Hi—I’m Lilit Sadoyan. I’m a longtime meditation practitioner and museum educator at Getty. Thanks for joining me as we bring mindfulness out of the gallery and into our daily lives.

Today, we’re discussing The Laundress, or La Blanchisseuse, a painting made in 1761 by French artist Jean-Baptiste Greuze, and exploring mindfulness in the mundane. This episode begins with a breathing exercise to help relax your body and mind. We’ll then give a bit of history and context for the painting, and we’ll close with a meditation that encourages us to approach our daily tasks mindfully.

This series is also available as an audio podcast. If you’d like to step away from a screen for a few minutes, listen on your favorite podcast app. Now, if you’re ready, let’s jump in.

[Gong chimes]

[Slow, meditative music begins]

Go ahead and find a comfortable meditation posture, whatever that means for you today. Maybe you’re sitting, lying down, something that allows you to feel relaxed yet alert.  Let’s start by taking a few deep breaths together.

In through the nose. [inhales]

Out through the mouth. [exhales]

 Deep breath in. [inhales]

 Deep breath out. [exhales]

 One more inhale.

 Exhale.

 And now just let your breathing resume its natural rhythm as we explore today’s work of art.

[Bells chime]

[Slow music plays]

 What if a chore could be transformed into a quiet moment of presence and dignity? In The Laundress, artist Jean-Baptiste Greuze hasn’t just focused on what the main figure is doing, but how she’s doing it.

Try to picture it now in your mind. A young laundress sits alone in a room on a low makeshift wooden stool. She’s in profile, but gently turns her head to the left to look out at us, challenging us with her blue eyes. She wrings out the water from a white piece of fabric into an earthen basin on the floor. The water squeezes out from the material and her hands. It drips and trickles into the basin below. Try to hear it. [sounds of water lightly dripping]

Even the way the fabric’s been painted evokes a sense of dampness in my hands. The details of the water are painted with creamy brush strokes of white and blue paint that appear wet too. There’s a lot of fabric in the painting. The layered drapery of the laundress’s clothing overflows here, including a pink and yellow striped skirt, likely over a petticoat, a light blue tailored robe or gown with layered sleeves, a white apron, a long white kerchief worn over her shoulders and neckline, and her head topped with a white mobcap tied with a pink ribbon to cover her hair.

In the bottom left sits a heap of white fabric, perhaps next to be washed. In the opposite corner at top right, a couple other items, one with details of a striped blue trim and the other like a large sheet, are draped over what appears to be a clothesline. In fact, the entire setting is rather cluttered with the tools and materials related to doing laundry.

Behind the figure, a woven basket stuffed with sticks or tools just about tips over. A gleaming pear-shaped pewter kettle, or a marabout, used for boiling water, sits atop a small wooden table on the floor. Earthenware and copper pots are haphazardly stacked on the wooden cabinet behind her. Wooden paddles known as beach beetles, used for beating wet linen to remove dirt, are strewn across the bottom left corner of the floor like an afterthought. Emphasizing the mess, even the stucco on the wall in the top left corner has worn off, exposing the brick masonry underneath.

Washing laundry in the 18th century was slow and laborious. It would take days to fully wash and dry clothing, much of that time spent doing repetitive and very physical tasks. Eight hours filling and draining a pot with soda ash and hot water, nine hours of soaking it in clean hot water, hours at the riverside beating out the dirt, three days hanging to dry—a far cry from our automated washer dryers today. Those who could afford it would send their clothing and bedding to be cleaned by a laundress, like the fictional character in our painting.

Although an invented scene, this painting is based on everyday life, a style known as genre painting, and Greuze was the most famous and successful painter of this style in France at the time. He was inspired by Dutch and Flemish artists from the century prior. Greuze sought to elevate these mundane subjects to the same level of historical themes, which were deemed the highest form of painting by academics. The dramatic lighting and composition and Greuze’s attention to the subject in this painting valorized the laundress and perhaps even her chore.

And just as Greuze gave this humdrum, quotidian subject matter his focused and sustained attention, this meditation aims to do the same. We’ll be trying something a little different here. Rather than sit in quiet meditation, we will begin with a brief grounding exercise, then practice mindfulness while engaged with a small chore.

Interweaving mindfulness into the mundane allows us to bring curiosity, presence, and a non-judgmental attitude to daily routine tasks. Washing dishes, doing laundry, cleaning, showering, these are perfect opportunities to slow down and really focus on the task at hand, thereby transforming autopilot chores into restorative moments.

So if you have some dishes to wash, some tidying to do, or laundry to fold, feel free to hit pause and return when you’re ready to dive into your chores.

[Gong rings and meditative music begins]

Let’s begin with a few brief moments to center and ground our practice. If you feel comfortable, you can close your eyes. But if you’d prefer to keep your eyes open, that’s okay too. Try to lower your gaze and lower your lids to minimize visual distraction. Use this time to go inward.

Adopt a posture that feels both relaxed, yet alert. And let’s open our practice with a few deep breaths.

In through the nose. [inhales]

Out through the mouth. [exhales]

Deep breath in. [inhales]

Deep breath out. [exhales]

One more inhale.

And exhale.

And just let your breathing resume its natural rhythm. So there’s no need to force or extend anything here, let your body do what it does very naturally on its own.

Just breathing.

And if your mind wanders, that’s okay. The objective is never to clear or empty the mind, but just notice those thoughts as they arise.

And come back to your breath, using your breath as your anchor to the present moment.

And if your eyes are closed, now I invite you to gently open them and arrive at the task at hand. First, even before you begin, notice any thoughts or emotions that arise when you look at what awaits you. Are there any judgments or expectations? Notice any urges you may feel to just jump right in. Take a moment to reframe the task by viewing the chore before you as an opportunity for reflection, or as an act of care, either for yourself or for your home.

It is not a burden. You may even offer yourself a simple reframe. Instead of, “I have to clean this,” for example, you may say, “I get to”.

This may not only reduce potential stress associated with the chore, but also enhance gratitude for this moment. Take a moment now to set an intention. Pause and ask yourself, “What do I wanna feel as I do this chore?” Calm? Presence? Gratitude?

Now let’s focus on the sensory experience. Go ahead and begin your task, and pay attention to the sensation of touch. Whatever materials are within reach, notice their temperature and their texture in your hands and fingertips. If you’re touching water, for example, what is the temperature like? Feel the sensation of its flow. Or if you’re holding a towel, really feel the texture, its softness or density. Notice your grip. Feel the weight. Smoothing sheets or fluffing pillows? Observe and appreciate the neatness here. How do the objects look? Notice their colors and shapes or how they absorb or reflect light.

Get curious. Maybe you’re folding laundry or putting it away. Look closely at the creases or how objects lean against each other for support. Are there any particular details that you appreciate? You can get as granular with the details as you allow yourself.

Listen carefully to any sounds associated with whatever you are doing. Maybe it’s the faucet or the sound of a spray bottle or a sweeping broom. And pay careful attention to how the sound changes with each action. Listen to the sound of objects making contact with each other: stacking dishes, sliding drawers.

Now bring your awareness to movement. Notice how and when your body moves. Slow down and really focus on everything you’re doing. Notice the rhythm of your actions, such as sorting or scrubbing, sweeping or stacking. Feel the motion of your arms as you push or pull. You can even sync your breath with each movement. Pay attention to how your movement changes from one task to another.

And if your mind wanders during this time, that’s okay. It’s completely natural for the brain to do so. When you notice your mind drifting, gently bring your attention back to the task at hand. Take a deep breath and begin again.

Notice the position of your body. You may scan your body and see if you can relax any points of tension or tightness. Soften your shoulders. Unclench your jaw. Let something go.

Allow yourself to be curious about each and every bit of information your body is processing sensorily, how it’s received through various organs and processed in the brain, creating your perception of this exact moment. Finally, take a moment to appreciate the space you’ve created or the task you’ve completed just now, even if your work is only partially done.

[Slow, meditative music plays]

Consider how you feel compared to when you started. Perhaps this approach has brought you a sense of peace and satisfaction. I invite you to close your practice by silently thanking the objects or spaces that you just tended to.

As we return to the world, let’s carry this sense of presence and awareness with us. You can consider these prompts as invitations to engage with the world of chores throughout your day and week. Look at things around you as if you’re seeing them for the first time. Slow down and greet your chores with curiosity and kindness, and focus entirely on a single task.

Try to bring awareness to habitual mindless routines, and instead increase your joy in daily living through sustained attention. Let’s return to our breath and close our practice by taking a full deep breath together, the biggest breath you’ve taken today.

Inhale.

Sigh it out. [exhales]

Thank you so much for joining me.

[Meditative music slowly fades out]