What is creative fitness? 

We know all about physical fitness and the connection between the mind and the body, so it should come as no surprise that mental fitness is a proactive and positive term that has been used in mental health and well-being and positive psychology to talk about aspects of the mind that you can measure, train and improve.

But just as you can undertake physical exercise for the purpose of maintaining your overall health and well-being, it is also possible to do personal and fitness training for the purpose of improving specific aspects of your cognitive functions. This has been practiced for people with cognitive impairment such as dementia and referred to as cognitive stimulation, or treatment and training in Expressive Origami Therapy.

Through my own exploration of the concepts and techniques used in origami, and how it can be applied to the improvement of one's own mental health and well-being, I have coined the term 'creative fitness' as:

The preventative and proactive design and practice of creative activities to measure and improve mental health and well-being.

This includes activities like origami, painting, pottery, calligraphy, knitting and more! In fact anything that you do which stimulates your creativity or makes you feel more creative can be taught and practiced in a way that improves your creative fitness.

In particular, I believe there are three areas in which origami is very well suited for:

• improving concentration and focus using exercises and models of defined and measurable levels of dexterity

• improving resilience using exercises and models that require long term and sustained input

• improving mental imagery and visualization using exercises and models that can be blindfolded (i.e. without looking at your hands)

Here are some of the workshops and classes that I have presented these ideas in.