Every Saturday, a small group of women meets in a home in Greenmeadows, Quezon City, to compose asymmetrical lines from an array of natural materials, unifying them into one organic whole.

It’s a creative process, its students swear, that soothes the soul and relieves stress.

Zen Blooms was started by Carissa Singson Mabasa two years ago. It is an ikebana-inspired art class whose simplicity, respect for space and utter elegance invite thought from the viewer.

It’s an art that imparts to its followers the beauty of restraint based on three main principles: shin or heaven, the longest stem; soe or man, the second longest stem; and hikae or earth, the shortest stem or flower.

“The idea is to have a story in your arrangement. Nothing is balanced. Here we have the absence and violation of symmetry, with minimal use of flowers and leaves. Ikebana believes in the beauty of lines,” Mabasa said.

It is “ikebana-inspired,” Mabasa pointed out, since she has yet to acquire her ikebana certification in Japan, where she continues to attend lectures and workshops.

She first dabbled in the art when she was an 18-year-old student at Ateneo de Manila and promptly forgot about it when she started working.

Mabasa is the daughter of former Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Gov. Gabriel C. Singson and the late Moonyeen Retizos Singson.

A former banker herself, Mabasa recalled how using predominantly her left brain, as demanded by her job, left her drained, exhausted and considerably stressed out, such that she often took sabbatical leaves. It was only when she rediscovered ikebana that she learned to be calm again and find her center.

Mindfulness

“The creative pleasure of crafting an arrangement is as important as the finished work. It’s an experience that invites both the arranger and the viewer to a state of mindfulness and appreciation for nature,” she said.

Indeed, the genesis of the exquisite grace seen in every asymmetric line may hold the secret to a balanced, harmonious life. This discipline of restraint, an important principle of Zen philosophy, is anchored on controlled emotions, putting the arranger in a balanced state of mind.

Unlike the sensibilities of Western flower arrangement, where, say, a vase is filled with flowers, ikebana believes in simplicity, emptiness, incompleteness, asymmetry, imperfection, among other things. These are not negative ideas, but rather are maxims deeply rooted in the Japanese culture.

Emptiness, for example, often understood in Western culture as a void that needs to be filled, simply means a space you leave alone to invite new things to come into your life. When the leaves begin to turn yellow, that’s okay, too; it signifies the passing of time.

“There’s a spiritual aspect to it. Ikebana was first practiced by monks and started as an offering to Buddha. It was only in the 1900s that they allowed women to practice the art. But to this day, the headmasters are all men,” Mabasa said.

An ikebana arrangement looks deceptively simple, but Mabasa said they are not easy to make. For how do you create a lovely, almost ethereal arrangement with just a handful of materials?

Big arrangements may make a good dramatic impression—and that works for a completely different purpose—but they do not make you pause for reflection.

“Even the process of arriving at an arrangement is different,” she said.

A typical class of Zen Blooms runs for two hours. Students get to make two arrangements per class. All materials are provided —leaves, flowers, fruits, vegetables, dried leaves—depending on what is suited to the lessons.

Mabasa said it may take three to four sessions before a student learns to become comfortable in their creative process.

There are rules to follow, such as upright, slanting and horizontal lines, and measurements to think of. But once they get the hang of it, Mabasa said it unlocks the creative potentials of the right brain.

“You don’t get it in the first two to three lessons because you will tend to overthink and become so conscious of the rules,” she said.

‘Stairway’

Sonia Roco, wife of the late Sen. Raul Roco, is one of Zen Blooms’ pupils. On this particular hot Saturday afternoon, she formed what she called “Stairway,” a sculptural arrangement characterized by the strong lines of red palm leaves cut to mimic a stairway.

The cheery Roco arrived late for class, but she managed to whip up an awe-inspiring arrangement.

“I first gathered the materials I thought I might need, and then decided on what to create based on what I have,” Roco said.

She planted the cut red palm leaves off center, not knowing what they might look like, saw that it resembled a stairway, then proceeded to conceptualize what to put around it.

Mabasa said how students arrive at an arrangement depends on each individual. Some students, she noted, would rather sit and think of a plan before proceeding to collect materials. Others, like Roco, choose the other way around.

Advanced classes such as this one normally open with a 10- to 15-minute introduction of assignments. After that, the students are left alone to wander around the house to look for materials.

There are cut leaves and flowers and stems in large buckets to choose from, but some students prefer to look for unique materials.

“Whether it’s in flower arranging or painting or music, everyone has an artistic side. If you don’t use your right brain, it becomes underused. But once you unlock it, you’ll be surprised,” Mabasa said.

Since she began practicing ikebana again, Mabasa said she has become less paranoid and anxious, and much more easily adaptable to abrupt changes.

“This is my form of prayer. I learned that I find it easier to be more grateful,” she said.

Zen, she said, allows anyone to live without expectations, assumptions and preconceptions. It cultivates curiosity and develops an inquisitive mind.

The creative process of ikebana puts students in the now, living in the moment, lost in their world of telling their stories through flower arrangements. It is an escape, she said, from the unnecessary thoughts of the past and future.

Mabasa said the class is perfect for stressed-out people or those looking to learn something new and different.

Group workshops, with a maximum of eight students per class, are held every fourth Saturday of the month. Morning class starts at 9 a.m. while the afternoon session starts at 2 p.m. No class is the same.

Each will teach different styles and methods. Individual and corporate lessons are also accepted.

Call 6374069 or e-mail [email protected]. Zen Blooms is also on Facebook.