This week at Barrio México, we decided to go in search of hands-on activities to recommend to you, offering options to help you find the one you like best. We guarantee that once you discover what you enjoy, you won't regret incorporating it into your life.

But first, did you know about all the benefits these types of activities bring to your mind and your lifestyle?

·Reduce stress: As a relaxing and repetitive activity, they help clear the mind and often act as active meditation, lowering cortisol levels.

·Improve mood: It is proven that these types of activities help us release endorphins, hormones linked to feelings of well-being and satisfaction.

·Focus: Since they require your full focus and concentration, they help take your mind off worries and reduce anxiety, allowing you to enjoy what you are doing.

·Greater creativity: Hands-on activities allow us to develop skills and, above all, explore self-expression, providing us with new ideas and perspectives.

Meet new people: Most are usually done in groups, which is a great reason to meet people and expand your circle of friends. These types of connections are great emotional support.

·Mindfulness: This technique involves living in the present and being more aware of what we are doing in the moment, focusing on the activity, our thoughts, and our feelings, which helps us reduce stress.

After analyzing all these benefits of hands-on activities, we will recommend which ones you can find in Guadalajara.

MACRAME WORKSHOP.

Through this textile art and knot-tying technique, you can develop skills and discover your aptitudes, stepping away from mental chaos during the day through meditation and connecting with your own intuition. It is ideal for the focus you are looking for when it comes to concentration; an activity that, through practice and manual repetition, provides us with peace and calm.

If you are interested in discovering more and diving into this practice, we invite you to our next workshop on the terrace of Casa Morelos in Guadalajara on Tuesday the 13th of August, from 6:30 to 9:30 PM, taught by @themacrameartist. You can find more detailed information about the course on their social media or on our channels @barrio_mexico, where we will be sharing all the details. Don't miss this opportunity to explore the art of macramé!

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PAINTING / WATERCOLOR WORKSHOP.

Through this workshop, you will be able to experience self-expression and explore your creativity to the fullest. It is perfect for relaxing the mind and expressing your feelings through drawing, painting, or watercolor.

This experience helps us improve coordination and motor skills. This type of activity provides psychological, cognitive, social, and educational benefits, in addition to developing artistic skills and providing us with knowledge of art history through various techniques, fostering a deep appreciation for this culture.

We recommend following Lily Banuet, a visual artist in Guadalajara who, through her Instagram account @tallerarte_lillybanuet, shares all the information about her painting workshops. Go ahead and learn the world of painting from scratch and explore the new sensations that this beautiful technique offers!

CERAMICS / CLAY WORKSHOP.

This type of manual activity is fantastic for personal and professional development. Through the technique of working with clay or resin, we help our bodies experiment with different textures, colors, and shapes.

By working with our hands, we focus on molding, which is very relaxing and at the same time therapeutic for our minds, giving us an experience very similar to meditation. When a ceramic piece is completed and fully realized, the process is personally very satisfying.

Through these workshops, you can learn the different properties of clay and understand the entire transformation process of a piece created from scratch to its finish, putting our patience to the test and enjoying the step-by-step art of creating with our hands.

If you want to learn more about this technique, we recommend following @p.debarro on their social media and keeping an eye out for their weekly or weekend courses. Experience a world full of sensations through clay!

You can take advantage of your visit to the city to look for one of these, or better yet, if you live here, sign up for a longer course. It's also worth mentioning that the common denominator of these activities is sharing moments of disconnection and creativity with a new network of friends. In these workshops, you will socialize with them and be able to express or learn new perspectives on different topics.

Which option would you like to learn about? Let us know on social media.

See you soon!