Creativity rises up from the soul, it drives us to thought, movement, action. Creativity is one of the many gifts of being alive. No matter how creative we see ourselves, we all are creative beings.
Yet it is no good if creativity rises just to be blocked by the insane amount going on inside our brains and bodies. If our mind is so loud, we won’t hear that creative call, or it will be more like a whisper.
When you come to your yoga mat, you know you are creating space. Each movement opening the body like the petals of a flower, each breath allowing you to connect to your inner rhythms and each moment, a chance to allow excess thought to free itself from your mind.
We all have mind clutter. Often it is like that spare cupboard under the stairs. Sometimes we don’t dare open it for what will fall out, other times we go in and sort the thing out. Yet if we don’t sort it out regularly then it isn’t long before we just hide from it altogether again! It is the same with our practice.
Yoga is a meditative practice, even in its dynamic forms, because it allows for focus on the body. When we are focusing on the body we do not think about what we did last week or what we may do next week, what we are having for dinner, the argument we may have once had, the kids after school clubs, that you need to remember to buy tin foil. You don’t wonder if the car needs petrol, what you might do tomorrow night, if you need to call someone and so on. We are often so head based that we forget the head is connected to a body. Yoga brings us back into that full awareness.
It takes us out of the mind chatter and into the body and the breath and in doing so connects us to the very souls of ourselves.
As we practice yoga, we feel into the body, moving with intention and flow. We open to possibilities and release judgement. This inspires the mind to do the same thing.
Then comes the point when we feel we have released what holds us back, stale thought patterns, outlooks, opinions, needs…. And brings us to a point where we feel peace and tranquility, all potential, and we are much more self and world aware.
Yoga is a creative discipline in itself this way, especially once you can give up ideals and allow yourself to own your practice, creating rhythms and moving through the poses in a way that makes you feel deeply alive.
In the final Savasana, or alternative rest pose, we linger in this state of calm openness. In these moments, just as in a meditation practice, or following a practice, your soul can sing.
Yoga is great for creativity because it allows it and doesn’t block it. You are so much more likely to feel confident enough to act on your desires if you have a loving attitude towards the self, others and the universe, which yoga can create.
If you allow yoga into your life as a lifestyle rather than something you ‘practice’ once or a week or once a day, then you will feel this openness and creativity flow though your life as beautifully as through your physical practice. Then you don’t just ‘do’ yoga but you ‘are’ yoga. Move through life with intention and with love, be unto others (all sentient beings, human and animal) as you would have them be to you, thus creating an equal flow of love all around you. Don’t believe me? Try it. There’s no going back from this place. You would never wish to.
So allow yourself to experience, create and flow and you may be amazed where it goes. Ideas flourish, actions become driven by honest and loving soul urges.
Yoga is not static, rigid and complex. It is flowing, alive and simple. If you don’t find this to be so, change class, find new practices and experiment with what resonates with you.
Happy adventuring!
