Yoga and creativity
Photo credit: Yantar Yoga
Whether or not we consider ourselves artists, there is an endless source of creativity in all of us. Day to day it often remains dormant, buried under the weight of work, chores, bills, etc. How many times have you said to yourself “if only I had more time, I would… [fill in the blank - paint, draw, write, finally take that pottery class].” Except more time never materializes unless we make a conscious decision to find it. Before the pandemic, I took advantage of great art classes in my neighborhood offered by the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop and the Hill Center: linocut, cyanotype, creative writing. When the spirit moves me, I zentangle. And yes, I have started to write the next great (Polish) American novel, but… well, not much progress so far.
From what I read about habit building, and from my own experience, I know I do well with a commitment-based structure. And recently I’ve been aching to infuse my yoga practice with some kind of art experience now that doing yoga in museums and galleries, which I enjoyed a lot (like yoga in Luce or at the American University’s Katzen Arts Center), is not an option. That is why I was so excited to learn that my yoga teacher Laura is offering Yoga, the Artist’s Way 12-week workshop online, “created by yoga teachers, yoga therapists, and blocked artists who blend together yoga, creativity and community to make art, make change, and make happy.” I wanted to take it earlier this year but COVID and other commitments interfered. But now I’m ready!
I bought a beautiful notebook at East City Bookshop and today started playing with the morning pages, a daily exercise to unlock creativity. A fellow yogini Breann who has taken this course and wrote about her experience in this great blog described the morning pages this way: “These daily morning meanderings are not meant to be art. Or even writing. The pages are meant to be, simply, the act of moving the hand across the page and writing down whatever comes to mind. Nothing is too petty, too silly, too stupid, or too weird to be included.”
I have my structure, I have my tools. Will I stick with the process and will it unlock a new creative flow inside of me? Let’s see in 12 weeks, but a better question is: can you try it yourself? Go ahead and find out, the course is free!