I was looking through YouTube and came across Alex Ikonn’s channel, and this video in particular had me thinking about creativity and yoga. Yoga and meditation do wonders to boost our mood, cognitive function and creative expression.

Creatives can benefit enormously from incorporating yoga into their routines. Whether you’re a writer, a painter, a dancer, a musician – yoga paves the way for a fluid creative process, helping us to better translate thoughts and ideas into the tangible, tactile world, allowing for our message, our art to be received and appreciated by others.

Yoga is a way for us to tap into our creative selves, allowing the relinquishing of the ego, and a reconnection with the Source, whatever that may mean for you. Yoga allows us to access that space deep within us that inspires creativity and imagination, and it also offers tools and methods with which to face our largest obstacles and self-imposed restrictions that come with being an artist. No matter your medium, yoga is a practice that allows us to deeply and fully connect with that which is inside us, and to express ourselves creatively and unashamedly.

Mindfulness is something that comes along with yoga practice, and allows us to get out of our thoughts and become an observer – being in the present moment, acknowledging that life is happening RIGHT NOW! Detachment from the hamster wheel of our thoughts and living in the moment through the practice of mindfulness allows us to go beyond our own emotions and view the bigger picture with clear sight. This encourages an artistic view of our own inner workings, and allows us to better formulate ways of expressing our creativity.

POSES FOR CREATIVITY

1. Balasana (Child’s Pose) – Creativity is not something that can be forced. Sometimes all that you need though is relaxation, encouragement and that opportunity to allow thoughts to come to you organically. Balasana provides a unique opportunity to do just that. With the forehead resting on the ground, the Third Eye, or Ajna Chakra, connects to the earth, allowing us to tap into our intuition and creative insight.
2. Parivrtta Trikonasana (Revolved Triangle Pose) – it is said that the creative fire resides in the Manipura Chakra, which is located in the belly. Twisting this region, as we do in Revolved Trikonasana helps to free up any tension in this space that may hinder creativity and expression.
3. Camatkarasana (Wild Thing Pose) – The entire front of the body is open in this pose, which is symbolic of the vulnerability and exposure that comes with being an artist. Allowing surrender and release in this pose encourages creativity and the release of any energetic blocks that may be stifling artistic expression.

Incorporating yoga into your life will help to not only encourage creativity, but will protect your best artistic tool – your body! When the physical body suffers, so to does artistic expression. No matter your artistic outlet, the body does suffer to some degree. Be it an aching body from holding an instrument for long periods, sore feet from dancing for hours, wrist pain from typing the night away – the physical body must be looked after for creative pursuits to be successful. Yoga heals the physical self, but also that which is within us causing us pain. It forces us to look painful emotions in the eye, deal with them and express them in our own way. A mind-body connection is fortified and the reconnection with the Self will help you produce your best work yet.

 

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Article by Rachel Marie 

Rachel is a yoga & meditation teacher, currently studying a Nutritional Medicine degree at Endeavour College here in Melbourne. She is a traveller, writer, blogger, Yogini, food lover and Mumma to a Beagle x Staffy named Stevie.