Saturday, June 29, 2013

Exploring Yoga and the Creative Process

the view from my yoga mat
Hello, Summer! Hello, Saturday morning oceanfront yoga!

I've been a wannabe yogini with a wavering practice for a couple years now, but today I think I can officially say, I'm hooked!

Stuffy yoga studios and my living room just weren't cutting it, so I decided to try a class outdoors. There happens to be a Meetup biking distance from my home at a place called Palisades Park on the grassy cliffs overlooking Pacific Beach. I've written about this sacred place before.There is a wonderful energy about it and it was especially strong today.

The park was covered with yoga mats and very bendy people. I did my wobbly best. I am getting better at conscious breathing, and that's big for me. Shavasana pose (picture sprawled out on your back) in the sea air and sunshine? What could be better than that? Yes, there were challenging parts. I'm going to be very sore tomorrow, but the level of relaxation and mental clarity I felt in the end were worth the hard bits. An amazing workout, plus a connection with nature and my soul- I know where I'll be spending my Saturday mornings from now on.

As an artist, I want to explore how spiritual practices (like yoga and meditation) can feed my creative practice. At this point I know that in both yoga and creation I must: show up, learn to be present, move past blocks, and mind my mind. By deepening my yoga practice, I hope to learn strategies for growing my creative practice and settle deeper into my creative process. The teacher who led us today said that we can apply what we learn about ourselves on the yoga mat to our day-to-day lives. How about transferring our learning from the yoga mat to the art studio?!

Now that I have this intention for my practice, I am motivated and very excited to move beyond child's pose!

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