Yoga and Creativity

When I practice mindful movement, I align with my creativity.

By aligning with the creative force, I heal myself and my world.

When I started doing yoga, I was 24 years old, a recent college grad waiting tables for a living. With my degree in English, I had trouble finding a better job in my small town. To make matters worse, I was having health issues related to celiac disease (undiagnosed at the time), so my physical and mental energy were at an all-time low. Yoga class was the first exercise I had ever enjoyed. It combined music and spirituality with an exercise style that was low-impact, calming, and intuitive. And, it helped me reconcile my need for a self-created life with the physical limitations of my illness.

As a young adult on the verge of creating a life, I was torn between two extremes: a high level of creativity, and on the other hand, my unconscious belief that life was hard and there was no room for the creative soul. As my celiac symptoms of fatigue and malnutrition started to develop, life kept feeling harder. Over the next 8 years, yoga gently helped me understand, once and for all, that... life is good. That it’s OK to want things, to create them, and then to feel satisfied. Life was not, as I worried, a struggle with my lower self, as it threatened to drag me into "dark cravings" for status, pleasure, and materialistic things. No... life was an invitation to tenderly embrace those needs, thereby arriving at compassion, freedom, and satisfaction. Look,  we live on the most pleasurable planet in our solar system, full of green plants and flowing rivers. It’s not all wonderful, of but it’s certainly OK to focus on the parts of it that are, because in doing so, we find our passion for living.

Yoga has not helped me transcend my lower chakras; rather, it’s helped me meet my lower-chakra needs gracefully. Contrary to myself at 24, inspired but stunted, I now feel empowered to reach for my needs, whether it’s a cuddle with my lover, an hour with my guitar, or a great job that pays well. And it’s not only self-serving things. My being also craves things like knowledge, self-respect, connection, and purpose. As “lower” needs are met, “higher” ones emerge. Yoga helps me identify them, and simultaneously to realize they are not me. Some degree of healthy detachment is necessary in order to achieve satisfaction in life.

According to chakra theory, the 2^nd chakra houses creativity. Its Sanskrit name translates to “One’s own place”, and it holds our desire, creativity, satisfaction, and pleasure. The 2^nd chakra represents the need to create a life tailored to our unique organism. Our own place. This place, which can include our partner, friends, home and career, becomes a jumping-off point for how we contribute to the world, and for our spiritual development. All of this relies on the creative force within us.

Because I had such a difficult time claiming this need for “my own place” in my 20’s, I have a good understanding of the part the 2^nd chakra plays in spiritual growth. When I got into yoga, I knew I wanted a spiritual life. But I didn’t understand that having a lifestyle was also important, and in its absence, my spirituality withered. From age 24 to 26, I worked for minimum wage and lived poor while studying yoga, reiki, and women’s health. While my friends were establishing their careers, I was distancing myself from the world, and becoming pretty unhappy in the process. After landing my first salaried job at 28, I allowed myself to explore my long-neglected interest in fashion, and decorated my home the way I wanted. It was there, in the little brick cottage I rented, that I found “my own place” – amongst the tigerlilies, wild strawberries, and long afternoons decorating the sun-dappled living room. It was there that I forgot my spirituality, and there I claimed it again, this time with my whole self. I made room for myself as a songwriter, fashionista, chocolate addict, and eventually, a wife to my husband. None of this made me any less interested in spiritual practice. As I fulfilled these yearnings, I felt free, alive, and satisfied.

Yoga also helped me stabilize my health. In a way, the body is also “one's own place”, since it is formed by the creative energy of prana. Yoga postures are designed to harmonize the energy body, which helps physical health as well. For me, this could not happen without mindfulness. Through realizing that my body is not me, I've awakened to my body as a creature: a needy creature, but still lovable! This makes me more willing to relax into my prana, bringing health and energy.

In Western culture, our relationship to the life force isn't ideal. We seem bent on taking in as much as we can in terms of material goods, calories, and stimulation, while neglecting the need to care for bodies. While healthcare professionals try to educate us about healthy habits, we struggle to maintain a desire to be healthy, constantly "falling off the wagon". I think this could all be rooted in our unhealthy attachment to the material world. Our obsession with the physical, external aspects of ourselves keeps our core insecurity at bay, but prevents us from really enjoying life. Yoga, like any mindful practice, helps us become aware of ourselves as creators. In the stillness that follows mindful movement, we find our being, which is a fountain of inner satisfaction. Then we can begin to create boldly. We can begin to consider, not how we can ask more of the world, but what can we give? What do we want to see on this big canvas?

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This piece relies on ideas from Joseph LePage in the Integrative Yoga Therapy (2004) Teacher Training Manual.