...to paraphrase Howard Gardner. What does creativity have to do with Yoga? Even more than I thought, although my intuition told me creativity and yoga are intimate, symbiotic friends. On a recent sabbatical, I explored creativity and creative thinking. I saw that yoga can contribute to the emergence of creativity from a seed or even dormant, stultified state to an open creative consciousness about everything we do. Creative thinking is really about looking at life from a new, accepting, non-judgemental place. Ok, I know it's more than that (yes I was good, I did my full blown lit search and bibliography).
When we're relaxed, open, mindful, our best creative thinking can occur. This happens in the shower...driving...first thing in the morning. But if we're blocked and stressed, then yoga can also help bring us back to that more open creative consciousness-which is our birthright. So what do you think? Has Yoga enhanced your creative thinking? Has your creativity fed your yoga practice?
I would definitely say that creativity in general has an additive effect on life in general. When I took on my new job, I was greatly focused on that, and the job needed organizational energy, not so much creative energy. Lately, with a bit less focus needed on the job (because things are up and running the way they should be), I've returned my focus to knitting and (to a lesser extent) Yoga. In turn, I found I was thinking about things in a different way and that led to more blog posting (which had also languished in the job ramp-up).
On a completely unrelated note, I went to HS with Dr. Gardner's daughter Kerith. It always kind of makes me feel like the Earth has tilted sideways when I see him quoted and say, "Oh. Kerith's Dad. OH. That's right. He's kind of famous!"
Posted by: Jill Smith | February 25, 2006 at 04:28 AM
I like the distinction about "organizational energy" instead of creativity energy, Jill.
Yeah, Howard's kinda famous ;-).
Posted by: Bonnie | February 25, 2006 at 05:38 PM
I like this topic very much. I really do find that yoga can bring to the surface our creative conciousness. I quite agree. Doing yoga I find that at times when there is blockage I can find the space to pause and feel around in my subconscious and gently pull that creative part of me back out to the light of day. :) Alternately, creativity will often fuel my yoga practise in physical terms of asana development.
Posted by: Lori M | February 28, 2006 at 06:27 AM
Bonnie, I've been thinking about this post a lot, but I'm not sure whether I've really seen any shifts in creativity due to my practice. When I first started teaching, perhaps this was expressed in finding sequences in my own practice that I could share with students, but a few years down the road, I don't seem to notice this as much (or perhaps I've started to take it for granted!).
Yoga is one of the reasons I keep a journal, to help me reflect on my practice, but other than that I'm not sure I can claim it's opened the door to creativity for me.
Perhaps you can expand more on how you've seen yoga open up creative thinking for you?
Posted by: sophie | February 28, 2006 at 07:09 AM
Lori, yes, where there are blocks to creativity yoga helps find space to pull it out-wonderful image.
Sophie, in many ways, from your examples, it sounds like you've been connected to your creative spirit for a long time; and that you honor your creativity in many different ways.
What I'm seeing is that for the students I teach (and for me),even simple yoga practices ( for ex.breathing, yogic stretching, and guided meditations,) help them come to mindfulness. To listen...to be aware...non-judgemental. Then we practice a creativity exercise; those beautiful ideas start percolating up!
Often the adults I work with really have lost touch with their creative source; in some cases they've been chastised, even traumautised for their creative ideas. The self-acceptance that comes in part from yoga seems to act as a bridge to the process of creation. I hope that makes sense!
Posted by: Bonnie | February 28, 2006 at 08:18 AM
Hi. Sorry to chime in late - I've been lurking for a couple of weeks and I like this topic. It's near and dear to my heart for several reasons. I'm kind of borderline bipolar/OCD - all kinds of funky flavors mixed up in my head, which I think is true for everyone to one degree or another.
But when I get stressed, my brain explodes. The creative becomes the monstrous, and instead of shutting off the creative impulse, the creative impulse goes completely over the top. Fun stuff. Well... not really.
What yoga helps me do is come back to a calm center through breath and physicality, temporarily putting the peanut gallery on mute and letting me just hang - upside down, to the side, backward, wherever. It stays with me for a while after practice, too - and many times a good long practice is enough to derail a hypomanic episode. At times when the idea of a calm center is so much hogwash, this is a precious thing to me.
Posted by: Andi Allen | March 03, 2006 at 11:10 AM
Andi, Thanks for coming out of lurkdom to share such an interesting perspective about the creativity/yoga connection.
In many ways there is a similar dynamic to what we've started discussing. For you creativity becomes overwhelming from stress (mute that peanut gallery :-)) and yoga helps "tame" it and for others', creativity hypernates from stress and yoga lures the muse out!
Posted by: Bonnie | March 04, 2006 at 08:42 AM