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My portal to creativity is yoga. At 62 I have been practicing consistently for more than half my life.
Solutions to problems, inspirations to go somewhere or call someone come to me while I am mindfully moving my body. And when I follow through on any of those things that bubble up when I practice, it always turns out good.
Creativity is like breathing, moving, stretching or being still. Your work is to be in a receiving mode. Breathing and relaxation help.
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Anyone can do yoga. I remember once when I invited Deborah to come and assist me in teaching a yoga class to a room full of amputees. With no specific experience, I agreed to teach a yoga class for the National Amputee Conference being held in Boston. It was a magical and creative class because I was practiced at being in the receiving mode. No doubt in my mind that Spirit helped me teach that class.
Notice and appreciate your breathing for one minute (it will seem like a long time).
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Allow your body to move to music for the sake of moving for one minute (it will seem like a short time).
Follow a stretch from your head to your toes for one minute, stretching every muscle in your body (it may seem natural or awkward).
Practicing stillness in yoga is the closest thing to being fully plugged into Spirit, Source, God, Higher Self (whichever resonates), where all creativity comes from.
My yoga teacher taught me that everything in life is yoga. That includes creativity. Here’s to the next 62 years of living and creating and doing yoga. Learn more: https://26and2.com/
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Prompted to Tell: A Rosemary Awakening
By B. Asher
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My first week-long silent meditation retreat, at the Aryaloka Buddhist Center in Newmarket NH, took place over Christmas a few months after my boyfriend left me for someone else. For days, I gnawed the bone of his betrayal between breaths in the shrine room. Evenings, I walked my stinging heart in the frozen woods, declaiming loudly, to him who was now only a phantom and a figment.
I was also nursing a crush on one of the center’s Order members.
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One night, it was my turn to cook. I was new at this: cooking for a crowd, meditation, silence, Christmas away from any signs of it except the cold and the dark. The dinner was vegetable soup, and I followed the recipe to the letter. I sliced the potatoes into 1-inch cubes. I sautéed the onions for 10 minutes, then added chopped garlic and cooked for 10 minutes more. I added the broth. I added the greens. I added the herbs.
The awakening came with the dried rosemary. The instructions said, “measure 1 tablespoon.” This seemed an opportunity for logic and creativity, because, really, what is one tablespoon dried rosemary? Unlike, say, pepper, it comes out in little sticks, so it shouldn’t make a difference if you just estimate, I thought to myself. And estimate I did, intending to shake out just a little, and then a bit more— and into the soup the entire contents went.
Read the full piece on Medium here.
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"Experiencing the artistry of yoga can be a process of allowing breath to evolve into a beautiful creative expression." Read more.
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Sunday FREE Free Writes Move to Monthly July 2021!
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At juiceboxartists workshops and the Welcome to my Living Room Free free write hour every Sunday since April 2020, we have been distracting ourselves during the pandemic with prompted writing. Not just writers and artists, but people from all backgrounds and geographies have found their writer’s voices during more than 50 Sundays. Now that life after vaccinations is beginning to resemble more normal times, we will be meeting only once a month on the fourth Sunday of the month, beginning in July 2021.
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I find writing is a great source of tapping into the imaginative power we each have within us. Being able to write during the pandemic has, for me, always been a welcome relief from the endless news reports and has offered a chance to re-imagine the world anew each time I put pen to paper - there is a great freedom in free writing; e.g. not overthinking but, inspired by your Sunday prompts, just launching head on with a sense of adventure and allowing what surfaces to rise up and find expression in the written form. ~Kerry McPhail, Sunday Free Write Participant
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Immigrant Voices Podcast Project
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On a quest for adventure, Lelys traveled to Spain from Venezuela in 2016. An accomplished language teacher of Portuguese and Italian, her career plan A was to make her living in Europe teaching languages. That’s when she met her Spanish husband to be—a long time Bostonian— on vacation in Madrid. The couple’s bond soon grew into a decade-long-distance relationship before Lelys made Boston her home. Listen here.
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Follow the Renaissance patron of the arts tradition! For as little as $5 a month.
Become one of my patrons on Patreon.
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Other Creative Opportunities for Yoga & Meditation
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All yoga is good. Yoga is for Every Body. Yoga for You features a group of dedicated Bikram Yoga practitioners who practice together frequently and consistently. This is a healing practice created for people with chronic pain and chronic disease.
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Boston Meditation Center (BMC) is a Buddhist sangha in the Insight tradition serving greater Boston, the East Coast and beyond. Emphasizing the development of wisdom and kindness through traditional practices made accessible and relevant to modern-day lives, BMC welcomes everyone who seeks greater freedom and happiness in their lives.
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Yoga, mindfulness and relaxation for kids. Interactive adventures which build strength, balance and confidence - and get kids into yoga and mindfulness early!
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The next Juiceboxartists online writing session series of committed writing groups begins on September 18, 2021. These committed group sessions meet every other Saturday for a total of five two hour sessions for $150. 10% discount for Patreon patrons!
*New series can be scheduled upon request. Minimum is four participants. Maximum is six participants.
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