A creative life & what we need to be a Yogi/Yogini

Tonight, the clouds cover the moon and there are no stars to light the way, without a torch it’s the kind of dark where it’s difficult to tell whether your eyes are open or closed.

I’ve always liked walking at night, liked that the dark invites me to be present, makes me perceptive, allows me to be creative. I get most of my ideas here, on my night walks, when my eye sight is shut down and my other senses turn up to keep me safe.

One sure fire way to turn up your creativity is to turn down one of your senses. My mum used to school us in the art of this when we were kids. We would close our eyes, she would turn up the music and we were asked ‘what can you see?’ I could always see wolves, I don’t know what that tells you about my psyche.

When I talk about creativity, I talk about creativity as a way of being and not necessarily the creativity that was encouraged in school.

But what does this mean? Beyond fluffy words and woo-woo talk?

A creative life just means being tuned into the subtleties of life, Rick Rubin explains it like ‘Look(ing) for what you notice, but no one else sees’, the changes in our own breath, how the drops of rain hang off the trees like tears, or how you feel lighter after yoga practise or a good night’s sleep.

This is what it means to be a living artist, to live a creative life.

‘‘No matter what tools you use to create,

the true instrument is you

And through you

the universe surrounds us

and comes into focus’’

-Rick Rubin

What do we need to be a yogi?

Fancy leggings? A yoga mat? Blocks? Bolsters? Muscles? Flexibility? (I’m sure you’re getting used to this line of questioning by now.)

Fortunately not, although if you were with me in this week’s power yoga class, whether or not we need leggings to practise is up for debate.

Beyond all of this we need Tapas (and unfortunately not the Spanish kind)

Tapas in Sanskrit refers to self-discipline, or a willingness to go through something uncomfortable.

A willingness to show up every week for practice, regardless of the mind state.

This is the beginning of real growth.

It’s very easy to begin the practice on the 1st of January with the new year rush, it’s less easy to drag yourself out on a cold, rainy night and be encouraged to ‘clear the mind’ when you’ve just had an argument with your partner.

The real yoga practise begins off our mat, when the mind says no, when that sneaky little ego says ‘Let’s not go to class today’ ‘Let’s stay home’ or ‘You’ve been working so hard, why work harder?’

This is when we transform from someone who practises asana into a true yogi.