Glimpsing Shakti

In the hot summer of a broken heart, I found yoga. Or it found me. In my first few experiences with the practice, I felt something sweet and huge and deep beginning to crack open within me. It felt the way a baby chick must feel as it taps its beak through the outside of its shell for the first time. I couldn’t name it or really even explain it, but I remember feeling overwhelmingly relieved because I knew, as I lay there in my very first savasana, that I was not alone.

 Be Her

After I graduated from college, I enrolled in a semester long program at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health to learn more about myself. During that time, I took part in a Shamanic cleansing ceremony that would forever change my life.

When it was my turn to be cleared, the Shaman looked at me and quietly said, “it’s time to be who you really are.” I stood there blinking at him dumbly. As he gazed at me wordlessly, I felt this sudden pulling from deep within and this strong, powerful, fierce feminine energy arose inside of me. I felt it rise up and instantly, even though I said nothing and hadn’t moved at all, the Shaman looked intensely at me and said in a quiet, but firm voice, “Be Her.”

I still get chills every time I think about this experience and I’ve come to realize that I was experiencing “Her” during those early yoga experiences, as I released the built up layers of misguided beliefs I held about myself. I also recognized this energy as something I’d experienced so many times in my art-making. And now that I have seen this energy more clearly, I recognized “Her” in my past too---like a shadow suddenly shedding light.

Here’s how I remember “Her:”

• I’m seven. And even though I barely talk in my second grade classroom, I audition for “The Sound of Music.” Something brave shakes me and I sing my shy little heart out loud in the role of  “Gretel.”
•  I’m 14, quiet as can be. Deemed “most quiet” in my 8th grade year book. I sign up for theater. I am loud enough to be heard in the back of the auditorium. By the time I’m a senior, the burning creative energy inside has me audition for a lead role in Alice in Wonderland. Fierce Brave something, comes from nowhere and I am Alice, belting out my part on stage (in front of hundreds, eek!) 
• I’m 19, lost in who I am. I board a plane and travel to Italy. Drawn by the fiery energy to go into the unknown, to risk looking foolish in a new tongue, new territory. “She” pulls me through my own looking glass to find, that on the other side, I am much bigger than I realize.
•  I’m 20 and I meet “Her” face to face on a bamboo floor in a tiny yoga studio, eyes closed, feeling sore in every part of my body and soul. Both stretch in ways I never knew were possible. It is there and then that I became aware of “Her” presence. She helps me to hold my pain and I realize, for the first time, that I am not alone.
• I am where I am now, realizing that not only does this energy exist, but also “She” is working with me and through me all the time.

What exactly is Shakti?

If I were to give this energy a creative name, I might call her muse, guide, inner coach, creative spirit. But my study of yoga and Tantra, has helped me to identify her as “Shakti,” the principle of creativity, the current of grace that flows through each of us (Feuerstein).

But what exactly is Shakti?

Ekabhumi Charles Ellik, author and illustrator of The Shakti Coloring Book, writes

““Shakti is power, both manifest power and the power within all experiences...the term Shakti describes divine creative power...the electric juice of life.

When we use the word Shakti as a proper name, however, we are speaking of the Great Goddess (Mahadevi) who takes birth as all beings, whose body is reality.””

She is the creative pulse that powers us along. Shakti guides us to be more fearless, and open hearted in not only our creative pursuits, but also our life.

When we make art or practice yoga with the intention of experiencing and engaging with this goddess, shakti energy, our art making and our practice becomes a path for better understanding ourselves.

And because Shakti is within everything that exists, you can access her in any infinite number of ways. Yoga and art are my favorites but some other examples of access points besides are:  

• performance arts
• writing
• spending time in nature
• traveling + experiencing new cultures
• teaching

What I’ve learned from this is that the point of access to Shakti is less important than the act of accessing.

If you approach the point of access with the intention to co-create with Shakti, the gateway swings open wider.

Shakti energy  in yoga + art

So what does shakti energy feel like? My sense is that it probably feels a little bit different for everyone, but however it feels to you, at the core of it, it makes you feel whole, it brings you closer to yourself.

In Yoga.

In yoga, shakti energy feels like spaciousness in the body, it feels light and vibrant. It feels bubbly and exciting, sometimes even a little wild, but in a passionate and fun way. You have awareness of yourself as observer, luster in your eyes and skin. You feel alive and awake. You know what move to make in the moment, even if you’re not sure where it’s leading you.

In Art.

In art making, Shakti energy feels flowy, like an outpouring of vibrating energy, it’s tingling, intuitive. You loose your sense of time and space, absorbed in your work. You knowing what move to make in the moment, even if you’re not sure where it’s leading you.

Why you might want to engage with the creative energy of Shakti

When you become more connected to the creative energy of shakti,

• You feel empowered
• You feel confident, determined because you are being moved by a higher power
• You feel supported, uplifted, cared for
• You move through the world courageously and passionately

Experience Shakti for yourself

Goddess Breathing You Meditation

This is a beautiful breathing exercise that I learned in my teacher training that will allow you to access Shakti energy right now, right here in this moment.

Take a comfortable seat. Take a deep inhalation and let it out through your mouth. Settle into this moment. Take another inhaltion and exhale, releasing anything stuck in your mind or body.

Begin to deepen your breath. Let each inhalation fill you up from the bottom of your pelvic floor, through your belly and low back, up into the ribcage and all the way to your coller bone. Exhale and release the breath back down, through the collar bone, ribcage, belly and low back, all the way back down to your pelvic floor. Continue to breath in 10 deep cycles through the whole cavity of your body.

Then release that for a moment and let yourself breath gently once more. Bring one hand to your belly and another to your chest and feel into the rise and fall of your breath. Watch carefully for the first impulse to inhale and then at the top of the breath, notice the tiny pause before your exhale begins to unfold.

In this way, you are being breathed. You don’t have to initiate the inhalation. It happens for you, and the exhalation appears naturally in response. Notice the breath as it expands into the back of your ribs, at the bottom tips of your shoulder blades. Feel how the breath supports you, holds you, floats you up, grounds you down.

The breath carries this shakti energy, and she in return, moves the breath gently in and out of you. Continue to allow the breath to breathe you.

Painting with the Breath Exercise

This exercise is a simple painting practice to help you connect to your breath. It’s a painting meditation that invites you to let the breath move you into the flow the creative energy of Shakti.

STEP ONE

Gather your materials. Pick a waterbased paint, like fluid acrylics or watercolors or inks. I use golden fluid acrylics, with these watercolor brushes. Use thick watercolor paper that will hold up to a lot of water (I use this paper). Choose 1-3 colors you are drawn to keeping it to a limited palette. If you are using fluid acrylics or tube watercolors, squeeze them out onto wax paper taped to cardboard or a paper plate.

STEP TWO

Connect with your breath. Use the guided breathing exercise from above or just spend a few minutes taking deep inhales and exhalations.

STEP THREE

Use a brush to wet your paper down with water.

STEP FOUR

While the paper is still wet, pick up some paint with a paint brush and take a deep inhalation.

STEP FIVE

As you exhale, drop paint onto your paper and watch as it moves + spreads across the surface. Inhale as you lift the brush and then exhale, to put it back down again, perhaps in a different spot.

STEP SIX

Allow your breath to lead the movement and continue to fill the page with paint, inhaling each time you lift the brush, exhaling each time you put it to the paper. Add more water as needed to keep the page wet.

STEP SEVEN

You can also put paint onto the page, inhale and bring the page close to your mouth and then blow your exhale out through your mouth, using the exhalation breath to move the paint across the page. Do this a few times, bringing your inhalation through your nose and exhaling to gently blow the paint around the page.

STEP EIGHT

Continue to focus on your breath and, just as you would in your yoga practice, see if you can allow the breath to arise before you make a movement with the brush. Allow the painting to be a meditative practice connecting the Shakti energy moving you to fill the page, one breath at a time.

To know Shakti, is to know yourself as you truly are, awake and alive and beautiful in all your forms of imperfection and truth. Step into that knowing, step into that flicker and breathe into it until it becomes a flame and nourish it until it becomes your fire. Now is the time and you are ready.

How have you experienced Shakti, creative energy, in your own life?

I had my notebook with a pink pen hovering over it's surface. The page was already covered in my scrawling, messy notes. I had been trying to write fast, to keep up with all the ideas that were pouring out of me. I looked at my phone. It was late. I hadn’t been able to sleep with so many ideas rolling around in my brain, so I’d gotten up, gotten a cup of hot lemon water and decided to hash out my ideas.

I looked down at all the scribbles, at all of the things I wanted to do and accomplish. My mind was thrumming with excitement about all the possibilities.

I was experiencing an overflow of creativity. And it was exciting. My notebook, like a pool trying to capture a heavy rain, was full. As I looked down at it, blinking + blurry eyed, I suddenly became very overwhelmed. When was I going to do all of this stuff? What idea should I start with? How do I even begin to put any of this into action?

Have you ever had a beautiful, messy creative fury where you were swamped with ideas and then left in a "what to do next" paralysis? 

If so, you are not alone and I’m about to share with you some strategies for dealing with it!

The urge to create

I believe that the urges that we have to create have a purpose. Creative ideas, when they come to us in a flash flood like this, have a very specific reasons for coming to us. They are an outpouring of our creative energy and even though we can't possibly commit to all of them, sometimes they have to come at us in torrents just to get us to pay attention.

A huge rush of ideas is a sign that there is some form of creative expression wanting to come through you. We get overwhelmed and stuck when:

1. We can’t burn away the fluff to distill the single thread of an idea, the burning core of the idea, the expression that is most badly wanting to come through us.
2. We are unaware that there is a co-creator in the process of channeling that creative expression and we have to be willing to share the responsibility of our creative work with them.
3. We fear that if we pick one idea and go with it, the others will dry up and inspiration will fade.

Distill the core, burning idea

Discovering which idea is at the core of what you are being invited to create, is a process of learning to listen deeply. In my own creative practice, I find that sometimes it can be really difficult to listen deeply, especially when the voice of the inner judge is really loud. 

Related: How to Strengthen Your Creative Energy (+ a free workbook)

When I work at it over time, it becomes easier. And there are a couple of other strategies that really help too! 

Here are three strategies that can help you discover your core, burning idea:

Listen deeply.

Listening deeply requires that you invite your mind to become quiet. You can use your breath to do this. A few deep breaths with your eyes closed can do wonders in helping you to quiet down the chatter. Then into that quiet space, drop in the intention to distill what idea is burning to come forward. Then sit in that quiet place and see which ideas arise. Which ones have the most energy around them? Which ones give you that pulse pumping, palms sweaty feeling?

Watch for signs.

What idea keeps coming up again and again? Which ideas do you reference in your mind when you are out and about? Do you notice pictures, words or something in nature that remind you of a particular idea? Your best ideas will be trying to jump out at you in the landscape of your every day life, in subtle or not so subtle ways. 

Just pick an idea and go with it.  

Perhaps you still aren’t sure which idea to go after. That’s ok. My advice is to just pick something, anything and get started. Even if you are not totally sure about it, pick one thing and get going with it! Most likely, you will automatically pick the core idea anyway!

Be willing to be a co-creator

To me, the coolest part about the creative process is when you come to the realization that you don’t have to do it all alone, especially when you are faced with so many ideas and directions and you don't know which one to choose.

Although it sometimes appears to be, the creative process is not a solo exhibition. There is you, elbows deep in the work, but then there is also something else at work. Remember that urge to create you felt, that love note from your creative energy? 

I don’t believe that your creative energy is going to drop an idea (or many) at your feet and leave you high and dry. She’s got your back and will continue to press you along. When you get stuck (which you will, because that a part of this whole beautiful process), go inward, ask your creative energy what it would like you to do to move forward. And again, listen deeply for an answer.

When you choose a creative idea and roll with it, it’s not going to be up to just you.

Share the responsibility of your creative work

Author Elizabeth Gilbert discusses the idea of sharing the responsibility of our creative work with something greater than ourselves as a way to take some of the pressure off us as creators and to see our creations as offerings. In her TED Talk, she speaks about how the “human at the center of the universe” mindset that creativity comes completely from the self puts too much responsibility on the creative person. As she puts it, it’s like “asking someone to swallow the sun.” She believes that it is this kind of pressure that kills the artist. I agree and I would also add that it scares off the would-be creative too.

In her talk, Gilbert also suggests thinking of the creative process more like the ancient Greeks and Romans, who believed that creativity came from a divine source. She noted that Romans used the term Genius to mean a person’s magical, divine entity or muse. Gilbert says that this idea that the creative process is not entirely our own is incredibly liberating for her. She believes that if she shows up to write, she is doing her part of the creative process. She says

“If the genius, or muse or divine entity shows up to aid us, great...if not, it’s not our fault. We show up. We do our part.”

What is interesting to me is that when you apply the Tantric understanding that everything we do is an expression of the divine, that the divine is in fact within everything all the time (Wallis), this concept of co-creating takes on even deeper meaning:

• It means you are co-creating with something that is always present and much bigger than the container called “you.”
• It means that you no longer have to feel like a lone artist who will either succeed or fail in your efforts. By acknowledging a co-creator, you are relinquishing some of the responsibility of creating.
• It means that, like Gilbert, you can show up and do your part and stop worrying so much about the outcome.

You can relax and enjoy the process of creating with your creative energy, and she, in turn, can support, uplift and empower you. So pick and idea, go with it and remember, You don’t have to do this alone.

Let go of the fear that if you pick one idea, the other ideas will dry up

This fear comes from the belief that ideas are finite. That we will only have so many good ones this month, this year, this lifetime. But we don’t need to worry about this, because creative energy, although it works in pulsation and sometimes we feel and sometimes we don’t, is an unending, infinite source.

As long as you are given your next breath, you will be given more ideas.

Let’s take this breath metaphor further, shall we? When you exhale, your inhalation naturally arises. It just happens, you don’t have to think about it or force it. This is the same with ideas. When you execute an idea, when you let your creative energy expand over an idea and let it become expressed through you, other ideas will, very naturally, continue to bubble up from that creative source within you.  

Maya Angelou wrote that,

“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.”

Amen, Sister!

So, are you going to let the fear that you will run out of good ideas hold you back from expressing a creative idea you are super excited about? I didn’t think so.

Pick and idea and go get ‘em you creative rocket, you!

And let me know...what big, creative idea is trying to burn it’s way into your consciousness right now?

Have you ever felt yourself falling into a deep, cavernous creative black hole where it felt like you would never feel creative again?

There was a time when I worked in the belly of the basement of a clothing store. I was a stock manager there and I was responsible for unloading the towering boxes of new clothes that came into the store every day. There were no windows in the basement and only dingy overhead lighting to see by. Days went by where I would hardly see the light of day. I would get home feeling dull, uninspired and unmotivated to do anything creative, even though I had always loved painting and art making. I knew that I really wanted to get back to my creative, thriving self once more, but, I felt so far from my creative spark, that I wasn’t even really sure where to start.

Creative Energy is Always Present

Through my own practice as an artist, my yoga practice and my studies in the field of creativity and healing,  I’ve come to believe that even when you are feeling totally + utterly unmotivated and uninspired to be creative, creative energy is still present within you.

It’s there in that tiny, subtle pull to create. To even be aware of the fact that you are feeling uninspired, is to be aware that your creative energy exists. So even though I was feeling unmotivated to be creative when I got home from that life-sucking basement job, the urge to get my creative spark back was an urge coming from the creative energy alive in me somewhere. 

How do you recognize the creative energy within you even when it feels like it’s hardly there?

• the urge to be creative (even if you feel like you are not)
• is creativity working it’s way through in ways you may not have considered? Making a meal, humming a song under your breath, making love, doodling in the margins of your notebooks, day and night dreaming are all examples of small creative acts
• Look at the bigger picture of your own life. What kinds of things have you created for yourself (think relationships, family, your home, your career, etc.). Recognize that these too are things that you created!

Recognizing that creative energy is always present within you (even it’s just a tiny, barely attainable drip of energy) is the first step to understanding how to work within the creative process.

Because ultimately, the creative process is about learning to work with the creative energy that is within you, no matter how strong it's current.

Creative Energy Works in Pulsation

I’ll talk a lot about Creative Energy here on the blog. But I should also tell you that from from my yogic studies and exploration of Tantra, I’ve come to understand that Creative Energy is one and the same as Shakti, Divine Feminine Energy:

• In his book Tantra: the Path to Ecstasy Georg Feurstein describes Shakti as “the principle of creativity.”
• Sally Kempton writes in her book, Awakening Shakti, that “The Tantric sages...intuited the feminine as pure creative Eros, the life-force behind all evolution and all change…”
• Teri Deglar, in The Divine Feminine Fire says that “[When] you understand that the [creative] yearning you feel is the voice of Shakti, you can begin to see your longing for creative expression as an integral part of your spiritual path.”

All of this leads me to believe that the main purpose of our creativity is to help us to awaken to ourselves, to help us understand, bit by bit, more of who we are.

What is so facinating to me is that bit by bit part. Shakti’s movements are vibrations. Daniel Odier translation of the Tantric text, The Yoga Spandakarika describes these vibrations as a “sacred tremor.”

The very first stanza of the text says,

“(Shakti) source of energy, opens her eyes and the universe is reabsorbed in pure consciousness; she closes them and the universe is manifested within her.”

I love this image of Shaki opening and closing her eyes. To me, that is often how my creative energy feels. It’s there, open wide, conscious and awake. Then it slowly blinks closed, back into a quiet, covered state.

If creative energy is the same as Shakti and Shakti moves in vibratory tremors,  then this could help us to understand why sometimes we feel full and bursting with creative energy and why sometimes we feel all dried up.

Creative energy is always present, but it works in pulsation. Sometimes you feel it, sometimes you don’t.

You can even begin to identify your own creative energy working like this! Over the past week, I decided to start tracking my own creative energy. I rated it on a scale of low to high, and although not super scientific, around the same time everyday, I would simply close my eyes and feel into my creative energy and ask myself "Where does it feel like my creative energy is today?"

 Here’s what that looked like over the course of the week:

By tracking my creative energy, I recognized that it is not the same day in and day out. If it feels lower one day (or even for many days), I try to remember that it’s always in flux, that it’s always moving (even if it doesn’t feel that way in the moment.)

So, if you are not feeling creatively motivated or inspired, try tracking your own creative energy and see if you notice a pulsation to it!

Once you discover your own unique rhythm, you too will be able to see a particularly low time of creative energy, is just a passing phase of your creative cycle.

(I also created you a Creative Energy Calendar template for you to use to track your creative energy over the course of a month! You can find it in the Workbook, along with a yoga sequence for reflection at the end of this post!)

The Germination Phase

I like to think of the low creative energy part of the cycle as the “Germination phase.”

And while it may feel uninspired and you may feel unmotivated and stuck, it’s really an important part of your creative energy’s rhythm.

Imagine if you were going out and partying every single night of the week for months. You would be exhausted and probably feel pretty drained. Just like you, your creativity needs rest too. It needs time to withdraw, reflect, and get quiet in order to gain back the energy and the momentum for the next full swing of creative partying.

This time of reflection and rest is perfect for planting the seeds of your ideas, for germinating the tiny inklings you have for projects, paintings, and plans.

It’s a time to let go of all the pre-conceived notions of what you think it means to be creatively productive and to relax and recharge and reflect instead.

If you are a doer like me, you might be wondering what do you actually need to do when you find yourself in this part of your creative energy’s cycle? Well, as promised, here are 12 ideas, 12 moves to make to help you recharge your creative energy.

1. Journal

Most mornings, I spend 10 or 20 minutes writing Morning Pages in my journal. I like to think of it as clearing out the junk in my mind. I write about what I’m thinking, what I’d like to do that day or just stream of consciousness writing. It’s a very soothing process and it is a perfect activity to do when the creative energy is low because you write with no expectations and no agenda. You don’t have to do this in the morning, just find a time that works for you and write out whatever is on your mind.

2. Art journal

This is sort of the visual version of the morning pages. Take out your journal or a sketchbook or even a scrap piece of paper would work! Use pencils or markers or paints or whatever is calling you and simply scribble, doodle, make angry marks or happy ones, whatever you are feeling. Like the morning pages, there is no need to create anything in particular. You are simply drawing or painting out whatever is in your brain space.

3. Day dream

Instead of trying to push yourself through your creative endeavors when you really aren’t feeling it, press the pause button instead. Stare out the window and let your mind wander. Take a breather. Close your eyes and let your mind go wherever it wants to. Where does it go?

4. Go to a museum or shop you’ve never been to before

Get out of the house and out of whatever your normal routine consists of and go someplace new and interesting. Like a museum! Have you ever been to your town’s history museum? Or if you don’t have any museums, maybe a shop you’ve never been into before. Go in and look around. Changes of scenery do wonders for our creative energy and our general wellbeing.

5. Get outside for a hike/ski/bike/walk/[fill in your favorite outdoor activity of choice here]

There is nothing like fresh air and movement to do a body, and your creative energy, a world of good. Breath in the sunshine or snow and engage in an activity that gets your heart going and limbs swaying. Energy. Automatically. Lifted.
 

6. Meditate and allow yourself to accept where you are in the cycle

Take a comfortable seat and close your eyes. Find your breath and stay with it for a few minutes. Inhale acceptance for where you are right now. Breath out any expectations that you be somewhere different than where you are right now.

7. Find stillness in nature

This one is an iteration of #5, except that instead of engaging in an activity outdoors, see if you can just be still and take in the world around you. Notice the tempature on your skin, the sounds and smells that surround you. Feel your feet grounded in the earth below and the sky wide and expansive above you. This will awaken your senses, which in turn can help you better attune to your creative energy.

8. Learn something new.

Take a class or read a book about a completely new to you subject matter. Salsa dancing. Spanish. Photography. These are my own "things to learn" wish list. What are some of yours? Go forth and strike one off the list! Learning new things opens up new pathways in your brain and that can get the creative energy re-flowing as well.

9. Do a yoga class.

Probably you aren't surprised to see this one on the list! But it's on here for good reason: Yoga helps open you up to your creative energy. It helps you bring awareness and acceptance to where you are with it and it moves you more deeply into the creative flow. 

I also created a workbook for you that includes a short yoga sequence for inner reflection:

10. De-clutter a closet in your house

I’ve been into decluttering and ditching things that don’t bring me joy lately (inspired by my Feng Shui friend and this New York Bestseller book). When you aren’t feeling creatively inspired to do anything else, why not tackle one of the places in your home that pulls your energy down every time you look at it?

11. Read something you love

When your creative energy is in a slump, it’s a perfect time to indulge in those guilty pleasures like reading a trashy romance or fantasy (my favorite). Instead of pushing yourself to create when you aren’t into it, let it go. Do something else that you love, like reading!

12. Get enough sleep.

I need to take more of my own advice on this one, but if you aren’t feeling good and rested, there is no way that your creative energy will be either. So catch up on those beautiful zzzz’s. Take a 10 minute power nap. Go to bed early. Take the time you need to rest your body, mind and creative energy.

These are just a few suggestions to remind you that a creative lull is the perfect time to go inward, to reflect and recharge.

Go with the flow of your creative energy rather than resisting it or struggling against it.

Like the Mary Oliver quote says,

“You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.” 

Let all the rest go. There will be a time, very soon perhaps, when you’re creative energy will be totally recharged once again.

So tell me, what will you do to kick back, let yourself love what you love and recharge your creative energy?

Earlier this month, I was having trouble falling asleep. I would get into bed and lay there, my mind spinning with ideas, coming to me like fireworks. I would get up to go write them down in my notebook.

My heart was racing as my brain jumped from one thing to another.

“I could do this! I could do that! What if I did….”  I was pumped and excited and high-wired.

I was experiencing a huge burst of creative energy.

Then yesterday, I sat down at my computer to write a blog post. I tapped the keys, but nothing came out. I looked over at my dog snoring in the sun. Cuddling with her was feeling very appealing. I looked out the window. Ah, it’s so pretty out. No, back to the post. I tapped the keys a little more. Nothing. I didn’t know what to write or where to start.

I was experiencing a lull of creative energy.

Creative energy works in cycles

What I have come to discover about creative energy, is that it is working in a constant cycle and that even though we all have the capacity for creativity, it doesn’t always feel that way because our creative energy is somewhere on a spectrum of high and low energy.

Where you are on the spectrum and how you move on it depends on four things:

1. how you feel about your creativity (do you believe you are creative?)
2. your natural energetic rhythms
3. identifying where you are on the creative spectrum
4. your willingness to have your creative energy moved

1. How do you feel about your creative energy?

Do you believe that you are creative? Like, deep down in your core? Does the idea of creating something new scare the crap out of you or does it get you all jazzed up?

Think of your creative energy as a radiant being within you. Do you feel connected to her/him? Are you friendly or distant with each other?

I like to think of my creative energy as an entity all her own. She is divine, radiant, luscious and flowy. And she’s apart of me. She flows through me and sometimes it feels really obvious and sometime it’s a lot more subtle.

You could give your creative energy a name. Shakti, Muse, Creative Spirit, Goddess, Jane. Whatever you would like, whatever makes you feel closer and more connected to this energy coursing through you (even if you don’t feel it yet).

Related: How To Strengthen Your Creative Energy (+ a free workbook)
 

2. Your natural creative rhythms

If you look at the world around you, you’ll see that everything is made up of cyclical rhythms. The tides, the cycles of the moon, the seasons, all work in cycles.

Your creative energy is no different. Sometimes it will feel bursting, light, high, and whole. Sometimes it will feel dull, low, dark and empty. It may feel either one of those ways for weeks, months, years even.

Your energy might be lower in the winter and high and bright in the summer. You might find that certain locations supercharge your creative energy.

Maybe you feel the creative energy more urgently right after a sweaty yoga class or when you meditate first thing in the morning or maybe you feel it late, late at night.

Personally, I have discovered that my creative energy seems to be the most wired right around the new moon. I lie awake in the darkest parts of the moon’s cycles, high on insights and ideas. Then by the time the moon starts to wax towards full, the energy evens out a bit (and it’s during this part of the month, I tend to be the most creatively productive.)

So begin to notice your own rhythms.

Notice when you feel dull and when you feel light. Note the times of day, the times of year, check in with where the moon is. Beginning to notice where your energy naturally flows is a really important step to working with your creative energy!
 

3. Where are you right now on the creative spectrum?

So how do you know where you are on the creative spectrum? It’s pretty easy to identify really.

Do you feel tired, dull, stuck, uninspired, unmotivated, underwhelmed, blocked?

If you said yes to any of these questions, you are on the “in the dark” end of the creative spectrum. 

Do you feel frantic, bursting, wired, overwhelmed, fired up?

If you said yes to any of these questions, you are on the “bright + bursting” end of the creative spectrum.

Or maybe you feel content, flowing, glowing and productive. If so, you are the lovely place right in the middle. If that’s the case, file this post away and go, be creative. Let the creative energy flow!

I created a special meditation and reflection questionnaire for you to go deeper into discovering where you are on the creative spectrum. I would love to know what you discover! After you listen in and fill it out, post in the comments what you uncover!

4. Are you willing to change where you are on the creative spectrum?

Whether you are feeling blocked and stuck or bursting with too many ideas, changing where you are on the spectrum depends on how willing you are to change where you are.

That involves really looking at and identifying why you are where you are. And most of the time it boils down to one thing.

Fear.

Fear that you will run out of ideas if you pick just one of the many that you have and go with it. Or fear that you will make something so terrible, that the whole universe will collapse. Ok, maybe that is a bit dramatic. But you get the idea.

Fear is a crippling emotion that corners our creativity or shuts it down completely. Are you willing to do whatever it is you are being called to do, despite the fear (because the fear is not going to go away)?

One of my favorite poems of all time is a beautiful yoga poem in Root to Bloom by Danna Faulds called “Maybe Not.” In it, she identifies how challenging it can be to go into the core of your deepest fear or greatest joy, but that you do anyway, even if it’s not comfortable, even if you are not confident, even if you aren’t really even all that willing. She says,

“...you take it

anyway, that first step

into the unknown.

Courage is starting

where there is no secure outcome,

no sure result.

The secret is you can

begin again at any time.

Take one deep breath,

and dive.”

So, I challenge you to take a deep breath and dive. Do one thing to move yourself on the creative spectrum. One small act of creating. Make a mark with a paintbrush, write one line of a poem, pick and idea and go with it. Get started on something and you will be moved. I promise.

What’s one thing you will do to change where you are on the creative spectrum? Let me know in the comments below what your next move will be!

You’ve got a GREAT IDEA, a spark of excited inspiration, a momentary glimpse of something awesome that you see yourself creating.

You have a flash of creative brilliance.

But, when you sit down to paint, or draw or write or express the idea (however it wanted to be expressed) and nothing comes out except the deep, booming voice of

THE JUDGE.

The judge does everything within it’s power to shut down and weaken your creative energy.

“Hey you,” the Judge says.

“Who do you think you are, coming in here, acting like you can just paint/draw/write and make something beautiful?"

“That is the worst piece of crap I’ve ever seen/heard.”

“You will never be good at this, you probably should just give up.”

Do you hear a voice like this when you sit down to paint, or draw or write or do anything remotely creative? Maybe this voice pops into your head before you even get to that point.

I know THE JUDGE very well. We are quite familiar with one another. But here is what I’ve learned about this voice (the one that does absolutely everything within its power to shut down my creative go-with-the-flow):

You can’t shut out the Judge. Judge is gonna judge.

So what’s a yogi who just wants to get her painting + creating on to do?

Take a deep breath. Maybe belt out an om or two. This is what it’s going to take to do the creative work anyway.

Believe that you are absolutely, 100% worthy of creating

Do you know where those voices that tell us we suck come from? A place within us that doesn’t believe we are worthy of creating anything. A place that believe that only “masters” or people with “talent” are worthy enough to create.

But here is the thing that I have come to believe: We are all creative. And not only are we all creative, but our true nature is made up of a divine energy that is intrinsically creative.

According to Tantric philosophy, (a yogic philosophy that I have studied and am particularly interested in) we are all made up of the vibrations of a Divine Consciousness called Shakti.

Therefore, anything that you do that allows you to identify with Shakti, would also help you identify with the creativity that exists within you, as Shakti and this creative energy are one in the same.

There is a beautiful passage from The Radiance Sutras, a translation of a collection of Tantric teachings called the Vjinana Bhairvana, translated by Lorin Roche, that says,

“Awaken to your true form. Divine Creative Energy, revealing herself as you.”

The urge to create something is a sign that your creative energy is asking you to acknowledge it

So how do you recognize the creative energy in yourself? One of the most obvious and surefire signs of creative energy pulsing through you is having the urge to create something. It’s a glimpse of your very creative self asking to be acknowledged.

I don't believe that we would be given these urges to create if we weren't also equipped with everything we need to answer these internal callings.

Here are some of examples of your creative energy asking for acknowledgement:

• You think of a beautiful line of words, maybe the start to a poem, while you are driving your car
• A tiny snippet of a melody you’ve never heard pops into your head while you are in the shower
• You keep having the same dream over and over in great visual detail
• You close your eyes and see a flash of a color or image that feels significant
• You are stirred by a beautiful piece of artwork, a sunset or a place in nature
• You are lying in savasana, at the end of a yoga class, body and mind at rest and the sudden glimmer of an exciting idea catches your attention

Even if it’s the smallest inkling of an idea, a tiny whisper or spontaneous call to do something that lights you up, recognize that this is your creative energy asking for your attention.

Let the judge, judge. 

Often, we hear that we should just create and not judge ourselves. When I’m painting or writing or engaging in any creative act, I find it really hard not to judge myself. It just happens. It feels impossible to create and not judge.

It’s within our nature to judge, discern, and critique. As much as it is in our nature to be creative, it’s also within our nature to discern as a means of protecting ourselves. We tend to discern and judge ourselves more harshly than anybody else. And while it’s not helpful or fun, it’s part of who we are as creative beings.

Trying not to judge is like trying not to breathe hard when you run. It’s an uphill battle that wastes a lot of energy.

So instead, I’m going to suggest something radical:

Let the judge, judge.

However, in order to keep on creating or to get started with a creative project, you have to start cultivating a relationship with your creative energy that is stronger than your relationship to your inner judge. How do you start cultivating a relationship with your creative energy? To begin with think about:

• what makes you happy, what brings you joy?
• what lights you up?
• what makes you feel vibrant and excited?
• what are doing when you feel the most relaxed and content?
• what do you dream about (day or night)?

Yoga lights me up. I feel better in my body, my mind becomes more relaxed and I feel closer and more connected to my creative energy. Painting, especially in an intuitive way, does this for me too. And writing. And being outdoors (especially if it’s floating on my skis through soft white powder and quiet winter trees.)

Your answers to these questions can help you begin to understand where your creative energy gets ignited. The key to cultivating a strong relationship to your creative energy is to do the things that make you feel alive and connected to your own beautiful source.

Do whatever it is that makes you feel alive + connected. This is where you will find your creative power.

Spend some time thinking about what makes you feel alive + connected. It might help to first identify what doesn’t make you feel alive and connected (and then do the opposite!)

As an added bonus, I created an energy audit workbook for you to really get a sense of what makes you thrive and what makes your energy dive. Check it out below:

Click here to the get the Thrive/Dive Energy Audit Workbook to help you identify what makes you feel alive and what doesn't

 

How about you? What makes you feel alive + connected to your creative energy?