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Practice This Yoga Sequence to Boost Your Creativity (Video)

Got creativity? If you often feel like you are ‘just going through the motions,’ then pause for a few moments to read how yoga might help you get the creative, inspirational juices flowing again.
 
 

Mindfulness vs. Autopilot

So often in life, we operate on autopilot, going through the motions without too much thought. It is vital to keep our brain active, not stagnant. Small actions like switching our routes on the way home, or holding the toothbrush with the opposite hand are excellent for the brain. Don’t stop doing these things.
 
This is where mindfulness comes into play. Mindfulness is the opposite of autopilot. Mindfulness is the mental state achieved by focusing your awareness on the present moment. It is to be aware and truly, wholly present.
 
Suggested Read: 8 Useful Hacks to Make Mindfulness a Habit
 
It’s important that we create other ways for our brain to unleash productivity and creativity. In today’s fast-paced, instant-everything world, being present, or mindful, gets pushed aside in order to complete our daily tasks.
 

Abandon your autopilot, and instead, practice mindfulness to create a platform to awaken your imagination, not just to creativity, but to new possibilities too.

 
Now that you are fully present, this is where I would like to remind you that you are a human being. B-E-ing. You must allow the time for yourself to just “be.” To halt the “doing” – the active, the accomplishing, the efforts and all the gathering.
 
Give yourself permission to stop being a “doer” on every occasion, and start “being” more. It is in your being-ness where you can access your limitless creativity. When we become more aware of the present moment, we become more attuned to our surroundings, and the creativity is free + open to flow.
 
 

Practice this yoga sequence to inspire + unleash your creativity:

 
watch-the-video

 
 

1. Lord of the Fish, Arms Flow with Breath

Crossing one leg over the other (foundational leg can be straight or bent), bring opposite arm over top leg for a gentle or more intense twist.
 
In the video, we use our arms to flow with the breath, allowing movement and inviting creativity and imagination to awaken.
 
 

2. Seated Wide Leg, Lateral Flexion Flow

Separate both feet for a wide seated posture (tuck one foot in toward the hips for a more gentle version). Starting with the right side, place the right hand on the inside of the right foot and laterally bend sideways. Again, use the breath to flow in and out.
 
You can remain in a static stretch as well, but the invitation is to awaken your senses, so try flowing flowing in and out of the side bend before switching sides.
 
 

3. Wide Leg Forward Fold, Heart to Earth

Staying in your Seated Wide Leg stance, place your hands in front of the torso on the earth, and allow your spine to stay straight by leading with your heart.
 
Stay at your edge using your breath to surrender into the posture (feel free to use a block beneath your hands, forearms, or forehead to make this gentler). If the heart can connect to the earth, melt down and rest.
 
Ask yourself what is in your heart? What got buried that you can revive?
 

 

4. Seated Bound Angle Forward Fold

From Seated Wide Leg, place the soles of your feet together, or as close as you can get them, coming into Butterfly Pose (or Seated Bound Angle).
 
Inhale and lift your biceps by the ears to create a nice long torso. Reach towards the sky, and then forward fold your torso. Flow up and down with your breath, no hurry. Simply allow your breath to move you.
 
 

5. Chair Flow to Standing Forward Fold

Slowly come up to standing, or Mountain Pose. Inhale to Upward Salute (arms lift overhead), and then hands come through to heart center as you hinge at the hips into a forward fold.
 
Bend both knees deeply into a Chair Pose squat as you simultaneously “sweep” the earth with the back of your hands, and gently raise up to a standing cactus arm Backbend before coming back to Upward Salute.
 
Continue this mini Chair flow for as long as you’d like. This will awaken your entire body and get the oxygen to every part of your body and brain. As you warm up, each posture and transition becomes deeper and more exaggerated (deeper squats, forward fold, back bend etc.).
 
 

6. Standing Wide Leg Forward Fold Twist

From standing, step the legs four feet apart. Hinge at the hips, and keep the spine long as you lower down into a forward fold. Use the breath to flow from a deep fold to halfway lift, then fold.
 
Plant your right hand in between your feet as you twist to the left. Option to clasp the left ankle for a deeper twist and inversion. Inhale back to center and switch sides.
 
 

7. Optional Headstand or Arm Balance

If you really want to get the juices flowing, this is a great place to get upside down in a headstand of your choice, an arm balance, or a sequence of the two.
 
You can take a Tripod Headstand, a Supported Headstand, or use the wall. If arm balances are part of your practice, try one of those. Breathe and explore wherever you choose to go.
 
 

8. Camel with Reaching Arms

Finding your way to a kneeling posture, take your knees about hip-width distance apart. Keep both palms pressing into your low back, or reach back for both heels as you press the pelvic bone forward.
 
Open your heart center and allow the collarbone to “lift” towards the sky. Explore and play with releasing one arm at a time as you flow with your breath. Imagine opening your heart to all the creative potential within you. Create space and vitality in your heart and core center.
 
 

9. End in Child’s Pose

Gently releasing Camel Pose, place the knees together or apart, and slowly come into Child’s pose, by placing the forehead on the mat or a block. Allow your shoulders to relax by turning the palms upward.
 
By practicing this yoga sequence to boost your creativity, you have created lots of space in every area of your life! Now . . . what would you like to enter in? With open palms, remain open to receive.
 
 

The Takeaway

If Stella can get her groove back, so can you. You see, your creativity hasn’t vanished. It simply gets suppressed and buried, sometimes deep within the soul. “Who has time to be creative?” This is my point exactly.
 
You must create time and space for your creativity to poke it’s head out again. Do you remember how Stella got her groove back? She took vacation, changed the environment, and recalled what brings her the most joy.
 
Most likely you are reading this article because you enjoy yoga. The gift of yoga has many benefits, and I personally believe there isn’t anything that yoga cannot fix, including getting your creative juices flowing again!
 
Any physical activity releases endorphins and can help you gain energy and creativity. I hope this short video and sequence help your brain and your heart reconnect and reignite that creative fire within. Namaste.
 

This article has been read 6K+ times. Feelin’ the love!

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Michelle Thielen

Michelle Thielen, C-IAYT, is an international speaker, humanitarian, and author of Stretching Your Faith. As a Trauma Sensitive Yoga Therapist, Michelle aids in raising awareness and rescue efforts of human trafficked victims. Michelle founded YogaFaith and the Christian Yoga Association. She has been teaching and choreographing dance, yoga and somatic movement for 25 years.

yogafaith.org

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