A Practice for Accessing Creativity

Have you ever noticed how you can’t force creative time? One must often wait until the muse is upon you, but what if you need to draw on your creativity today? How can you go there if you technically can’t force it? Let’s practice.

Creativity comes when our heart center and our third eye are open. These energy centers tend to shut down when stress is getting the best of us. Sadly, that’s far too often for most people. It leads to a sour mood and grants less access to the creative juices that come from a more relaxed state of being.

Another issue comes from trying to be creative instead of slipping into a state of receptivity. You can’t “do” creativity, but you can allow for it. The challenge here is to avoid the mindset that says, “Okay, now let’s get creative.” That doesn’t work. Relax into your primordial state and allow for it. This may not happen abruptly. You’re now trying to access a different quality of time that has its own rules. Enter respectfully.

Try this practice:

Take deep breaths down to your lower dantian (three inches below your navel in the center of your body). Relax and settle in for two to three minutes, letting your breathing slow down. Observe the breath as it passes through the center of your body, gently inflating and deflating your lower abdomen.

From here, move your focus to your heart. Feel it warm up and glow with each inhale, and then allow that warmth to spread through your entire body with each exhale. Do this for several minutes. Put a smile on your face and keep your eyes closed. Take slow, deep, meaningful breaths and allow your breath to soften your chest cavity.

Now try to maintain this type of breathing while opening your eyes and taking a walk. Stay in this mindset and enjoy the world around you. Keep that smile on your face and keep circulating warmth throughout your body. That’s it. Don’t try to pivot and extract data immediately. Ease into this space and get comfortable there. If something genius comes up, go ahead and write it down or take a voice note in your phone.

The key is to not get right back into your head. This type of breathing helps engage the right hemisphere of your brain, which allows for creativity. Don’t let your logical mind slam back in and crowd it out. Creativity emerges from this space. You need to get comfortable here and allow the creative juices to spring up naturally. The rational mind creates a container that can be helpful, but it often gets in our way. We may have imposed rules, bumpers, and regulations that keep us confined in our thinking and out of our creative mind. Drop into your heart and access that energy. Let it blossom like a flower, and give it space. Creativity will soon follow.

Over time, you’ll have more access to this space, and if you remain respectful of its different quality of time, you can reap tremendous benefits from it in your life.

Find about upcoming programs with Pedram Shojai at Kripalu.

Reprinted from The Art of Stopping Time by Pedram Shojai, OMD. Copyright © 2017 by Pedram Shojai, OMD. By permission of Rodale Books.