What Is Alive Inside Of Me Today?

This is a daily practice meditation to help connect you to your innate creativity and what is alive inside of you today. So many of us get caught up in making something because we think we should or because it's what other people expect. But this form of creation can very easily lead to burnout because you are creating from the mind instead of the heart.

This practice reconnects you to your breath, body, and heart so you can create something that is meaningful to you.

Transcript

Hello and welcome.

My name is Emma and this is a daily practice meditation to help you find what's alive inside of you today.

This meditation is for creatives and for anyone who uses their creativity to bring life to something in this world whether that's in a painting,

In writing or creativity in the way that you are with your family or your friends the way that you cook,

The way that you clean,

Anything because humans are inherently creative and it's our superpower.

But what happens when you're a creative and you start creating for other people instead of creating for yourself?

This is a common trap that we fall into because we want to create for others we want to make something that speaks to somebody so we take in all this information from outside and then we let the mind get involved and start to come up with the ways and the things that we are going to create and we lose touch with our innate inspiration and with our heart and so this meditation is meant to bring you back into your heart and to connect you to what is alive inside of you today not something that you've been wanting to create not something that your audience has been asking for not something that you think you should create just because it fits into your wheelhouse we're looking at what is alive inside of you today what is inspiring you right now what do you want to bring to life and I think it's really important to use this as a daily practice not necessarily this meditation but this question and before you sit down to create for the day and anytime you sit down to create ask yourself the question what is alive inside of me what is it that I can't not create and then move from that place rather than a place of what should I make,

What other people expect of me etc and so I hope you enjoy this meditation and we'll begin by just finding a comfortable position if you like you can sit stand,

Lay down,

Whatever feels best for you begin to take a little bit of intuitive movement as you get comfortable maybe you just take a little stretch or some final little wiggles and then whatever position you're in wherever you are really lengthen through your spine and the back part of your neck when you're ready you might close your eyes and allow your hands to rest open and gentle in your lap and a gesture of receptivity and then before we do anything else just going to take a moment here at the beginning of our meditation to check in with our breath and notice how we're breathing right now so take a moment and follow the inhale in the exhale out and notice how you're breathing notice if your breath is soft and slow moving gently in and out or maybe your breath is moving a bit faster with a bit more energy notice if your breath feels like it's moving smoothly in and out or maybe it's getting stuck somewhere on the way in in your nose,

In your throat in your chest we always begin any of our check-ins by dropping into our breath because the way we're breathing in any given moment can reveal a lot about our current state so just following for the next few breaths the natural rhythm of your breathing and then whenever you're ready and whenever it feels good just gently begin to deepen your breath pulling each inhale into your belly and pushing each exhale all the way out pulling your belly button into the spine to get all the air out deep even breaths and as you find a deep even rhythm with your breath we'll begin to go inward and check in on the state of our physical bodies so taking a moment to just notice how your body feels overall if you just woke up and you're listening to this in the morning maybe you still feel sleepy or tired or maybe you're ready to go and ready to start your day if you're listening to this at the end of your day maybe you're moving around restlessly in your bed and you're trying to get your limbs to lie still or maybe you feel the heavy weight of sleep already weighing down on you just getting a sense of your body's current energy and then we'll do just a brief body scan to pick out any areas in our body that might need a little extra love or attention today any areas that feel tight or tense any areas of resistance or holding so scanning from the top of your head all the way down to the tips of your toes and just make a note of any areas of the body that stick out to you holding in your belly tightness in the shoulders pain or stiffness in your hips in your legs and as you move your attention through your body make sure you also note the areas that feel really good today maybe you're feeling really energized maybe your hair is falling in the exact right way that you like it maybe you're ready to have a productive creative day and as you complete your body scan and make your way all the way down to your toes just forming an idea inside your mind of what is alive inside your body today and as we finish with the body we're going to make our way into the heart sending your next few breaths into your heart space that place in the center of your chest just behind your breast bone now a lot of you might think that creativity and inspiration come through the mind when in reality your best and most creative ideas,

The ones that really are yours and stick out from everybody else's those ideas come from your heart and when we try to curate our creativity we're allowing ourselves to create from our minds instead of our hearts we're trying to think our way into creativity into our art when really the best course of action is to step out of the mind and into the heart and then once we get the ideas from our heart then we use the mind to make those ideas come to life so take a few grounding breaths into your heart space maybe you start to feel your heart beating and get a sense of the heart's energy if you're a visual person you may like to picture the heart's energy as a little ball of light circling at the center of your body that light can be any color or texture it can be moving or still just getting a sense of how your heart feels this morning your breath and the sensations in your body are clues to your overall state and they might help you now as you drop into your heart if you're not a visual person,

That's okay too you might just get a felt sense a feeling of what your heart feels like today in sensations in breath in tightness or openness expansion,

Contraction and as we breathe into our hearts we're just going to ask one simple question what is what is alive inside of me today this question is filled with a million little nuances for each and every one of us it could bring to mind some ideas you've been mulling over some stories that need to be said something you've been holding on to something you've been going through a thought that will not leave you alone so as you sit here and ask what is alive inside of me today you don't need a specific answer,

The answer may not look the way that you're expecting it may come in words and images in an idea or something that you never even thought about before just remain open and breathe into your heart as you allow anything to come forward anything at all take a few more deep even breaths as you tune in to what is alive inside of you today and as our meditation comes to a close as we begin to come back into the present moment into the rhythm of our breath the sensations of our bodies I want to remind you that a crucial part of the creative process is not only asking yourself what it is you can't not create but once you get that guidance from your heart once you get the idea you need to take action on it even if it's the smallest tiniest action that's how you build a relationship and trust with your body and with your heart first by asking and then by taking action so before we begin to move and come out of our meditation I want you to think of one small action you can take today to bring your heart's guidance to life and you can use your mind for this running through your best options and the way it fits best into your day but allowing the guidance from your heart to lead you and if for some reason your heart didn't offer up any guidance today,

That's okay too you never know when the heart's guidance will come through but as long as you're listening breathing and present in your body,

I guarantee it will speak to you eventually gently begin to introduce some deeper breaths notice any noise in your environment feel the press of the seat below you holding you supporting you take some tiny movements with your fingers and your toes wrists and ankles and maybe if it feels good you just take a full body stretch waking your body back up and whenever you're ready gently and slowly open your eyes thank you so much for being here today I hope you bring life to whatever is alive inside of you bringing that beautiful thing out into the world for the rest of us to see hopefully I'll see you here again soon namaste