Hello,
Everyone.
Thank you for joining me today.
Take some time here just to set yourself up in a position of rest,
Whether it's laying down or seated,
And support it with any pillows or blankets,
Blocks,
Whatever.
And even hit pause if you need to,
To set this up.
And together,
Let's take a nice deep breath in and sigh it out,
Exhale.
Devis,
Or goddesses,
Represent an assortment of things.
They represent fertility,
Nature,
Abundance,
And her most popular role is that of a mother.
This motherhood view is not one of actual creation in the physical sense,
But it's abstract,
One who nurtures and gives birth to ideas.
And thus she is thought of as a creator,
The source of all life,
A proctor,
A savior,
And a warrior.
The Maha Devi,
Or mother goddess,
Is infused with many of her selves,
And appears in many forms throughout yogic mythology.
The concept of Shakti is the divine feminine energy that creates,
Maintains,
And destroys the universe.
In this philosophical tradition,
At the same time puts forth the idea that Shakti is the energy that activates the power of the male gods.
It is in this context,
Shakti could be the energy of that which manifests,
And also the manifestation itself.
So let us embrace our full capacity for creation and transformation within ourselves.
Repeat to yourself,
I am of divine Shakti energy.
I am of divine Shakti energy.
I am of divine Shakti energy.
This time together is an open invitation for further inquiry,
To look deeper within ourselves from not only a lens of close and personal,
But to the widest of angles,
To explore the idea of a new way of being.
To quote Robert Henri,
The object isn't to make art,
But it is to be in that wonderful state of which makes art inevitable.
Take some time here just to experience your own body.
What does it feel like right now?
What does the clothes feel like on your skin,
Or is anything touching your skin?
Just notice what's touching the air.
Notice what feelings arise in your body.
And allow these feelings just to be mere observations.
To cultivate awareness.
To just be.
Your breath can spark the energy that you need to find and follow inspiration.
And this next pranayama or breath work is one of many out there to center and balance,
To set up space,
To create a lush and beautiful breathing ground to spark creativity.
So take a nice exhale.
And breathe in for 3,
2,
1.
Hold.
3,
2,
1.
Exhale.
3,
2,
1.
Hold.
3,
2,
1.
Inhale.
3,
2,
1.
Hold.
3,
2,
1.
Exhale.
3,
2,
1.
Hold.
3,
2,
1.
Inhale.
Hold.
Exhale.
Inhale.
Exhale.
And continue this on your own,
Just for a few more rounds.
And if this is not serving you,
Just set up a breath that is equanimous in state.
Feeling the inhales and noticing the pause.
Between the inhale and the exhale,
And the exhale to the inhale.
Let it be soft.
So think of your creativity as a spark that connects ideas,
Insights,
And inspiration.
It's not about making art as a painter would,
With their canvas or a sculptor with a hunk of clay.
Your creativity is a fundamental aspect of being human.
To create is to bring something into existence that wasn't there before.
Parvati,
One of Shakti's many,
Many manifestations,
Created Ganesha,
Or Ganapati,
Not in the traditional sense from her body,
But from a combination of her loneliness and the very dirt of her body.
She sculpted a putla,
Or a doll,
And infused it with the breath of life.
And now,
Bring to mind a time when you conceived an idea and brought it to fruition.
Maybe the time you hosted a party,
Or curated a day to celebrate a loved one's birthday.
Cooked your favorite meal.
Conceived an idea that became the solution to a problem.
Even something simple as a stimulating conversation.
Maybe you rearranged furniture.
Think about it.
And now come to the somatic feeling of creating.
Where does your mind go first?
Notice what is going on in your body as you bring to mind this memory.
And I invite you now to begin to visualize the rest of your week,
Maybe the rest of your year.
Perhaps even the rest of your life.
All of that which you create,
By the way,
Doesn't need to be witnessed.
It will be profound,
Or not.
But what you will create is an experience of reality.
A composition of the world in which you live.
And within your own body,
Your own heart and mind,
Is just a combination of electrical and chemical reactions.
We generate our reality internally.
So with the practice of mindfulness and paying attention,
What would it be like to experience our reality from a lens of the creative?
What would that be like?
So now let's release that visualization.
Take a moment of gratitude for the creative experiences you've crafted thus far.
Or those you've enjoyed through somebody else's creation.
So honor your natural ability to bring life into everything you do.
To breathe life into everything that you do as a creative.
I am of divine Shakti energy.
And this one might be a hard one,
But try to trust this inner calling to create.
I am of divine Shakti energy.
Thank you for creating with me today.
