Creativity is one of my favourite things to think about, to cultivate. Certainly it’s a very vast and ambitious theme. But I’m interested in how our practices…mindfulness, yoga and meditation…can help us to unleash our creativity and innovation, to cultivate it so that it flourishes like a beautiful garden.
Indeed, this is one of the most surprising benefits I’ve found from these practices…an explosion of my creativity, a steady flow of ideas and inspiration. Yoga, meditation and mindfulness are tools to help you tap into your own creative energy. Into your intuition. To see things clearly.
Are you creative?
Whether or not you think you are a creative type, I assure you that you are uniquely creative. You create your life and you forge your path with every choice you make, every decision, every problem you solve, every idea you have. Creativity and innovation are part of everyday life, every relationship, every project and every job you work at. It's one of the most important qualities we need to have to live vibrant, joyful, fulfilling lives, and definitely something we should all want to cultivate. Sometimes we may think we’ve lost our creativity, lost our inspiration. But it’s always there, just waiting to be found and used.
One lovely way to connect with your creative energy is to connect with the energy of your sacral chakra.
The chakras are the body’s energy centres in the yogic tradition. “Chakra” in Sanskrit translates to “wheel”. You can imagine the 7 chakras as 7 spinning wheels located in seven spots along the spine, from your root chakra at the very base of your spine up to the crown chakra at the top of your head.
Your second chakra is the sacral chakra, Svadhisthana in Sanskrit (स्वाधिष्ठान), which translates as translates as “where your being is established”. It is located in the centre of your lower abdomen, right where your sexual organs are located. It’s the seat of creation and procreation, of your emotions. It’s where inspiration, sensuality and enthusiasm are ignited.
When your sacral chakra is balanced it’s like everything flows freely and easily. Creativity, positive emotions and pleasure will thrive. You will feel inspired, joyful, abundant. When the sacral chakra is unbalanced or blocked, you may feel uninspired, you may lose your passion for your life and for your projects, your self-criticism might be your loudest voice. Anger and fear can be the result of a blocked sacral chakra. In your body, you may feel tight hips and lower back pain. Your hips can tell you a lot about the state of your sacral chakra!
Here are 7 ways to rebalance your sacral chakra energy to ignite your creativity and your inspiration, to rediscover your passion and joy for all things.
1. Open up your hips with some sacral chakra yoga - Yoga naturally creates openness and flow. It gets your energy flowing, balances your breath and your mind, creates expansiveness in your body. As you practice you learn to be more perceptive and aware of all the sensations in your body and your breath, aware of what’s happening in the body and in the surroundings. This energy and awareness can fuel your creative process. To unlock your creativity, try adding some hip-opening poses to your practice. Such as any of the following poses…
2. Chant “Vam” - The sacral chakra is related to the bija mantra “Vam”. Chant “Vam” over and over, either aloud or silently. Visualize the vibrations flowing down to your sacral chakra, loosening it up, releasing your creative energy.
3. Try Yoni Mudra - Yoni in Sanskrit means womb or uterus. Yoni mudra activates and heals the sacral chakra’s energies. It can direct a flow of wellness to the lower pelvic region, help to release old emotions that may be held there, and help us to connect with our own source of creative power. It’s also very grounding. To do this mudra: Begin with your hands together at heart-centre. Then spread your palms and fingers wide while keeping the tips touching. Interlace your middle, ring and pinky fingers tucking them into your palms. Keeping the index and thumbs, tips touching. Hold your hands in front of your abdomen with your index fingers pointing to the ground.
4. See orange - The sacral chakra is associated with the colour orange, which represents creativity, expansion, happiness, compassion and connection to others. So bring some orange into your life to connect with its energy. Wear something orange, sit on a bright orange meditation cushion, keep some orange crystals such as powerful carnelian on your altar or carry them with you, pick a bouquet of orange flowers.
5. Connect with water - The sacral chakra is connected to the water element. Find a place in nature to go for a swim or even to wet your feet (sea/lake/river/stream), perhaps you might take a bath with some ylang ylang essential oil, and remember to drink lots of water.
6. Get creative - Crafting, knitting, painting, gardening, cooking, sewing, photography, writing… Connect with the sacral energy by engaging in creative hobby that you love, perhaps one that you haven’t made time for recently. Any creative practice will work!
7. Think about this - How do you tap into your sacral energy in your life? What are your unique ways of creating, and what (if any) blockages keep you from creating as you desire? What could you let go of that would help release the blockages?
JOYFUL, VIBRANT HUM ORANGE
One of the most popular HUM meditation cushions and yoga bolsters is our vibrant, joyful HUM Orange with saffron patterning. These colours are inspired by the spice-coloured robes Buddhist monks wear. I’ve seen them in my travels to Myanmar and Thailand, robes in shades of red and orange and gold. In fact, the colours are actually not red or orange, but shades of saffron. The different shades come from the saffron used historically to dye the monks’ robes. Natural saffron dyes fabric inconsistently, so the colours varied from group to group, and from those ancient days each group adopted a certain shade of saffron from deep red to bright orange and turmeric gold. Today the different shades symbolize the sangha (community) they belong to.
I love the connection to tradition, to sacred practice, to compassion and connection that these various shades of orange-saffron represent. And as it's the colour of the sacral chakra, orange can help us to cultivate creative expression, balanced emotions, and joy.
So why not choose an Orange meditation cushion and/or an Orange yoga bolsterfor your practice?!!
CLICK HERE TO VISIT ALL OUR COLLECTIONS OF YOGA AND MEDITATION ESSENTIALS
HUM RESOURCES:
Root Chakra Yoga: 8 Poses to Get Grounded
Yoga to Unlock the Power of Your Heart Chakra
8 Ways to Balance Your Throat Chakra
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