YOGI-ARTISTS EXPRESS THEMSELVES HOW DOES YOUR YOGA PRACTICE INFLUENCE YOUR CREATIVE LIFE? AND VICE VERSA?
“Iyengar Yoga helps me connect with myself in order to express
notice this in asana practice. The five kleshas (afflictions), for
the soul, to be courageous enough to put my art out to the
example, are easily recognizable when painting. When I’m in
public. Yoga makes my body and mind a clearer passage for
deeper concentration, all of this disappears. Through painting,
the spirit to create through the body. By learning to recognize
I understand what is meant by the act of painting, the painter,
the states of mind in yoga practice, I recognize those same
and that which is being painted, and in rare moments, it
states of mind when painting, so the painting as well as the
happens that it all comes together, and there is nothing but the
asana become a tool for reading the processes on the field of
state of being. Also, strangely, when painting asana, the area in
consciousness.
the body that I have not understood in practice comes out distorted and out of balance, and this points me toward the
“The processes in the consciousness that I notice when painting
direction of focus in my practice.”
are more easily recognizable when practicing asanas. For example, I notice using too much rational thinking when I’m
—Jana Chadimova, painter, Czech Republic
painting, rather than being present in the moment—and I also
Jana Chadimova working on Urdhva Dhanurasana in her studio. Photo: Daniel Papousek
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Urdhva Mukha Svanasana, work in progress by Jana Chadimova Photo: Daniel Papousek
Yoga Samachar Spring /Summer 2015
