SUMMER 2017 VOLUME 5, NUMBER 3
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AMY PUTNEY KOENIG COLORING PAGE
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IN CONVERSATION WITH GIRISH
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SIX ARTISTS SHARE THEIR JOURNEYS
LOVAR DAVIS KIDD ON THE IMPACT OF YOGA
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Similarly, whether we’re at a festival with hundreds of other yogis or alone in our living rooms, we can use yoga, dance, and the aerial arts to nurture and expand our creativity. For this issue, we sought out people in our yoga community who could offer insight into our questions about creativity. How do we cultivate creativity? What sparks great ideas, thoughts, and actions? How can we use creativity to expand our potential?
SUMMER 2017 VOLUME 5, NUMBER 3 PU B L I S H E R Matthew Steele GE N E RA L MA NAGE R Ally Thompson MA N AGI N G E D I TO R Tracey L. Kelley A RT D I REC TI O N Natalia Araujo COPY E D I TO R Becky Langdon A DV E RT I S I NG RE P RE S E N TAT I V ES Sarah Driscoll Jav Ducker Frankie Schneckloth
F I E L D EDITO R S : Central Iowa: Linsey Birusingh thehumblehedonist@gmail.com Cedar Rapids: Kim Reed dancingbuddha@gmail.com Dubuque: Shelia O’Laughlin sheliaolaughlin@mchsi.com Quad Cities: Emilene Leone emileneleone@me.com Western Iowa: Trishia Gill trishia@evolvesiouxcity.com
A DV ISO RY B OAR D Sheree Clark, holistic health and nutritional coach Diane Glass, facilitator, Tending Your Inner Garden Dennis Kelly, founder of Yoga in the Park and Meditation Around Town, Des Moines
COMME NTS & SUBMISSI ON S Send comments, story ideas, calendar submissions, press releases & public announcements:
editors@yoga-iowa.com
A DVE RTISE Ally Thompson, General Manager Ally@LittleVillageMag.com (319) 640-0091
SUBSCRIBE YogaIowa is available free of charge at Iowa yoga studios and more than 400 locations throughout central Iowa. To order an annual subscription delivered to your door, please send $15 to Subscription-YogaIowa, 623 S. Dubuque St, Iowa City, IA 52240. For changes of address and other inquiries, contact us in writing at the address above, or subscriptions@yoga-iowa.com. To request delivery to your business, contact editors@yoga-iowa.com
On Creativity The number of ways we use creativity is endless...we express it in writing, painting, music, photography, and so on. But creativity doesn’t need to be lofty or public. Creativity is in everyone—it’s part of our humanity. We can fold towels, set the table, or weed the garden creatively. By looking for ways to make the gritty and mundane parts of everyday life more fulfilling, we are also toning and shaping our creative muscle.
Inspiration can sometimes seem elusive, especially when we’re trying to consciously call upon it. Some days it feels like it will never show up. But once we learn to surrender to the unknown and allow ourselves mental space, sparks of creativity will appear. And
while inspiration can come at any moment, it also has a shelf life. For real breakthroughs to happen, we need to harness the momentum of creativity when it strikes and apply it to our passions. The stories we’re sharing this summer have insight to offer in applying creative inspiration to expand your potential, whether you're an artist who tunes into the body as you paint or a teacher devoting your energy to helping others in their dance or yoga practices. Let’s take inspiration and ideas from these stories and the world around us. Let’s also approach our routines and everyday tasks with a renewed presence and listen to the creativity that flows within us.
HE LP US CONSE RVE RE SOU RCE S. Share this publication with a friend. Recycle it when you are done.
On Our Cover Rayna Gasteiger of Rayna's AllNatural Henna Designs at work on model yogini Julia Abbott of Cedar Falls. Photo by Melissa Stuckenholtz of Gorman House Photography.
yoga-iowa.com @YOGAIOWA @YOGAIOWA _MAGAZINE YogaIowa is published four times annually by Little Village, LLC. 623 S. Dubuque St., Iowa City, IA 52240. Copyright 2017 Little Village LLC. No portion of this publication may be reproduced without prior written permission by the publisher. All rights reserved. Little Village assumes no liability for damage or loss. Locally owned, locally minded. Printed in Webster City, IA
Valerie Brown, RYT 200, is a teacher of yoga and practitioner of Ayurveda who's passionate about the combination of these two practices for health and happiness. She's a level one Ayurvedic Wellness Educator trained by
alternative health, spirituality, government, and arts/entertainment. Learn more at ChristineHawes.com.
Laura Creswell, RYT 500 and CD-DONA, is a yoga teacher and birth doula in Waterloo/Cedar Falls. In 2016, she quit her full-time job to go on a six-month New Zealand adventure. Now back into Iowa life, she has a renewed focus to pursue her passions and grow her business. Learn more at lauracreswell.com
Dana Hinders first became interested in practicing yoga as a way to naturally cope with her anxiety and depression. She's currently a full-time freelance writer living in Clarksville, experienced with a variety of topics and platforms. Learn more at danahinders.com.
When day jobs left little time for creative pursuits, Sarah Driscoll and her husband, Ben, left that world and bought a building in downtown Cedar Rapids where they could live, work, play music, and follow their dreams with their son, Desmond. Sarah owns Breathing Room Yoga (BreathingRoomYoga.net) Ben is a furniture builder (driscollcabco.com/). Driven by a deeply-held belief that clear, authentic communication is at the heart of good relationships, Christine Hawes has worked for 20+ years in the fields of journalism, public and media relations, and political consulting. She specializes in topics related to education,
YogaIowa's Managing Editor Tracey L. Kelley, E-RYT 500, teaches at her boutique yoga studio in South Des Moines and specializes in working with beginning students. Tracey is also the founder of re: communications, a firm focused on improving communication through mindful listening. Find her at recommunicationsmedia.com. Award-winning choreographer, dancer, massage therapist, and yoga teacher Lovar Davis Kidd (lovardaviskidd.com) hails from Cedar Rapids but has performed throughout the U.S. His desire is to create community through all forms of movement. He's the director of Movement Dance Collective (movmntdance.co) and
coordinator for the outdoor yoga program at NewBoCity Market (meetmecr.org/). Amy Putney-Koenig is a mixed media artist who creates murals, collage, and illustrations. A yoga teacher at Power Life Yoga in Des Moines (powerlifeyoga. com), she's also an art director and designer for Sticks Object Art & Furniture (sticks.com). Discover her art at amyputneykoenig.com. Jackie Paulson is an E-RYT 200, LMHC, and owner of {be}Studio in Sioux City (beyogasc.com). She blends these passions into one deeply-held intention: to create and hold space for the creative, sacred force to awaken within others. With Jackie, you can expect to experience a vinyasa style practice rooted in the arms of tantra. Melissa Stukenholtz of Gorman House Photography (gormanhousephoto. com) lives on a farm in rural Jamaica with her two dogs, one cat, and 17 organic free-range chickens. Yoga, meditation, healthy meals, and enlightening conversations are a few of her favorite things.
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Robin Bourjaily, E-RYT 200, YACEP, Yoga as Muse facilitator, is currently at work on imaginative projects ranging from teaching group yoga classes and creativity workshops (radiantomyoga.com) to keeping a nonfiction blog (overneathitall. com) to working on her second novel. Her first novel, Throwing Like a Girl, (available through smashwords.com/ books/view/516628), couldn't have been completed without yoga.
the Maharishi Ayurveda Association of America and the Social Media Manager for vpk by Maharishi Ayurveda (mapi.com).
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Sheree Clark, EdM., AADP, CHHC is an inspiring author, television show host, health coach, and raw vegan chef (forkroad.com). She's written about and presented on topics ranging from raw food 101 to overcoming career burnout. Currently, she hosts a television show called "Fork in the Road with Sheree Clark" and advises private practice health and nutrition clients.
Ready, Set,
Tap into YOUR Creative Spirit BY VALERIE BROWN The practice of Ayurveda creates balance for each of us in a unique way. It has the potential to revitalize your entire nervous system, leading to increased creativity, greater efficiency, success, and satisfaction in all aspects of your life. Here are five simple ways to add Ayurveda into your life and tap into your creativity. your mind begins 1WakeNourishing with a good daily routine. up with the sun and start
the day with an abhyanga, or Ayurvedic oil massage. Abhyanga loosens and removes toxins from the body and thereby enlivens the flow of intelligence; your mind will feel energized and awake. Have a light breakfast and eat a well-cooked lunch as the main meal of your day, when your digestive fire is at its peak. Follow work or school with a light supper at least three hours before bed, and finish the day with pleasant, relaxing activity before an early bedtime.
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After practicing your daily yoga asanas, settle into meditation. When practiced regularly, meditation is proven to reduce stress and balance emotions. The result is heightened creativity and clearer thinking. Meditation is like a “work-in” for your body and mind. Practicing Transcendental Meditation, or the meditation of your choice, is a healthy commitment.
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• SUMMER 2017
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Fuel your body and brain with nature’s intelligence: food! Favor fresh, cooked, organic, nonGMO foods prepared by someone who loves you. To enliven your mind, enhance your diet with: • Soaked walnuts or almonds (soaking makes them more digestible) • Sweet, juicy fruits • Ghee • Milk
These foods supply your brain with intelligent, easily-digestible protein and glucose, the brain's basic fuel. If milk is hard on your digestion, add a few pitted dates and a pinch of cinnamon to a cup of almond milk and blend until the dates are ground fine. Serve this brainboosting “date shake” slightly cool (not cold) or at room temperature. positive. Positive 4 Stay thoughts and actions have
a beneficial influence on your health, while negative behavior can be damaging. “Practice gratefulness, even when you don’t feel grateful,” says Alan Marks, CEO of vpk by Maharishi Ayurveda. Ama—toxins in the physiology—is the root of disease and can be caused by or be the cause of negative emotions and behavior. In addition to consciously forming a healthful routine and eating habits, focus on positive behaviors such as:
• Truthfulness • Nonviolence • Calmness • Sweet speech • Cleanliness • Charitableness • Freedom from anger • Control of the senses • Respect towards teachers and elders
YogaIowa is excited to have the artwork of Amy Putney Koenig and you should be too! COLOR Amy’s coloring page POST a photo to Facebook or Instagram using #colorsof yoga TAG us in the post WINNERS will be announced Friday, Aug. 4th Now through July 31st, you have a chance to win one of several prizes generously donated by Good Vibes, Fields of Yogis, and Sankalpa.
1 ST PLACE
Sankalpa Leggings (of your choice)
+ 2 passes to Fields of Yogis (Aug 11 - 12)
SPECIAL OFFERS SANKALPA is offering 20% off their products using discount code: YogaIowa
FIELDS OF YOGIS is offering 15% off tickets using discount code:
FOY17GROW
2 ND PLACE
Good Vibes Yoga Flowy Tee + Leggings (pictured)
(valid through Aug 7)
Ayurveda calls these behavioral rasayanas—principles for mental, emotional and spiritual health. to what life brings, 5 Beandopen adapt to its ever-changing landscape. Try something different, learn something new, and let your creativity move you onto exciting paths. Being happy and creative is being healthy!
3 RD PLACE
YogaIowa jacket
L I V E S A N KA L PA . CO M FIELDSOFYOGIS.ORG PHOTO BY JAV DUCKER AMYPUTNEYKOENIG.COM
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• SUMMER 2017
Natural Gift or Cultivated Mindset? BY TRACEY L. KELLEY I am an artist. I don't use this descriptive often, but the voices in my head tell me I am so, okay! I'm a writer. The voices originate within a colorful, swirling imagination filled with different people, places, and things. As an artist, I might be considered more of a right-brained thinker—the typical association with creative pursuits. If I had paid closer attention in math classes, perhaps I'd be an engineer and thus, more of a left-brained thinker—the standard link to analytical activity.
Why Yoga Matters to Gray Matter BY ROBIN BOURJAILY For a creative yogi, moving into artistic endeavors after practice may help access inspired brain space, which is freed from extraneous brain activity. The reason? The brains of people who practice yoga benefit biochemically during and after practice. Research demonstrates that the neurotransmitter, gammaaminobutyric acid (GABA), a naturally-produced chemical inhibiter, regulates the human nervous system. It slows the firing of the 86 billion neurons (gray matter) in the human
Extensive research indicates the two hemispheres process information differently.
language abilities. So be to a writer requires both hemispheres to function properly.
The right hemisphere sparks some of these characteristics:
In the 1970s, neuroscientist Michael Gazzaniga popularized the concept of hemispheric processing, or split-brain theories, based on research with monkeys and later, humans. It involved serious repercussions for the monkeys, because his approach required removing one hemisphere of the brain to see how the other side would respond. Often, the remaining side couldn't process what was going on.
• Rhythmic ability • Non-verbal • Emotional • Visualization • Tunes of songs • Daydreaming
• Creativity • Imagination • Holistic thinking • Intuition • Arts as a motor skill
The left hemisphere ignites some of these characteristics: • Logic • Analysis • Sequencing • Linear thinking • Mathematics • Language
• Facts • Think in words • Words of songs • Computation
Looking at the qualities on these lists, it appears a writer is one type of artist who relies on rightbrain imagination and left-brain
brain, making them less excitable and thus calming the mind and relaxing the body. Yoga practice increases the human production of GABA—in some cases nearly doubling the normal levels of this essential neurotransmitter. At any given moment, brainwaves are pulsing through the human mind as masses of neurons communicate with one another. Scientists measure activity at the scalp, recording an array of brainwaves and linking them to human activity. Gamma waves, the fastest and most frenetic, are measured anywhere from 25 to 100 cycles per second. These waves represent the brain working rapidly to synthesize information from innumerable inputs at once. The more commonly understood Beta waves, at 15 to 40 cycles per second, characterize the brain’s
Later, with human subjects, his research clarified that connective fibers between the two hemispheres determined how much both sides are needed for people to communicate and function effectively. Respecting right vs. left brain function is a viable point, because individual hemispheres are
normal activity when a person is active, working, engaged with others, and alert. After a complicated project is finished and a human sits down to relax, the brain slows down to Alpha, where waves flow at 9 to 14 cycles per second. A person in Alpha might be walking through a garden, settling in to meditate, or leaving a public gathering, be it party, conference, or lecture. As activity and stimulation reduce, brain activity may release into Theta, with cycles of 5 to 8 per second, wherein a person may meditate, daydream, or lose focus on routine tasks. A person idling in Theta might not remember driving from home to the office, but might burst through the door with a creative solution to a previously vexing task. The slowest brainwaves are Delta waves, oscillating at 1.5 to 4 cycles
directly responsible for important abilities such as speech, motor skills, spatial recognition, and so on. But researchers continue to debunk pop culture's click bait personality tests regarding right vs. left brain capabilities. Their bottom line is this: personality types have nothing to do with one hemisphere being more active, stronger, or better connected. Additionally, preliminary studies indicate yoga and meditation practices create a vital balance between the hemispheres to result in what's called whole brain functioning. Through this synchronization, neurons build bridges to access both hemispheres, resulting in a more heightened flow of skills and characteristics for someone to experience. If you don't currently think of yourself as an artist, or rightbrained, your yoga and meditation practices will likely awaken more associations with creativity.
per second. These are present when a person sleeps without dreaming. This deep relaxation of brain function is essential for brain and physical health. A highly functioning brain vacillates among brainwave speeds throughout the day. Working with the sympathetic nervous system, the brain is hard-wired to work overtime, taking in information from countless sources and processing it at Beta speed. Managing so many impulses at once makes it hard to relax and find space for new, creative ideas. Yoga practice, with its guaranteed GABA boost, inhibits the brain’s natural tendency to over-process in Beta, instead slowing the brainwaves from Alpha perhaps even to Theta, stimulating creative activity and problem solving with little critical oversight.
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The Yoga of Mindful Singing Girish, a touring performer of world music, has one message he believes everyone can partake of, regardless of their yogic experience: mantras can help us find our center, ease our anxiety, discover our true selves, increase our health, and amplify our creativity.
"A mantra provides something unique: it first engages the poetic, the purely musical part of us, the metaphorical part, rather than the rational left brain," says the Santa Cruz, California, resident. "At the same time, it is you putting forth your own sorts of wishes and intention-setting, you conceptualizing what your prayer is. You are bringing in the left brain's focus of intentionality." Girish is the author of Music and Mantras: The Yoga of Mindful Singing for Health, Happiness, Peace and Prosperity, released in 2016. His musical journey began as a child in New Jersey, when he began "drumming everything." His parents bought him a tiny red snare drum at the age of eight to sate his interest in rhythm. Girish remembers a spiritual sensation at the age of 11, related to his continuous interest in "the unexplained, the mysterious and an after-life.” "It was a dream, but a waking experience," he recalls. "I was 'downloading' this beam of light that was radiating the undeniable experience and knowing of a brilliant future filled with happiness and success. It was a strange moment, an almost alien experience, of an archangel beaming a message of hope and inspiration to me that was undeniably real." He went on to drum wherever he could, including in marching bands and jazz bands. Eventually, he attended college in Knoxville, Tennessee, still performing with improvisational jazz musicians, experiencing "unexplainable moments of synchronicity and intuition that felt like magic." Girish was attracted to an "Eastern" way of perceiving spirituality, first through a philosophy class and then through a recording of mantras. "I had no idea what the words were, but I still remember the general phonetics, and the melody, and the timbre of the man's voice after all of these years." Upon graduation, he joined an ashram, where he
continuously listened to and contemplated mantras. "Music felt like a pale attempt to get to the height of vibrational bliss that one can achieve with mantra meditation," he says. His return to music started when he discovered the tabla, a two-headed drum played in the Hindu tradition. The instrument merged his early drumming instincts with his spiritual awakening. He went on to study yogic music and drumming under several mentors. Now a traveling world musician, he shares what he's discovered about music and mantras. "Mantra literally means, 'mind-tool'," Girish says. "It's the act of concentrating our minds and our spiritual energy in one focused direction, like light through a tunnel." For people who may be uneasy with the Eastern religious overtones of mantras, Girish reminds them: all of the world's religions have some form of mantra by another name, “a repetition of prayers, or sacred sound formulas with intentionalities."
Fields of Yogis Girish is a featured pe
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He's gratified to see his beliefs about mantras increasingly supported by research. Modern studies show that breathing patterns associated with mantras activate the nervous system, slow the heart, and calm stress hormones. Singing in groups is shown to promote heart rate variability, which indicates the heart is active and responsive to differing conditions and activities. And research shows we can change the way our brains work and reorganize our brains, largely through meditation, which is facilitated through mantras. "Singing mantras is about merging yourself with the formula… surrendering to and connecting to this formula you've chosen and willingly embraced," Girish says. "From that place, there is inspiration."
• SUMMER 2017
BY CHRISTINE HAWES
PHOTO COURTESY OF GIRISH
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Musician, author, yogi, and spiritual seeker Girish shares his commitment to singing mantras as a way to access universal wisdom and inspiration.
in a multitude of ways. To be balanced, we must feel fulfilled.
Yoga for Creative Flow BY SARAH DRISCOLL We're all creative. It's in our DNA. Our ancestors had to be creative to survive the ever-changing obstacles of this world. The seamstress, the potter, the farmer, the blacksmith, the storyteller—people in all areas of life used creativity to solve problems and move forward.
ABOVE: HANDSTAND WITH WALL SUPPORT RIGHT, TOP: DYING WARRIOR RIGHT, BOTTOM: CAMEL PHOTOS BY ZAK NEUMANN
You may not paint, draw, or make music, but you still need to nurture your creativity. In our modern, busy lives, we’re pressed for time due to countless errands, interruptions, and jobs. We're overstimulated by our handheld devices. It’s important to carve out space to follow our hearts. To be happy, we must express ourselves
How do we commit to leading a more creative life right now? It starts with the way we look at things. Get curious, observe without judgment, and see beauty in the present moment. As a yogi, does this approach sound familiar? Our yoga practice invokes everything we need to be creative. Yoga and meditation turn us inward, strengthen our focus, and heighten our senses. They ignite our passions and allow us to connect with our deepest and truest self. Take a long, still moment. Think about what inspires you. Nature? Love? Yoga practice? Your family, emotions, or rearranging the furniture? Now think about where you are and what you’re doing when creative ideas strike. It could be any of those inspirational moments. It could be driving, gardening, washing the dishes, resting in savasana (Corpse Pose). These are meditative moments when your mind is free to drift. Do these things more often. Good ideas happen where there's space. A creative block could simply mean it’s time to clear your mind. Yoga impacts my creativity by
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teaching me to be an observer. I quiet down and focus on postures and form, noticing sensations, witnessing thoughts as they come. In turn, creativity appears in my practice and in the way I teach. I like to experiment with sequencing, music, and meditation. I take risks and have fun. I hope this inspires my students to always learn and try new things, to laugh and bond with one another. HERE ARE SOME YOGA POSTURES AND ACTIVITIES TO STOKE YOUR CREATIVE FIRE: Sun Salutations: For focus, rhythm, and clarity Chair Twist, Standing Splits, Sugar Cane: Conflict
creates innovation
Tree, Eagle into Dancer, then om from your heart:
Hold space for all possibilities
Flip Dog/Wild Thing, Half Moon, Headstand or Handstand: Helps change your perspective Triangle, Shoulder Roll, Camel, and Kneeling Dog:
Open yourself to receive, to expand
Pigeon into Dying Warrior: To listen and become the observer, and for emotional release Breath of Fire and Ha Kriya: For energy and motivation Sufi Grind, Cat/Cow, and vam sound: Solar plexus
work—this is your power center
My yoga practice teaches me to be patient and kind with myself. The inspiration and time to create comes and goes. When it goes, I no longer beat myself up about it. It takes the time it needs.
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JULIA ABBOTT Violinist
Cedar Falls New Dawn Yoga: newdawnhotyoga. com Years practicing yoga/meditation: 10
I started playing the violin when I was five. Since high school, I’ve played on a violin that my JULIA ABBOTT grandpa made. He passed away when I was just a baby, but from what my dad said, Grandpa never thought he did the instrument much justice by playing it, but he enjoyed the process of seeing a project from start to finish, crafting instruments with his own hands. My yoga and music studies evolved very similarly. I started practicing yoga when I was 17. I enjoyed the escape that I found on my mat, but it was the impressive physical practice that hooked me. I was fairly flexible to begin with, and I had a good amount of upper body strength. Being able to do a handful of advanced poses from day one was exciting but really distracted me from learning the nuances of the basic poses. Violin was no different. Since I started so young, I hadn’t considered the importance of how much consideration I put into what I was doing. Like most young people, I didn’t enjoy practicing the basics. I would play through my exercises mindlessly just so I could check them off my to-do list. I didn’t understand their purpose—only that they were required for my next lesson. I enjoyed playing robust, romantic, expressive pieces. The more passionate and energetic sounding, the better—also similar to the way I treated my yoga practice. When I was faced with a classical, lighter piece of music, I had no motivation to practice. To me, it wasn’t entertaining, and I didn’t consider it challenging or fun. I had zero concept of subtlety. My evolving yoga practice has helped my thought process on fundamentals and creativity. Embracing the details and subtle energy you can bring into a pose changes the entire attitude of the practice. Things can be intricate and expressive without being overt sounds or movements. Taking seemingly simple poses and pieces of music and taking the time to break them down in order to perform them with care and intention helps develop both to a deeper level. Playing notes and rhythms on a page without consideration or energy is a lot like moving through a yoga practice without intention or breath. For me, this is the biggest takeaway from being a musician and a student of yoga. BRANDY LUEDERS Chef and Restaurant Owner
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• SUMMER 2017
Des Moines The Grateful Chef: thegratefulchefdsm.com Years practicing yoga/meditation: 10
pursuing creativity Six artists share their inspirational ventures on and off the mat.
PHOTOS: MELISSA STUCKENHOLTZ, MADELINE HUFF, LINDSEY WHITE, AND VARIOUS ARTISTS.
My creations in the kitchen are an outward expression of who I am. I believe cooking, and life, should be led with a light-hearted, fun approach, and that’s what you’ll see in my work. I like to incorporate many different colors and textures in my dishes, as this is what inspires me when I step outside and immerse myself in the many different elements of nature. I was led to yoga many years ago, first as it was the "new" and "cool" thing to do at the time. But I've stuck with it over the years because it’s what centers and grounds me. When life gets hectic, I know that just by getting my mat, all that melts away, and all that matters is the here and now. It's also what helps bring me to a place of inspiration with what I choose to cook. In the moments of quiet, the answers come. The movement element of yoga encourages playfulness and flow in the kitchen. To enrich my spiritual practice further, I was introduced to Vedic meditation five years ago. Learning to sit in stillness
I found yoga in 2009 as part of a P90X program and quickly fell in love with it. I adopted a practice just once a week at first. Yoga taught me to open myself, and things will come. The universe showed me the signs. As my practice deepened, I found more courage to try new things. I learned to honor the pause and trust that solutions will find me. So last year after a yoga class, my instructor stated a desire to have a cabinet for the studio. With zero thought, I blurted out, "I can build you one!" but inwardly whispered, "What am I doing?"
BRANDY LEUDERS regularly is one of the best acts of self-care and self-love that I practice. Yoga has helped me physically by keeping me flexible and limber, and helps offset the jolting moves of my work, being on my feet all day, and lifting heavy things. As I’ve gotten older, it’s even more necessary than before to move through yoga. My body craves it. Being a very active person, it’s just what I need to slow down, take time for myself, and honor the needs of my body. Yoga has also led me to some of my most precious friendships! You just never know who you'll meet by walking through those doors.
Then I remembered yoga also teaches us that growth happens during times of discomfort. This massive project started my interest in custom woodworking. I got another sign from the universe when I entered a DIY $10 or less project contest online. I submitted my headboard project, which was technically free. I won a power tool package, and came to the realization that I'm on the right path. So I created a garage workshop and opened a new business. I also started yoga teacher training in January 2017, yet another "What am I doing?" moment. I'm excited and passionate about teaching, eager to share the healing, confidence, and promotion of self-love that comes with yoga—as well as the physical benefits, which are an added perk.
My biggest life lesson so far is to sit quietly, listen to life’s gentle (and sometimes not so gentle) cues, and to not get dragged into the drama that the ego wants us to feel. Instead of letting what feels like a hurdle bring me down, I now just ride the wave, knowing that there’s a lesson in the challenges, and getting worked up doesn’t really help in the end. My personal life mantra is to just surrender. The blending of yoga, meditation, and cooking is synergistic, and all help me to be in a space to share my creative gifts with the world. SHAWNA SALTER HARRINGTON Custom Woodworker and Furniture Restorer Sioux City The Handy Hen: facebook.com/ ShawnaSalterHarrington Years practicing yoga/meditation: 8
JOHN PAUL SCHAFER
I found "Ms. Fix-it" skills after the passing of my dad in 1999. As a tomboy growing up I was my dad's shadow. But with no brothers or family in town, I took it upon myself to attempt crossing some things off an ever-growing "honey-do" list. I did a lot of puzzles as a kid and always excelled in spatial reasoning and problem solving. So the more projects I attempted, the more I continued to learn and grow. I wanted
I was 19 when my dad passed. I spent most of my 20s lost and broken. I'm 37 now and can confidently say yoga saved my soul. The healing. The love. The supportive community I have. Words cannot begin to express my gratitude for all this practice has done for me, and how it led me to what I do now. In the words of my teacher, "Yoga ruins your life," and I wouldn't want it any other way. JOHN PAUL SCHAFER 2-D Studio Painter
Cedar Rapids studiojohnpaul.com Years practicing yoga/meditation: 5
It seems I’ve always been making art. I was an imaginative, inventive child. I loved to engage my imagination, and I naturally began drawing as a way to express it. I enjoy my solitude. I’m comfortable with it. It’s where I do my best thinking. It’s where I do my best work. And when I'm engaged socially, I tend to prefer quieter engagements with one or two close friends.
My husband, Adam, and I powered through a lot of weekend warrior projects for our first home, which was a real fixer-upper. He's my constant supporter. It takes a confident man to not feel emasculated by a woman who can handle power tools.
My art is rooted in existential philosophy, which naturally leads me to ponder the origins of matter, dark energy, and consciousness through the lens of theoretical science. This is where art and science overlap because both are journeys into unknown realms of manifestation. Both are products of wonder, intuition, creative/critical thought, and mathematical logic.
SHAWNA SALTER HARRINGTON
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a shelf, so I built one. I decided to get chickens, so I built a coop out of a broken ping-pong table. I needed a headboard, so I got scrap boards from my neighbor's burn pile and created a new form with screws. I followed my interest in utilizing salvaged materials, and expanded my craft refurbishing and repurposing old furniture.
Yoga is a practice that balances and integrates the mind, body, and spirit. My studio work also engages these. My mind engages as I think about what I’m going to make, how I’m going to make it, and how I think through the process once a project has begun. This is intention, right? Likewise, my body is engaged as I stand face-to-face with my canvas. I use the full extension of my arm when I wield the brush, plus my eyes are engaged as I look intently at the imagery as it's unfolding. And, of course, my spirit is engaged because what is self-expression without spirit, without soul? What is self-expression without a concept of self ?
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So it follows that I would seek some sense of community, but among a peer group with whom I share mutual interests in the esoteric realms of healing, balance, and transformation. Naturally I'm led to yoga and other modalities like reiki, shamanism, acupuncture, and meditation.
LAURA HOUSEL Art Therapist and Fiber Artist
Ankeny and Milwaukee Years practicing yoga/meditation: 19
Art and yoga have been constant tools I continue to return to in order to return to myself. Hopefully I return to a better version of myself or at least am better able to accept and love what is not yet “better.” Self-awareness, development, and care are ongoing, and art and yoga have tremendous depth in what they can offer on the journey. I enjoy most forms of art, and felting fiber is what I'm currently focused on. The repetitive and rhythmic pattern is soothing, grounding, and meditative. Rhythmic and repetitive art making creates a structure that frees and quiets the mind for awareness and insights. Art making becomes a container and a form of self-regulation.
LAURA HOUSEL I think what my artwork says about me can be expressed by the popular phrase “still waters run deep.” I say that because my demeanor is usually perceived as rather reserved and understated, despite the wild, high-intensity color, contrast, and movement that I express in my paintings. The process opens me to a dimension of space and time where I'm most able to dive deep within myself, where I'm free to play, experiment, and invent my own way of experiencing existence. “An artist paints, Mind. Body. Spirit. That’s why I practice yoga. It focuses my mind, restores my body, and soothes my spirit. And I see this balance as the Eastern version of the Holy Trinity observed in Christianity—that being the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Each set of words describes the same energy. “Father" and “Mind" alludes to God or a divine source of awareness. "Son" alludes to the body as a manifestation of mind, like in the phrase "body of Christ." And “spirit” and “holy ghost” suggest a soul essence or some animating force like will. So practicing yoga is restorative for my sense of self, and the yogic movement is its own form of holy (holistic) observance or worship. It’s where I express gratitude (rejoice) and set my intentions (pray.)
dances, draws, writes, designs, or acts at the expanding edge of consciousness. We press into the unknown rather than the known. This makes life lovely and lively.”
One of the most profound things that I experienced after completing yoga teacher training was the impact of repetitive patterns, whether it be the patterns of negative thinking or what we find through repetitive breath, movement, words, or sounds. There's an intelligence that can be discovered within us when we stop the ruminating thought long enough to create the space for a smarter version of ourselves to emerge. I've seen the way this impacts how I approach difficult situations, how I can see things, and my ability to have compassion for others. Art and yoga are both containers and capacity builders for awareness, acceptance, connection, compassion, healing, growth, and change in our individual selves, our larger selves, and our communities. Art and yoga communities often overlap and collaborate, especially in the areas of improved public health, quality of life, and social justice. I'm drawn to use my creativity to help others. I advocate for the underserved and for the arts. I worked in the field of therapeutic recreation at a non-profit serving adults with intellectual disabilities for ten years. I served on the board of Art for Ankeny as a co-founding member of a small non-profit, born out of a service project of the Ankeny Leadership Institute, working to bring the experience and the benefits of public art to the community. I was also a member of the Ankeny’s Cultural Art Board, and chair of the Ankeny Unplugged music and arts festival, facilitated by the Ankeny Jaycees. I'm interested in trauma, neuroscience, art therapy, mind/ body connection, yoga, mindfulness, resilience, and social action and justice. After completing my master in art therapy program at Mary Mount University, it's my dream to open up an art and yoga therapy practice and continue my advocacy work for art as well as underserved populations.
I sign my paintings “Johnny Paul Johnny Paul.” –Julia Cameron The notion came forward in a flash of insight— the kind of insight that you know is undeniably purposeful, authentic, and timely. The double notation of Johnny Paul represents my physical body and my etheric body—my earthly self and my higher self, my outer self and my inner self.
Find Us Online Let us know what's happening in your life. • SUMMER 2017
Trauma Informed Yoga
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BY JACKIE PAULSON Ayurveda is an ancient system of healing rooted in the Vedic culture of India. The Sanskrit word Ayurveda stems from the root words ayuh, meaning “life” or “longevity,” and veda, meaning “science” or “sacred knowledge.” Aerial Yoga is a form of yoga asana practice that utilizes hammocks suspended from the ceiling. It allows a practitioner to both strengthen and lengthen the body in ways you perhaps could not while being on the floor. The harmonic balance between aerial yoga and creativity can be summed up in one
inaccessible or perhaps even too risky for some students to practice without bearing weight. Aerial yoga offers opportunities to all levels of students in asana to go upside down in a relaxed and restorative way, and reverse the ojas from the toes to the mind, stimulating creativity, energy, and youthful vitality. As a teacher, it's fascinating to watch a practitioner become full of life after just a few moments in a passive aerial inversion—totally unearthed with release, returning to one of the most creative times in his or her life.
Some yogis celebrate inversions as a way to reverse the ojas physically. If you have an inversion practice, you know firsthand how being upside down translates physically, mentally, and energetically throughout your whole being. Although inversions are a beautiful offering that asana provides, they're often
When we contemplate sparking the creative force within, stimulating ojas is essential. Ignite this radiance so you can confidently and authentically share your expression of art and truth into this world.
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word: ojas. This is an Ayurvedic term used to describe the vitality in the body. Ojas is the subtle, substantial energy that strengthens and encourages you, and stimulates body, mind, and heart. There's one belief that when we're born, all of our ojas resides in the brain. As we get older, the ojas moves down the body, creating our most vital and vigorous self between our teens and thirties. As we age, the ojas continues to flow downward. The theory is this is why we begin to sag and shrink, and our energy— including metabolism—decreases.
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ABOVE: WOODY JONES BELOW: AMY UTHUS PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE IOWA ARTS COUNCIL
The Iowa Arts Council Your vision has come to life. Now what? Find partners who can help you, such as the Iowa Arts Council. YogaIowa talks with Michael Morain, the communications manager for the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs and a former arts reporter for The Des Moines Register. YogaIowa (YI): How has Iowa’s arts landscape changed in the past decade, and what does the future hold?
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• SUMMER 2017
Michael Morain (MM): The internet has flattened Iowa’s arts landscape more dramatically than any glacier ever scraped our farmland way back when. Artists in Iowa can compete on an even playing field with their counterparts in New York or Paris or any of the other places artists used to go to prove they were serious. Now all it takes is a little gumption and some gear—a laptop and a digital camera—and anyone can jump into the global art market.
This new flatter world benefits Iowa’s arts consumers, too. Curators bring international artwork to the Des Moines Art Center or Davenport’s Figge Art Museum. Concert programmers book the brightest stars to the Orpheum in Sioux City or the Tree Town Festival in Forest City. The challenge now is to expand the successes of Iowa’s bigger cities to its smaller towns. Artists have always been attracted to low costs
of living, but a high quality of life is important, too. Small towns have plenty of elbow room, but they also need energy and economic growth. It’s a tricky balance. YI: How does the Iowa Arts Council help both emerging artists and established artists? MM: Since its founding 50 years ago, the Iowa Arts Council (IAC) has offered training opportunities and an array of grants funded with matching support from the state legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts. Last year, in fact, the Arts Council distributed 232 grants for projects in 545 locations statewide, and $1.6 million of those grants leveraged an extra $2.3 million in local matching and in-kind support.
The projects can be smallish, like a community mural or a school trip to a museum. Or they can be bigger, like the annual Iowa Artist Fellowships that offer experienced artists professional-development workshops and a $10,000 grant to boost their careers to the next level. YI: What is the Iowa Arts Summit, and how can people participate in 2018? MM: Every other year, hundreds of Iowa
artists and arts advocates swap ideas with each other and with national experts on a variety of issues: grant writing, community engagement, marketing, the whole works. Details about
the next summit, set for summer 2018, will be posted in the spring at iowaculture.gov. YI: What might some people be surprised to learn about IAC? MM: The Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs, which oversees the IAC, offers a free Iowa Culture mobile app that maps more than 3,500 arts, history and culture sites across all 99 counties in Iowa. Just download it from Apple or Google Play, or launch the desktop version at iowaculture.gov, to learn all kinds of cool stuff on your next road trip—or your next trip to the grocery store.
BEN SPELLMAN, PHOTO COURTESY OF THE DES MOINES ARTS CENTER
Inspired Spaces of Expression Grinnell College's Faulconer Gallery
Grinnell College offers a free 30-minute yoga practice including warming and invigorating poses as well as a final period of relaxation. Classes are held twice weekly during the school year and once weekly in the summer. Students, faculty, staff, and community members all participate. Monica St. Angelo, owner of Locally Grown Yoga in Grinnell, has led the classes for seven years and is the program's second instructor.
For St. Angelo, connecting with new students in a non-traditional environment has been a chance to become a more creative teacher. "I can and have had attendees ranging from dancer/gymnast college women to folks in wheelchairs in the same class," she says. "It constantly challenges me to examine the ruts and habits in my own practice and teaching. I can't be too married to specific expectations for the practice. Instead, I'm reminded that observing art and practicing yoga are shared experiences from which we all take away different meanings." ARTFUL YOGA
Iowa State University's Christian Petersen Art Museum
The Christian Petersen Art Museum in Ames offers a free monthly yoga practice sponsored by University Museums and Recreation Services. There are roughly 20 to 30 people in each class. Participants include beginners as well as experienced yogis seeking new ways to expand their practice. Artful Yoga sessions begin with a short discussion about something in the exhibition. "As the educator, I connect the work of art to the practice of yoga," says Nancy Gebhart, educator of visual literacy and learning. "It is not that the artwork has specific connections to yoga, but we connect the two through our emotions, our environments, our mind, and sometimes through the formal elements of art, specifically color and line." YOGA + GALLERY DIALOGUE Des Moines Art Center
The Des Moines Art Center has offered free public yoga classes for four years, with this being the second full year of monthly yoga classes held in the lobby. Reservations are capped at 50 participants per class. After an hour of yoga led by Ben Spellman of Good Vibes Yoga, participants are treated to a 30-minute tour of exhibits by Jill Featherstone, the museum's director of education. "What I love the most about our yoga classes is the chance to do something physical in a space typically met for cognitive and creative development," Featherstone says. The content of the tour varies according to the type of art currently on display in the museum, but Featherstone often looks for ways to encourage participants to creatively think about what they're seeing. "On one tour, I took a cue from the meaning of namaste—the light in me honors the light in you," she says. "As we went through the exhibit, we looked at how different artists used light to convey emotion and meaning."
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Throughout Iowa, both beginner and experienced yogis find that classes held in an art museum offer a unique way to generate community and promote engagement with others.
Off the Mat KATE CONNELL POTTS kateconnellpotts.com Where do you teach?
I work with in-home private clients in the Iowa City area and conduct online and in-person trainings for yoga teachers on private yoga instruction and business. One thing many people don’t know about you:
I’m a Massachusetts native and moved to Iowa City 11 years ago to be with my now husband. What makes your style of teaching unique?
As a private yoga teacher, deep listening is essential. Through my teaching practice, I’m regularly inquiring about my clients' experiences and pivoting based on the physical and verbal feedback they provide. What inspires and motivates you?
People sharing their passions and the reminder they put into motion for us to do the same. How does the yoga philosophy resonate with you?
Yoga philosophy is with me during the living “practice”—the majority of moments I have throughout the day when I’m off the mat. Yoga philosophy aligns with our household values, and is the foundation from which my husband and I parent and lead. How do you think yoga practice enhances your creativity?
Curiosity fuels my creativity. I find that encountering my yoga practice as a form of play, conscious movement, and problem solving leaves the door wide open for creativity to enter. As a new mother, a wife, an author, a teacher, and a business owner, how does yoga help you balance all these roles?
For years I’ve placed a lot of value on being productive and busy. Now I’m entering a new season of being. Yoga is assisting me in embracing more of the feminine, intuitive energy that I wish to bring into my roles of mom and wife. Turning up the volume on my softer, less striving side is inviting a new—often scary—approach to my teaching and business. Upcoming Highlights:
The fall session of my online certified teacher training, The Art Of Teaching Private Yoga™. I’m also developing my second book. My first, The Art of Teaching Private Yoga, laid the foundation of how to develop this career. My second deals with making money at it!
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PHOTO BY ZAK NEUMANN
The Dance of Yoga BY LOVAR DAVIS KIDD I am a dancer. More specifically, I am a hip-hop, tap, jazz, and modern dancer. I have had the honor of choreographing for all things involving dance for those ages 5 to 95 for the last 20 years. Even as I type that, it's hard to believe I've been working in a field that I love for my entire adult life. What's even harder to believe is that yoga has only been in the picture for the last five years. Five years ago, I was in one of my typical funks, bored with life and ready to add another plate to the others already spinning. Pursuing a yoga teacher certification seemed like a pretty selfish ambition, because I actually had no desire to practice myself. I only wanted to use it as another means to make some money, to add another set of initials next to my name. Yoga seemed a lot like dance, and with 15 years of teaching under my belt, I figured the process of learning yoga would be a cake walk. No. Yoga is hard. Yoga is a discipline. Yoga is not like dance. Through yoga, I've been challenged and changed in ways I never thought possible. I honestly don't know how I functioned creatively before my yoga practice. Yoga has, and continues to, open my creative and choreographic process in beautiful ways. After my morning practice, I'm able to find more focus and energy. I'm able to clear my mind, let my thoughts be free, and to think with just my right hemisphere of my brain. I'm in a euphoric mental state, my body is limber, and the creativity and choreography often times just flow out. This was not the norm for me before my daily practice, but it is such a welcome change. Beyond the personal benefits yoga has had in my life, the effect that it has had during my teaching times is truly amazing! When I work with students, many of whom are in the public school system, I find that my yoga practice helps give me more patience while teaching them and helping them find their gifts. I no longer feel the need to rush through choreography and, in turn, the students are more relaxed because they know they’ll be able to process the information in the time allotted in a much more supported environment.
PHOTO COURTESY OF LOVAR DAVIS KIDD
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• SUMMER 2017
In short, yoga has changed my life forever. My creativity has flourished because of it and I'm eternally grateful.
Inspiration Jumpstart Feeling uninspired? Here are four methods to help spark creativity.
For 25 years, I owned an advertising agency. In the advertising business, the artistic people (both copywriting and design) are referred to as “The Creatives” —almost as though they’re a separate class of citizen. I thought then, and still believe, that such an attitude is a disservice to all of us.
You see, we often think about creativity as making something complicated and uniquely imaginative such as artwork, a novel, or a musical arrangement, but in fact the root of the word means simply “to produce.” We can produce inventive solutions to just about anything, including everyday work and home problems. We can come up with innovative ways to reach a goal or to fix something or to manifest a win/win in any situation. BY SHEREE CLARK
Release yourself from stagnant thinking through these methods: EMBRACE YOUR CREATIVE NATURE It’s pretty common for adults to deny their creativity. They'll say out loud “I'm not creative.” Not true! You had a fabulous imagination when you were a child. And you are still you, so you still have the ability to be creative. Everyone is born creative, but there's a system at work that discourages us by insisting that we TAKE THE CHALLE NGE color inside of the lines, follow the Usually I give you a recipe rules, and not question anything. in this column. This time, I Creativity? You had it, and you’ve offer you an assignm ent. Pick still got it. Repeat after me: “To one of these challen ges and hell with the lines!”
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Ask about onsite training at your studio. We’re taking our most popular yoga teacher training on the road! Contact Molly about offering “Yoga For Teachers: How to use yoga and meditation in the classroom.” at your studio. Raise the vibration in your community by helping to train local teachers how to integrate yoga into education.
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KEEP AN IDEA JOURNAL Keep a book or a binder nearby, and when you have creative ideas, innovative thoughts, and random musings, open up your book and capture them before they get away. Another great advantage of keeping a journal is you can go back and look at ideas from the past to inspire future ingenuity. Your binder doesn’t have to be all original concepts; it can be a swipe file of sorts, a resource you use for inspiration.
experience just how delicious being creative can be .
1 Blog every day fo r 30 days. 2 Take and post a ph oto every day for 30 da ys. 3 Drive a different way home from work every da y for 30 days. 4 Conduct an infor mational interview with someo ne you admire. 5 Sign up for—and listen to— an online summit or interview series every day for however long it runs.
GET A MENTOR OR COACH No matter what you're doing in life at the moment, there's a mentor or a coach who's right for you. A coach helps you identify things that make you feel "stuck" and then determine the path to move beyond them. He or she supports your pursuit of new ideas and alternative solutions with greater resilience and resourcefulness. A coach encourages a fresh perspective and provides inspiration. MIX IT UP
Go alone to a matinee: Movies on the big screen are
great places to immerse yourself in a complete sensory-rich experience.
Eat differently: You'd be amazed at how much more creatively
you can think and act when you eat a healthier diet.
Enjoy content that’s outside of your norm: Consume
content you wouldn't normally pursue. Read blogs outside of your industry or books outside of your normal genre.
One Day, One Hour, One Step at a Time “
Your outer journey may contain a million steps; your inner journey only has one: the step you are taking right now.”
–Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment
BY LAURA CRESWELL On December 4, 2016, my husband, Ben, and I took a bus and then a hitchhike from Auckland to Cape Reinga, the northernmost point of New Zealand. After snapping a few photos by the iconic lighthouse, we started walking south and didn’t stop until we reached Stirling Point in Bluff, the southernmost point of the country on April 5. This 3,000-kilometer tramping trail is called Te Araroa, which is Maori for MOST MEMORABLE The Long Pathway. The route takes trampers (hikers) through New MOMENT Zealand’s diverse terrains: sandy beaches, muddy forests, rolling farm New Zealand hospita lity gives “Iowa Nice” a run for its m pastures, and remote mountains, to name a few. on
Also like life, a through-hike doesn’t jump from highlight to highlight, like one might do on a shorter vacation. We certainly experienced plenty of awe-inspiring places, but we also walked a lot of trails that were less than spectacular, and even some highways that were downright terrible. We had amazing days, hard days, and a lot of mundane days in between. There were times when I found myself dreading the mud, cursing the rain, fearing the challenging climbs, or counting down to the next pretty highlight or restaurant meal. But I realized this kind of mindset caused me to miss out on a lot. With practice, I began to approach the adventure more like a meditation, focusing on one day, one hour, one step at a time. In doing this, I found even more awe in the spectacular, more grit in the challenge, more peace in the uncontrollable, and more beauty in the in-between.
THREE GREATEST GIFTS I BROUGHT HOME A deeper connectio n to myself and more confidence in my courage and perseverance, as we ll as a stronger relationship with my husband. New friendships wi th people from all over the world, and a renewed faith in the simple goodness and hospitality of people. A really adorable kiw i bird puppet, but I guess we’ll giv e that one to our one-year-old nephew . WEBSITE
Read our adventure blog for more stories, reflections, and life lessons from the trail: creswe lladventures.com
H AV E A YO G I C TRIP TO SHARE?
• SPRING 2017
One of the most important lessons I learned early on was to embrace the mud, or as our mantra went, “just go through the f***ing mud!” I found that the more you try to avoid it, jump over it, or dance around it, the more likely you are to slip and fall into it. Sure, sometimes it’s deceivingly deep or slippery and you’ll fall anyway, but somehow it’s more bearable (fun, even!) when you choose to accept the risk and just go for it.
E-MAIL US AT EDITOR@YOGA-IOWA.COM PHOTOS COURTESY OF LAURA CRESWELL.
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The beauty of a through-hike is that you learn so much about yourself. I would say it’s an amazing metaphor for life, but in fact it is your life for several months, and one of the most simple. We woke up with the sun every morning and had one thing on our to-do list: walk. Our decisions were stripped down to the very basics such as when to eat; how to ration our food to make it last to the next resupply town; where to set up our tent; and what to do when weather conditions didn’t allow for safe hiking or river-crossing. We learned to listen to our bodies and trust our instincts.
ey. On numerous occasions, Kiwis we nt out of their way to give us rides or to invite us into their homes for a meal, a shower, or a bed to sleep in, even with in moments of meeting us. One tim e, a man literally gave us the shirt off his back. We had commented on the New Zealand All Blacks Rugby shirt he was wearing, so he explained that it was given to him by the national rugb y team’s strength and conditioning co ach. Before we knew it he had given it to us to take home as a souvenir!
on our
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Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert Embrace curiosity. Let go of needless suffering. Tackle what you love and face what you fear. These are just a few of the wisdom pearls international best-selling author Gilbert provides people in search of better creative expression.
Artwork from the Void by Float On In a unique collaborative art experiment, 150 Portland, Oregon, artists spent hours in float tanks with the intention to expedite and deepen the meditative experience. Once they emerged, they immediately created new artwork, all of which is in this collection.
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Yoga for the Creative Soul: Exploring the Five Paths of Yoga to Reclaim Your Expressive Spirit by Erin Bryon Through interactive art and yoga therapy exercises, Bryon takes readers on a journey of selfrealization. Her use of the yogic principles of Karma, Jnana, Raja, Bhakti, and Tantra are designed to enhance aspects of creative development.
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Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity by David Lynch Fans of Lynch's vision will love this 10th anniversary edition of his wildly popular exploration of creativity and consciousness. He expands upon his initial publication with a deeper into understanding the benefits of meditation and the artistic process. The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity by Julia Cameron Designed as a 12-week course of discovery, Camron's iconic process allows individuals to move past limiting obstacles through the practice of "morning pages" to cleanse the subconscious, and weekly practices to expose and embrace their true selves.
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• SUMMER 2017
Yoga for Artists: Individualized Tools for Fostering Creativity and Well-being for Visual, Performing, Film, and Literary Artists by Peter Ferko A former codirector of The Table, a yoga and arts project, yoga teacher Ferko demonstrates the parallels between practice and process to help people enhance perspective and creativity while creating space to reduce blocks, injury, and stress. Music and Mantras: The Yoga of Mindful Singing by Girish This interactive companion to personal transformation allows you to use mantras for greater clarity, happiness, and health.
ask the teacher BY TRACEY L. KELLEY Imaginative activity has always been a part of my life, but I experienced a seismic shift once I was more dedicated to rituals of yoga and meditation. The result? A more calm, open, and curious approach; a vibrant channel of ideas; and a greater confidence to move beyond simply thinking and actually doing. Drawing from the creative well mirrors my yoga practice in that both require consistency. It's vital to show up and put forth effort in order to extract the full essence. A writing mentor of mine says he may not be as talented as other authors, but has ample amounts of "ass in the chair" time, and that's why he's successful. A dedication to being present allows me to build upon potential, take chances, and shake loose notions of fear, failure, judgment, and a smothering preoccupation with perfection. My life, my practice, my art— they're all entwined, fluid, and evolving passages. The destination may not always be clear, but the movement is always forward. So we asked our teachers:
"How do you think yoga expands the potential of creative pursuits?" ALEXANDER HIFFERNAN—Soul Case Movement, Council Bluffs
Busy minds can create, but busy minds tend to run in repetitive thought patterns compromising creative potential. Asanas, on a scientific level, present practitioners of all levels the opportunity to move in patterns outside their normalcy of living—creating new neural pathways within the mind-body (You don't have to know any science for it to work, I promise!) Being able to turn yourself into a pretzel or “flow” hard doesn't make you more creative. It's more so about the willingness to sense both the mind and body through any style of movement that has the potential to make you more creative. Simply put, the practice of asanas and meditation can heighten your sense of being by shifting you out of repetitive thought patterns and habitual movements, thus expanding your awareness and giving rise to opportunity for innovative creative pursuits. LILY ALLEN-DUENAS—Iowa City
It's through yoga that one is quiet enough to hear the soft murmuring of intuition. Through softening the body, we in turn soften our minds to a place of natural stillness that engenders intimate listening of what calls out from inside our own spirit. Yoga has given me many gifts, chief among them the internal quietude that affords me the grace to greet my creativity with openness, which I express through poetry and painting.
I get a huge creativity boost from yoga! Yoga asks you to trust your intuition, find deeper selfawareness, and foster a childlike willingness to try things out, even if you can't predict the outcome. It's that boldness, self-confidence, and trust that creative people need to be successful in their pursuits. In my classes, I'll often ask students to take creative liberties, even breaking for "adult recess" so they can explore postures that speak to them, and see where it takes them in their practice. I also like to give a lot of modifications and pose varieties so students may pick what feels right to their bodies that day. My hope is that creative freedom and expression inside the studio walls will translate into a more powerful creative presence in life!
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• SUMMER 2017
LINSEY BIRUSINGH—Yoga Thrill Adventures, Des Moines
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My creative life is wedded to, and magnified by, my yoga practice. Through yoga, I am able to open myself to what is soundless, speechless, noiseless. Yoga gives space to silence, which in turn, awakens creativity.