Image shoes ways in which arts participation can potentially be beneficial to people and communities: Reduce lonlieness, prevent depression, enhance cognition and mentat function, increase longevity, reduce stress, support success in education, and boost voter participation. Image from One Nation One Project.
I’ve been exploring some of the research that’s out there to support and quantify my intuition about the benefits of creative practice, which can include everything from art appreciation, listening to music, fine arts, crafts, cooking, gardening. If you can think of something that invites you to explore the world with curiosity and see/express things in a way you haven’t before… to me it counts!
One Nation One Project is doing a lot around how art participation is not only beneficial for individuals, but also for communities. Here’s a link to their initiative, which includes the above graphic https://www.onenationoneproject.com/arts-health-connection
It’s interesting to see that many of the benefits from arts participation are also benefits of meditation. I love how meditation and creative practice work in partnership with each other.
You don’t need a lot of fancy supplies to explore creativity. You don’t have to be “good” at European-style art. Create and explore for the joy of it!
I would love to collaborate with you in exploring how creative practice and meditation can enrich your life. Or just one or the other! You can book a free 30-minute curiousity call here https://calendly.com/adelesatori
Image shows drawing of a lotus pod in white chalk on black paper. This is a doodle of mine from a recent creativity and meditation session.
“Research shows that art experiences, whether as a maker or a beholder, transform our biology by rewiring our brains and triggering the release of neurochemicals, hormones and endorphins.”
There is so much in this article that I find parallels our experiences in instinctive meditation, especially the invitation to engage with awe and wonder on a regular basis. This is part of what excites me so much- the discoveries I continually make that deepen both my creative and meditation practices.
I especially like the thought of slowing down in a museum- to truly experience the art in front of you.
Whether you go to a museum, gallery, walk and look at architecture, listen to music, go to a concert, doodle in a notebook… it all counts!
Life-changing events aren’t always monumentous, boisterous, or catastrophic. Sometimes they are subtle, silent, and a matter of timing.
The other day I was sitting next to a koi pond at the Self-Realization Fellowship International Headquarters. I closed my eyes for a moment, to better take in the sound of bird songs mingled with distant traffic, the scent of the nearby pines, and the peaceful play of the water falling into the pond.
I opened my eyes and noticed that a single petal of an iris bud was reaching out. As I was admiring shape of the petal, and the pattern of the yellow markings, something amazing happened. Very slowly, the rest of the petals opened, ever so slightly. My had flew up to my mouth in shocked awe of the best kind. When I was a kid, one of my favourite things was watching timelapse movies of flowers blooming, and here I was, witnessing a flower opening itself up to the world, right in front of me!
I became so attuned to that single flower that everything else fell away. The petals were performing a blossom butoh- slowly pulsing slightly opened and closed. If I hadn’t been paying attention I wouldn’t have noticed. Each dance open a little further out, and each dance in a little less closed.
There was no breeze. I then saw that before each movement outwards, the stem of the plant did a slight undulation. rising up to the flower to give it momentum to open a little more.
The whole while, I sat there with silent tears making their way down my cheeks. My whole being was filled with wonder and connection to creation. And I thought what an apt metaphor the opening of a flower is to one’s own journey of growth- unfolding to reveal the beauty that’s hidden within.
When the flower’s dance had slowed to the point I could no longer perceive it, I stood up, bent over close to it, whispered “thank you” and walked through the rest of the grounds, pausing now and then to witness the slight movement of leaves and fronds.
I walked out the gates a different person than I was walking in- maybe myself a little more open. I saw it as a sign to have find the courage to unfold, and reveal the beauty hidden inside.
I invite you in the coming days to make time to sit and witness more intimately the world around you. The songs of birds. Shapes of clouds. The pulse of life around you. What subtle moment might transport you into a new way of being?
Image shows books, beaded artwork, a painting and a metal singing bowl scattered on a table.
It can sometimes be more of a challenge for me to write on an assigned or chosen topic rather than answer the call the Universe is sending. So what do I do? While getting ready to write this article, I laid in my bed, meditating. Imagining my hands on the cover of my journal. Thinking of all I’ve learned in my training: “What do I love?” “In what quality of life do I want to be immersed?”
Then the neighbour’s illegal chickens started singing their egg laying song. Some people deal with monkey mind; I’ve got chickens. So creative! And I started to laugh.
There are so many parallels between creativity and meditation. Setting up sacred time and place. Distractions. Blocks. Daydreaming. Attuning to our senses, instincts, and intuitions. Finding beauty in the mundane. Thoughts coming faster than the conscious mind can process them.
And what do I do when I feel blocked, or stuck, or having a case of the I-don’t-wannas? I simply start. Doodling in a notebook….. words or lines, it doesn’t matter. Get up and move. Go somewhere less urban and welcome the mountain vista into my heart. I feel myself drop into a meditative state, or a spark of inspiration makes itself known, and I begin to create.
Creative practice and meditation are ways of being in the world where we can gain a deeper connection to Self. Creating and meditating both ask us to be open to what is desired or needed in the moment.
Creativity is bound to our instinct to make meaning. It’s about giving your imagination permission to see, feel, and explore, without judgement or expecting an outcome. A way to express one’s inner world in the outer world. It’s putting things together (this can be objects, concepts, routes, movement and more!) in ways unique to my being. How I am in the moment will be reflected. If there are constraints or requirements, that will challenge me to be innovative in my approach.
In creating for the enjoyment of the process and discovery, something wonderful might be revealed that hadn’t thought of before. Much like Instinctive Meditation®, we welcome all our parts, everything that shows up in a creation session.
Creative practice has been shown to improve memory, expand our ways of thinking and problem solving, and encourage flexibility in our approach to life, both personally and professionally. So can meditation!
Meditating is also a creative act. We can sit and chant a few words that hold meaning for us, walk in the woods and listen to trees, watch the waves and get into the rhythm of the ocean, read a passage of a book and pause to allow the words to wash over our soul.
Meditation is an instinct that gives the brainbody an opportunity to rest, restore, repair, and rehearse in our daily life. To come to a place of relaxed awareness. To become attuned to life’s rhythms. To open our curiosity.
When we allow the meditation or creative session to flow, ideas, feelings and sensations arise that might not have if we were determined to do things in a certain way- the same way- every time.
Through Instinctive Meditation®, I’ve come to appreciate more the rhythm of creativity. It’s increased my capacity to see the world around me, and to touch the deep levels within.
We are organic beings living in a linear world many societies have created. Output, production, and tangible evidence that we’ve done something with our time has become more valued that enjoying creating for its own sake. Creativity and meditation are states of being, rather than states of doing. Let your mind show you the adventure of the moment.
I’ve been savouring this first stanza of Sutra 85, from “The Radiance Sutras” by Lorin Roche, PhD.
In trying something new, or even a fresh day, one can open one’s Self up to so much if an encounter, exploration, or a routine you’ve done a thousand time, is approached without layering expectations over the experience. I learn so much when I engage with something as if it is for the first time. Some of my best work has come when I haven’t been quite certain of what I am doing, and have the willingness to follow where events are leading me.
Here is the sutra in its entirety: Toss aside your map of the world, All your beliefs and constructs. Dare the wild unknow.
Here in this terrifying freedom, Naked before the universe, Commune with the One Who knows everything from the inside: Invisible power pervading everywhere Divine presence permeating everything.
craftingthespirit.com 