Yoga as a living art; The balance between effort and effortlessness

I am a writer and I have been for as long as I can remember.  Putting pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard I suppose. I love photography, although I never really learned how to capture what I saw through the lens. Words come more naturally. Now my art has expanded to include healing; yoga and bodywork. The living arts, how art comes alive, or how our entire life, being and habits become art unfolding. It’s present in every choice, how hands are placed, the power behind the breath, the awareness brought to rolling the spine, every single vertebra, the spreading of toes. It’s a constant, evolving, living creation. An aesthetic sense isn’t necessary in this type of creation, there is no need to name or explain what is being created. In writing often the most powerful images and themes arise solely out of taking pen to paper, just showing up on the page.

The greatest moments in literature where not planned, they just snuck in as the creator crafted, carefully choosing words to describe the way the light crept In through the window and somehow the description is suddenly steeped in loss, or inspiration or whatever may have been in the heart of the artist. The effort is not in the layering of meaning, or in the plan of foreshadowing, the effort is in the showing up. One important aspect of yoga is the act of coming to the mat and just watching. It’s becoming completely immersed in what arises. Our subconscious, our intuitive selves, our inner artists, our hearts, begin to be at the center of every moment. 

There become a co-creation of our experiences with our logical, human, palpable bodies and our more ethereal, boundless, timeless selves. Once the light shines on the internal experience there is no turning it off. Then it becomes a craft to express what we witness, if we so choose. Not because it’s a choice, but a need, to share and grow and connect. I think art is the soul of creation. If the act of creation has it’s own soul, I believe it is connectivity and union. An artist weaves beauty into the mundane and this is at the center of how yoga is a living art. The experience of union teaches one how  to make every moment, every breath, every challenge, and every joy an opportunity for reverence. A chance to illuminate even the darkest parts of life. To see clearly doesn’t remove the obstacles, but allows oneto learn how to move them, step over them, smash them when necessary, or just simply take another path. When we are living a unified, aligned life, we can infuse meaning and delight into all of the postures of our lives.