Yoga and Creativity

Upala Yoga Balanced Stone Sculpture by Shane Hart

I'm becoming more and more interested in the links between my yoga practice and my creative energies. I'm finding that taking the time to do a short meditation, or beginning my day with a series of sun salutations helps me achieve greater focus, which in turn helps me to clarify my thoughts about projects for both work and play. In a few weeks I'll begin working on a yoga teacher certification program that will allow me to teach yoga for children, and so far I'm excited at the emphasis that the class readings place on stimulating creative thought with kids.

I want to write some more about these links in the next few weeks, and have stumbled across a number of resources devoted to the bridges between mindfulness and creativity. For now, I want to draw attention to the stone sculptures of Shane Hart, a west coast artist who developed Upala Yoga from his combination of meditation and stone sculpture. He creates these ephemeral sculptures from the stones along the shores of Washington State, and often spends many hours meditating and building his works, only to dismantle them at the end of the process. The sculptures developed from his practice of spending as many as twelve hours at a time focused on the concept of balance, and meditating on the physical presence of the stones. That the art developed as a result of these meditations fascinates me, and though it might not fit the mainstream definition of art, I find his devotion to his craft incredibly appealing. More of his work can be found here.

Upala Yoga Balanced Stone Sculpture by Shane Hart