Spring Time & Creativity
Today is March 1st. Mother Earth is always creating new life, but now, in particular, the plant kingdom is starting to blossom. With no rush, she responds to her environment, bursting one daffodil bud open at a time. Creation is in full swing in the animal kingdom, too, with many baby animals born at this time and animals that hibernated over winter begin to appear.
Tied in with changes, growth, and creation in the natural world is ‘Curiosity’. Springtime is a time to start unveiling oneself from the shroud of winter. It’s a time of renewal, a time to become curious and explore ways to re-invigorate yourself. Re-awaken the senses, refresh your home environment and reconnect with nature more.
In the world of Positive Psychology, Mindfulness and Meditation, you hear the term “Curiosity” used a lot. It is key to self-regulation, self-awareness, self-reflection, having a growth mindset, and opening our hearts and minds to the world and people around us. In fact, I’m sure you’ll hear the importance of “Curiosity” in many different fields.
In yoga, the second (sacral) chakra is associated with creative instincts and pleasure impulse. When it’s balanced, you experience fluidity and are able to accept and adapt to change. It’s connected with movement and emotions, letting go of the old and negative and moving towards the new and positive. Imbued in its essence of flow, playfulness, creativity, and vitality is a healthy dose of curiosity.
Svadhisthana means “One’s Own Sweet Place”, i.e. your pleasure centre. Whether something feels unpleasant or pleasant, it’s important to tune into it and feel your way through whatever arises. Your yoga practice is a perfect place in which you can cultivate this quality of curiosity.
Set the intention to remain open and curious, notice how things feel, listen to those feelings, and respond, maybe even try things differently. Notice how moving and breathing with curiosity lends itself to boosting creativity and playfulness. To help this sacral energy flow, practise yoga postures that enhance hip and pelvic flexibility, moving with its watery element in mind. Just as nature moves in its own rhythm and flow see if you can move your body and breath with more fluidity and ease.
To close, here’s a poem not only to help inspire your yoga practice but also to ignite a more curious outlook and approach to life.
Thank you for this day to question everything.
Inspire me to quench my thirst for knowledge and answers. Remove my apologies for needing to ask who, what, why, and how. Expose me to the teachers who engage my mind and explain to me how it’s done, how it works, how it’s made, and how it’s all connected. Sign me up for the course of life with the sole purpose of marvelling at the wonders of the world. Strengthen me as a student of the extraordinary. Help me look behind the curtain and glimpse new worlds invisible to the bored, ambivalent and indifferent. Activate my imagination so I may recognize and rescue treasure when I find it.
Open my mind and develop my fascination with inquiry. Heal my cluelessness. Help me observe my people and look more deeply into them. Show me their iridescent colors, their beauty; let me be willing to dig deeply with self-forged tools in order to know them in a sacred way. Let me know the Earth this way, too, and the feral creatures – the captivating biology of movement uninvolved with the pace of modern technology.
Remind me to continue my quest for natural intelligence like Raven does studying intricacies, managing complexity, and maintaining communications with others in the kingdom. Let me turn the cranks to see what happens and examine the results with consideration.
Instil in me a determination for engagement in life – to be part of it, mixed up in it, and not a complaining spectator. Curb my cynicism and the need to have it all figured out. Disconcern me with what others think. Encourage me to investigate what I am called to know more about. Help me use my voice to formulate the questions that will crack codes and bring about even more questions.
Support my inklings and help me follow my intuition to new frontiers. Aid me in experiencing the joy that comes from removing passivity. Strengthen my muscles for scouting and rooting. Let me test my theories with you at my side.
Catch me when I fall and set me upright again.