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Dawn Raffel: Four Yoga Practices to Boost Creativity
Stop writing; breath, move, and notice.
Posted September 16, 2019
Physical yoga practice is a great way to practice Svadhyaya, or self-study, and as we tune into what's going on in the body and mind, the pathways to creativity often become untangled. I learned this recently at a Zen & Ink retreat at the Westport Lighthouse Writers Retreat on the coast of Washington. Here’s more from Dawn Raffel—an author of fiction and nonfiction, editor, and adjunct assistant professor at Columbia University—who teaches embodiment of creativity workshops nationwide.
Four Yoga Practices to Boost Creativity
By Dawn Raffel
I’ve done yoga on and off since I was in my early 20s, but I didn’t really commit to a deeper practice until 2015. Long story short: I was completely stuck in my writing, not a great place to be when I had a book deadline looming and staring at a screen wasn’t working. Worse, I’d wake up in the night in a panic, and that wasn’t helping either. What got me unstuck was yoga.
I earned my 200-hour teacher certification in 2018 because I wanted to go deeper and to share what I’ve learned. I was trained in the Bhakti tradition. The yoga classes I teach involve gentle movement (stretching and vinyasa), breath-work, and a long, guided sivasana. Even when I teach in a “traditional” writing workshop setting, it always involves some breathwork.
Yoga is about overcoming the obstacle of the mind, which is an interesting concept for writers who have spent years learning to cultivate the life of the mind. In physical movement, we open the possibility for change. The breath-work and the more meditative states help us relax and access deeper levels of consciousness so we can break out of repetitive mental loops.
Where to Begin
There are a ton of easy yoga sequences you can google—you can also watch on YouTube—but I do recommend taking even one in-person beginner’s class as a first step. Part of the benefit of a yoga class is the communal experience. Kind of like the difference between chatting with friends on Facebook and seeing them in person. You can find a free sample class in almost any community, and while you may not be able to go often (and can always practice at home), it’s nice to have a touchstone.
It's important to go at your own pace. Daily practice is ideal, but a regular practice might be more realistic! Whatever you can do helps.
Overcome the Critical Editor: Just Breath!
A slow, simple sequence like “inhale low belly, mid-belly, chest; exhale chest, mid-belly, low belly” works wonders. It’s a great way to calm your mind before writing or going to sleep at night.
My students all seem to enjoy Brahmari (bumblebee) breath. It can feel like a combination of child’s play and your own personal sound bath, and quickly clears your head. This breath relieves tension by helping to balance the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system, releasing tension and increasing concentration.
Simply cover your ears with your thumbs and your eyes with your index and third fingers. Take a deep inhale through your nose, and then hum loudly like a bee through your closed lips on the exhale. Let it rip until you’ve let out all the air. Repeat 5 times.
Increase Oxygen Flow, Circulation, and Creativity
Inversion poses such as Downward Facing Dog, or anything where the heart level is above the head, are great for increasing the oxygen flow to the brain and increasing circulation. Down dog also stretches the hamstrings and spine, and strengthens the arms and the core. It’s a great pose as long as you don’t have any physical injuries that contra-indicate the posture.
Yoga Is for Everyone
I want to stress that yoga is available for everyone, even if down dog isn’t. Chair yoga, for instance, is available for those with limited mobility. And the breath is always available to you.
I'm beginning to teach yoga nidra, which is done entirely in sivasana (lying on your back) and is truly available to everyone. It’s a form of guided meditation that puts you into a state somewhere between being asleep and awake and provides deep relaxation. Perfect for stimulating creativity!
Dawn Raffel teaches yoga with creative writing in service of helping serious writers tap into deeper creativity and wisdom. She is the author of five books, most recently The Strange Case of Dr. Couney: How a Mysterious European Showman Saved Thousands of American Babies. The book was chosen as one of NPR’s great reads for 2018 and received a 2019 Christopher Award for work that “affirms the highest values of the human spirit.” She also works as an independent book editor.
