All too often I hear students say they feel guilty because they haven’t “practiced yoga” in over a week, a month, or several months. What some people may not know is practicing on the mat, isn’t the only type of yoga.
Yoga in it’s simplest translation means “union”. Sometimes we don’t even realize we’re doing yoga. When we’re out for a long walk and get lost in the movement of our bodies and the quieting of our thoughts. When we start singing a song, writing creatively, or making art. When we do things that bring us into deeper union with ourselves and the world around us – this is yoga.
Yoga is meant to exist on and off the mat.
Let me give an example – As a yoga teacher, I have the privilege of being invited into people’s homes to guide them through their practice. A home says so much about a person. It’s their place of refuge and self expression. How they choose to decorate with or without art reveals a person’s personality and soul. Home is a person’s ultimate resting place at a long day’s end. It is their sivasana. A place to go where they hopefully find peace.
When I lay down in sivasana, images come to mind. On days when I am more centered, these images are like works of art that dance behind my eyelids. Like an elaborate waltz of serene Monet’s or vibrant Rothko’s, colours and cerebral images flash across my mind’s eye as my subconscious sorts through a myriad of mystical layers.
One of my clients has the gift to create art that rivals the images that flash behind my eyes. Forget rival. They out-do, overcome and create inspiration upon first, second and continuous viewing. Every Monday and Wednesday I enter her Loft. It’s filled to the brim with artwork that would bring any art lover to their knees. If Rothko and Pollock had an incredibly talented love child – my client would be that child. Except, to me, she adds something I’ve always felt Rothko and Pollock held back from expressing. She expresses joy.
Some of these brilliant canvases are taller than my 6 foot self. They are filled with colours and shapes that remind you of things you’ve seen in your subconscious but didn’t know how to express with words. Then you see these paintings and realize – those images and emotions could only be expressed with paint, colour and brushwork.
These works of art have the power to move you to tears. She’s not afraid to use bold reds, deep blacks, subtle grays, diving into the deep and dark parts of our hearts.
Effortlessly she moves into a palette of pinks, oranges and yellows creating imagery like a sunset that brings warmth to the soul. The kind of sunsets you never forget because of their intense beauty. Like these painting, you will remember them until the day you die.
The scale and power of these works of art is truly stunning. And the woman who creates them? She is 4’11” and so very tiny. A small, elegant lady who has the heart and soul of a robust warrior. All this to say – do not judge a book by its cover. The size of a person does not determine the amount of strength, beauty, insight, and depth of emotion they are capable of containing and expressing.
Her process of creation is real and raw. She let’s emotions, and life settle into her mind and body and then releases them onto the canvas. Here they find expression and resolution. Things are figured out when her paintbrush meets the canvas. I realized that painting for her is like journaling for me. I’ve become privvy to her creative process. When she creates for herself, the art is searingly beautiful. Whether it’s geometric lines and shapes, or soft swaths of colours filling her walls, when she chooses to express herself, she brings abstract impressionism to the level of pure, truthful expressionism.
So don’t worry if your week gets busy during the holidays and you didn’t get all the yoga classes in you planned on doing. Instead, find something you love to do that lights you up inside and do it. Find the creative action that unleashes your inner beauty for the world to see, hear or even taste. Seek to find a passion like the one my client found. She is a Dietician at Sick Kids by day, and a rogue, powerful artist by night. Oh – and she’s also an incredible Pianist, in case you weren’t already impressed. Seeing her multifaceted nature has inspired me to dive deeper into my own, and encourage others to do the same.
Watching her has taught me a valuable lesson; if we express the beauty of our inner self, it instantly connects us to the world around us. It’s not easy to offer the beauty of who we are to others, but as soon as it is witnessed, as soon as this shared beauty is experienced, it can’t help but provoke thought, inspiration and sometimes love. Our inside world, once expressed, becomes united to the world around us – creating a deeper more fulfilling union. Every Monday and Wednesday I witness it, and it brings me to tears.
I want to be brought to tears of joy by life. I am learning the way to do that is by letting my inner beauty shine. Let the art of who you are, be seen by the world. Take your yoga off the mat and into your day to day life. Create and be seen.
(If you wish to have inspiration in your heart and home everyday, please visit http://glogreengallery.com/ for life giving, original works of art – holiday sales are happening now, you lucky devils!)
