Yoga for Boosting Creativity

Yoga is fun and rewarding. The benefits the exercise has on well-being and health is highly-documented and recommended. More flexibility (not just in your body, but in how you live your life), a centered mind, and even boosted creativity. That last one is our main topic: how yoga can make your creativity flourish.

There’s an incredible high that comes with being in the flow of artistic expression. Whether you are an amateur photographer, influencer, writer, woodworker, art-making can give you the feeling of being completely present, awake, and alive. And while yoga is often thought as a tool to help us find ease in the body, quite the mind, and get in touch with our true nature, it can also be a way of helping us to find our creative selves.

Meditation and yoga grant us access to the deep places of our psyche and consciousness that inspire creative ideas to emerge, while simultaneously offering us tools to work with some of our biggest obstacles as artists. No matter what kind of art you call your own, your yoga practice can more fully connect you with your creative mind, body and soul.

Dropping into creative state

It is hard to deny that controlled stress often helps to bring our genius ideas into physical reality.

Balancing yoga poses are great at challenging us without sending the stress hormones into a rage.

If you are a beginner, a regular Warrior III pose is a good option.

Warrior III — Virabhadrasana 3

This asana fires up our core — the very space in the body where passion resides. Warrior III also teaches us how to stay calm amid the chaos our life turns into at times.

A more advanced option for creativity ignition is the Crow pose.

Crow Pose Bakasana

With this one everything is clear: you might plant your face into the floor. You might also fly above it. Overcoming fear means we are ready to take risks in the pursuit of the creative endeavors.

It’s ok to fall, it’s ok to make mistakes — this is another important lesson balancing poses teach us. Creativity likes mistakes, it thrives on experimentation and your willingness to begin again. So enjoy feeling wobbly, fall, get up and repeat the pose with a child-like attitude.

Yoga and the brain

During yoga, your brain releases all sorts of chemicals that not only help you relax but also lower your stress and anxiety levels including, gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, and endorphins. Each of the functions in its own way to help you calm down and feel better.

Also research shows that meditation changes the physical structure of the brain in significant ways. Meditation and reflection have been shown to increase frontal cortex activity (linked to focus, calm and concentration) and even enlarge that part of the brain.

There have been a number of studies showing how yogic breathing practices increase the Alpha brain waves associated with lower levels of stress and greater levels of creativity. Alpha brain states are where brilliant ideas arise, and where athletes find their zone.

Here is an exercise that will help increase your brain power

Pranayama — Humming Bee Breathing

Calms the mind

Releases negative emotions like anger, agitation, frustration, and anxiety

Improves concentration and memory

Builds confidence

The exhalation in this pranayama resembles the typical humming sound of a bee, which explains why it is named so.

How to practice:

Sit up straight with your eyes closed. Keep a gentle smile on your face.

Keep your eyes closed for some time. Observe the sensations in the body.

Place your index fingers on your ears. There is a cartilage between your cheek and ear. Place your index fingers on the cartilage.

Take a deep breath in and as you breathe out, gently press the cartilage. You can keep the cartilage pressed or press it in and out with your fingers while making a loud humming sound like a bee.

5. Breathe in again and continue the same pattern 3–4 times.

Benefits of super brain yoga

Super brain yoga activates acupuncture points on the earlobe that helps stimulate your gray matter. This exercise helps your brain by:

Synchronizing left and right side of the brain

Distributing energy levels and increasing sense of calmness

Stimulating thinking capacity

Increasing mental energy

Making you more creative

Developing cognitive powers

Improving focus, concentration and memory power

Relieving stress or behavioral problems

This brain exercise is known to help patients with Alzheimer’s, mild depression, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Down’s syndrome, Autism, and Dyslexia among others. You could also follow-up this exercise with a session of guided meditation.