The Influential Pedagogy of Yoga

Increasingly, I recognize that a self-inquiry is concerned with BEING and Becoming; grounding into presence and the consciousness of different internal states. It is phenomenological in that it requires active participation in experience. It is transformational because it evolves the way we see and treat ourselves and others. Though focused on my experience in painting, another practice that is complementing and deepening my insights into the creative process is YOGA. I have been doing yoga off and on for about three years. This summer I made a commitment to a tri-weekly practice which I do both at home and with a yoga class community. Yoga means "to unite" and it is a practice that calls upon breath, our life force and Lifeforce that sutures the mind and body into one whole.
In my class last Monday, as I filled my body with breathe and blood, I entered a state of being that is very similar to painting in the studio. Through the process of inhalations and exhalations, the yoga practice moves the energy of breath through the body. It is both a physical, mental, and spiritual practice that invites one to breathe in the purity of eternal life-force, and then to release the built-up stress and negativity of life. The person experiences a circulatory “cleansing” that provides an emotional and sacred sense of centeredness; a oneness within the awareness; a unity in the "temple of one's body". Often this healing and cleansing energy is regarded as warm, vibrating light that floods the body, utilizing the mind’s inner vision to guide the meditative practice. Painting, while less physically energetic for some, utilizes kinesthetic expressive movement in mindful ways, moving consciousness deep into the unconsciousness of the immediate present where time and space melt away; where breathe becomes slow and steady. In this way, Yoga is like the process of painting in that it embodies a creative process that moves through and unifies the body and imagination. Just as a Zen tenant states, “life process and words about it are not the same thing and should not be treated as such”, Yoga and painting must be experienced and practiced in order to be understood and transformed by it.
Upon painting for a few hours, I feel connected, accomplished, and hopeful. After yoga practice I enter this same state. My internal energies are smoothed and balanced. I experience a grounded, calm sense of wellbeing, wholeness, or completion. This is often accompanied by an opened heart of love, or the sense of floating joy. Although this feeling, or state of being usually lasts for an hour or so after practice, it cultivates the consciousness to see the beautiful possibilities of what the gift of Life has the potential to internally feel like. It literally changes and alters perception about existence. In this way, yoga just like painting or singing hymns lifts the heart as a form of worship and devotion to the Creator. It opens a new way of knowing and being in the world. It changes the way we see ourselves, others, and the world by expanding and loosening the focal grip of the mind that gets wrapped tightly around negativities and worries. It is a holistic and psychologically therapeutic practice that helps cope with and therefore master our responses to the ebb and flow of life challenges. It is a ‘restorative path of perception’ towards emotional and spiritual maturity. Yoga and painting as “expressive” arts helps fill us with vitality which empowers us to become living works of art.