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We all go through muddy parts of life. As the saying goes, “no mud, no lotus.” (The lotus flower—native to India, Southeast Asia, Australia, and East Africa—grows in murky, muddy water, blossoming each morning and returning to the depths at night.) But when things feel stagnant and sticky, creativity can feel impossible to muster. That’s why you need a 15-minute yoga for creativity break in your routine to help shake off stagnation.
The following practice focuses on the hips, the center of your creativity and creation and home to your sacral chakra, svadhisthana. It includes several unexpected takes on tried-and-true poses that will stir up the mud so you, too, can draw on your resilience and transcend your circumstances, just like the lotus.
15-Minute Yoga for Creativity Practice
Creativity doesn’t always come from trying something new. Sometimes changing up something familiar is what’s needed to invite alternate ways of thinking. Consider practicing lotus seal, or padma mudra, before, during, or after this sequence.
Sukhasana Hip Circles
Easy Pose (Sukhasana) is most often evoked at the beginning or end of a sequence to help you ease into meditation. Bringing simple movement to the hip space in this seated posture can help inspire creative movement. Think of your seat as the bowl and your torso as the spoon that stirs what’s inside and then use this moving meditative pose to stir the pot and stoke your creative fire. You have the option to hold lotus seal and envision what you’re pouring into the cup of your hands.
Cat-Cow with Flipped Wrists & Toes
You can also change up your approach to this ubiquitous pose found in the beginning of most yoga sequences. Take a few traditional Cat-Cow movements to get into your rhythm, then turn your fingers to point outward toward the long sides of the mat. If this feels okay for your inner arms and wrists, turn your wrists so your fingers point toward your toes.
Stay here or bring movement to your feet by tucking your toes as you lower your belly and lift your chin in Cow Pose (Bitilasana). Then place the tops of your feet back down on the mat as you round your back and release your neck in Cat Pose (Marjaryasana). As you continue to move, explore changing your breathing to be opposite your typical breath-movement connection.
Twisted Vinyasa Flow
Though the moving meditation of Sun Salutation A (Surya Namaskar A) are anything but stagnant, they can start to feel rote when you practice them regularly. Incorporating cross-legged variations to the poses can bring about new ways of thinking about common movements and an alternate perspective.
Stretch your outer hips by crossing your legs in Downward-Facing Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana), and then bring the back leg to the opposite hand at the front of the mat into a cross-legged Low Lunge (Anjaneyasana). You’ll then step your back foot juts behind your for a cross-legged Standing Forward Bend (Uttanasana). Move through a half lift, and take your front leg and send it to the opposite back corner of the mat to transition into a cross-legged Low Lunge on the other side. End your sequence by bringing your front leg in front of your back for a cross-legged Downward Dog. (It’ll make more sense when you move along with the instructions. Push through the muck!) Repeat at least once.
Side Angle to Warrior 2 to Revolved Lunge
Similar to the idea of a twisted vinyasa, mixing up the familiar approach to a Side Angle (Utthita Parsvakonasana) and Warrior 2 (Virabhadrasana II) transition can inspire thinking outside the usual.
A typical vinyasa sequence takes you from Downward Dog to Warrior 2 to Side Angle. Here, in your yoga for creativity practice, you move in reverse by rooting to rise as you build your way from the bottom up, starting with a stable foundation in your Side Angle and reverse cartwheeling up into Warrior 2. Hold here to harness your creative power, keeping your hips—and sacral chakra—open. Then cartwheel down into a Revolved Lunge to elongate the side body and help stretch the quadratus lumborum (QL) muscle.
Legs Up the Wall
A resting pose that helps slow your breath and reduce anxiety, this Savasana alternative also stretches the hamstrings, relieves low back pain, and can improve circulation. Although Legs Up the Wall is not the typical way to end a practice, it can offer an uncommon perspective that leaves you inspired and ready to take on the rest of your day.
