“The sun shines down, and its image reflects in a thousand different pots filled with water. The reflections are many, but they are each reflecting the same sun. Similarly, when we come to know who we truly are, we will see ourselves in all people.” ~ Ammachi
It’s no secret that I love art; my lifeswork centers around the creative arts. I’m also quite passionate about yoga. Both have impacted my well-being tremendously, bringing balance, physical fitness and renewed passion to my life. In the traditional sense of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, yoga is described as “the cessation of the perturbations of the mind.” In the Yoga Sutras, Patanjali indicates that the ultimate goal of yoga is a state of permanent peace in which someone can experience one’s true self. Saying, “Absolute freedom occurs when the lucidity of material nature and spirit are in pure equilibrium.”
Merging the energies in art, nature and yoga is a dream come true. A few years ago, I endured a painful loss, and though I’d been introduced to yoga years before, I really took to it during this time. All I needed was a mat. The practice became an essential part of my process of healing, letting go, growing and glowing, cultivating balance between what recognized psychologists and researches describe in science terms as rational and emotional intelligence. Inspired to take my practice further, in May and June, 2015, I traveled to the yoga capital of the world, Rishikesh, India, and enrolled in an intensive yoga teacher training course where I received certification as a yoga teacher at the Vinyasa Yoga Foundation. My vision for this accomplishment was to subsequently create global yoga programs, and to merge yoga and art, thereby cultivating communities towards art appreciation and well-being simultaneously. I love the idea of reinventing or repurposing spaces with creative energies around the world.
Many people who practice yoga do so to maintain their health and well-being, improve physical fitness, relieve stress, and enhance quality of life. In addition, they may be addressing specific health conditions, such as back pain, neck pain, arthritis, and anxiety.
Yoga and art go so well together; visually they both involve lines and form, and both require and cultivate discipline, courage, mindfulness, and human compassion and connection. Dance, music, and performing arts are based on rhythm and beats, as is yoga reflective of our heartbeat, honoring the universal Divine sound. In their book “Creative Healing,” Michael Samuels MD, and Mary Rockwood Lane RN, suggest that “prayer, art and healing all come from the same source: the human soul. Research has shown us that a person in prayer, a person making art, and a person healing all have the same physiology, the same brain wave patterns, and the same states of consciousness.” Yoga is union, as is art the union of energies, visual and physical. And, both involve meditation and intraspection, often referred to as ‘the creative process’ in the arts. I look forward to sharing upcoming announcements for J Rêve’s global creativity and yoga programs. To get involved or to learn more, email us at info@jreveinternational.com.
This video is an example of the impact of yoga and healing arts: