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One of the best ways to tap into your creativity is to quiet your mind. These days we’re always busy rushing from one thing to the next, that we forget what it means to relax and be still. Every day try to spend 10-15 minutes in silence. Don’t read a book or listen to music. Find a place where you can be alone. Maybe it’s a comfortable chair in your room where you can shut your eyes and close out the noise. Maybe you would like to take a relaxing bath and relax your muscles and your mind. If this seems hard, start with 5 minutes. Step away from work, turn off the radio when you’re in your car and allow yourself to rest in silence. This is not only good for your mind, but also for your spirit.

When you find a few minutes every day to meditate, or rest in silence, you are recharging yourself. You’re recharging your energy, your creativity and your spirit. When we allow ourselves to be silent, that’s when we will hear the answers to our questions. In order to hear the answers, you must be quiet and listen.

Find time this weekend to reset in silence.

XO,
Natalie

Lately I’ve had a strong desire to create. All of the non creative aspects of my life have lead me to yearn for my creative activities. I want to be creative all of the time. I can feel my soul yearning to create more.

Have you experienced this deep yearning to create? What is your creative desire?

XO,
Natalie

I love this excerpt from “Big Magic” by Elizabeth Gilbert:  
She explains how we ALL have the right to create whatever we want to create because we are here because of Creation.  It is a gift to express ourselves freely and everyone can do it!  

What do you want to create? 

What inspires you?

What are you passionate about? 

If you need permission to create something, here it is: go ahead or as Elizabeth Gilbert puts it, “let the girl go.”

Namaste,

Ashley 

The first day of fall was this week and with the changing season comes the acceptance of change. Fall is a time to settle and prepare for the slowing down of winter. Learn to accept changes in your life and creative journey like your willingness to accept the changing season. Notice the flow of your energy this fall and how that might change your energy toward your craft. If you feel like taking a break from your projects, then do so.

Is there a new flow in your life?

XO,
Natalie

  
We are so honored to be a part of Imagine Fest this weekend at Peter Strauss Ranch!  Imagine Fest is a yoga, music and wellness festival that aims to fund the building of Unlikely Heroes’ first U.S. home.  Unlikely Heroes is an amazing organization that rescues, restores and rehabilitates child victims of sex slavery.  To know what we are in some way helping these children find safety and better lives makes us feel alive! Come join us and see what a difference you can make 🙂 

Natalie and I will be offering Creativity Flow Yoga mini-workshops for attendees.  Come visit us and ignite your passion and find out what makes you come alive! 

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” 

― Howard Thurman

Want to buy tickets? Click here

Want to donate even though you can’t make it? Click here 

  
Namaste,

Ashley 

The word retreat is used when thinking of a quiet and secluded place to relax, as in a yoga retreat or spa retreat. But the word retreat also means to withdraw or move back. When thinking about your creative retreat space, where you relax and quiet your senses to your passion, think about how you can use this space to move back. Move back to a time when you felt most creative. Withdraw from the self doubt and allow your mind to open. You can physically withdraw from the outer world in this retreat space and you can also mentally withdraw to a creative moment in the past.

Think about this creative time in your life and draw upon that next time. It may have been when you were a child singing, dancing and drawing or when you were in college when you made a student film, were in a band or attended open mic nights. Reflect on these memories and use them as fuel and encouragement to move you in your next project.

XO,
Natalie

Come join us at the beach for a Creativity Flow Yoga class!

When: Sunday Sept 20th 10am-11am

• We believe everybody has an intrinsic ability to create.  Learn to explore your creative side with the practice of yoga, essential oils, meditation, journaling and deep reflection. Leave inspired and with a Fabletics goodie bag!

Location: Malibu Lagoon State Beach, Malibu Tower 3 (Surfrider)

• The element of creativity is water, so we believe that doing yoga by the ocean not only inspires us because of its breathtaking beauty but it will nourish your creativity!
• Enjoy your Savasana with the sound of the ocean waves

What to Bring: You + Your Creativity!

• Yoga mat, towel, eye pillow, sunglasses, journal, and pen
• Suggested Donation of $10 ALL PROCEEDS go to Unlikely Heroes via Imagine Fest or buy a ticket to Imagine Fest and come for free! 
  

Napoleon Hill’s book Think and Grow Rich has left a lasting impression after reading it years ago. It was published in 1937 after Hill conducted a study of the most successful people in America. Over 70 years later and what he found still rings true. If you haven’t read the book, pick up a copy.

In the book Hill suggests to his readers to form a Master Mind Group. This is a group of friends and mentors who encourage each other to be creative and entrepreneurs. These aren’t your drinking buddies. But a group, much like the Bloombury Group, who paint together, write together, make music and do whatever it is they are passionate about.

Find your Master Mind Group. It may only be one person or it may be a few people, but you don’t all meet together as one group. You don’t need to tell them or ask them to be in your group. But recognize who they are. I have a few people that I know are part of my Master Mind Group. I’ve never mentioned it to them, but these are the friends I call to edit my writing, to ask for career or creative advice and to bounce ideas off of.

Just like Hill discovered, I believe to be successful you have to surround yourself with successful positive people. To be a successful creative you must do the same. Add people to your Master Mind Group that encourage you to create and don’t put you down. That help you find time to do your passion and not find ways to take you away from it or feel bad for it.

If you don’t already have a Master Mind Group start with one person. Ashley is in my Master Mind Group and look what we created together.

XO
Natalie

This is a great exercise specifically for writers, but it can help all creatives be more aware of their surroundings. Have a pen and journal handy and record an overheard conversation. Write down who is involved and a few key things about them and the situation. Then write down word for word what each one is saying. This is a great exercise when trying to write dialogue. It will give you a better understanding of how people speak to one another. It may sound a lot different when you concentrate on their words and listen.

When writing dialogue it can often come across as stale or unnatural. This exercise will train your ear and your mind to listen to the natural dialogue. Write down how the people in the conversation are talking to one another. Are they angry, frustrated or excited? What is the setting? Are they sitting at a table at Starbucks or are you listening to your kids play in the next room?

Even if you’re not a writer working on dialogue, this might be a fun creative activity to take part in. Maybe it will spark another interest and you write a short story around it.

This week, take on the role of a spy and record an overheard conversation.

Xo,
Natalie

Mantra is a powerful tool that helps aid in concentration and focus.  Typically a mantra is a word or a sound that is either said aloud or in your head and sometimes repeated in order to create an awareness or focus in meditation.  Some mantras are directly correlated to our chakras, or energy centers.  These mantras are called seed or “bija” mantras.

If you have taken a yoga class, chances are you have heard the bija mantra “OM”.  Om is made up of three syllables, A-U-M and phonetically said like “ahh” “oh” “mm” allowing the sound itself to feel like it has 3 parts.  Om and its three parts can be thought to represent something larger like the heavens, earth and the underworld or the mind, body and spirit.  I think the best definition of Om it its representation of the beginning, the middle and the end.  Others have said that Om is the sound the universe makes.  I also like to point out the vibrational qualities that Om creates for a group of people.  When chanting “om” together we are uniting in voice with those around us and connecting on a deeper level to our community and the world around us.  We are connecting on a vibrational level through sound.

Here is a breakdown of the bija mantras that correlate to each chakra and their uses:

1st: Muladhara or Root Chakra- LAM use this mantra to feel grounded and secure

2nd: Swadisthana or Sacral Chakra- VAM, use this mantra to open to awaken your creativity

3rd: Manipura or Solar Plexus Chakra- RAM use this mantra to feel confident and tap into your personal power

4th: Anahata or Heart Chakra- YAM use this mantra to open your heart, accept and let go

5th: Vishudda or Throat Chakra- HAM use this mantra to express yourself freely through speech and writing

6th: Ajna or 3rd Eye Chakra- OM use this mantra to discover your purpose or your intention

7th: Sahasrara or Crown Chakra- OM or Silence use this mantra to connect with higher power and spirit

For harnessing your creativity, it would be best to start at the root chakra.  Find a comfortable seated position where you can stay for 5 minutes or so.  Take a normal breath in and a normal breath out.  Notice any thoughts that enter your mind.  Repeat the mantra LAM in your mind or out loud.  Notice the vibrational qualities of the mantra.  Feel LAM and its vibrations down at the base of your seat.  Feel the rooted sensation of your sitting bones on the ground.  Feel the strength of your seat and notice the steadiness of your breath.  When your mind goes back to your thoughts, bring yourself back to your mantra, LAM.  Try this for as long as you’d like.

Namaste,

Ashley