Refining your inner artist through yoga

The Madeline Island School of Arts

I have always been drawn to art in a somewhat similar way I have been drawn to yoga.  Both offer a refuge from the busy pace of our everyday life and open us up to the opportunity to be present.   Yoga and creativity have very similar purposes, to be present, to get out of an often judging mind, and to open to a new world of experience. Creating beautiful artwork is much like the meditation aspect of yoga.  There is an opportunity to be completely in tune with the mind and body, harnessing the brain in different capacity then traditional mundane tasks.

Artists will tell you that when they take the time to quiet their mind and begin to create something artistic, it is like an incredible high.  Yogis call the experience bliss.  Both come from a place where you can quiet your mind and let your soul take shape from within you.  Although yoga is most often though of as finding ease within the body, it also allows you to open up from the inside out and quite often harness creative energy.

As a yogi who dabbles in writing, I am familiar with the need to dig very deep in the depths of my psyche to allow creative ideas to emerge.  I always say that my best writing emerged when I was battling cancer.  At the time, so much of my life experience were raw and the visceral energy I was able to tap into produced a beautiful stream of words on my paper.  Words don’t come easy anymore unless I take the time to really listen to my heart and dig a little deeper.

An Art and Yoga retreat is a truly unique experience.  The practice of yoga is designed to awaken something from within.  From that point the artist transitions into a period of creating alongside the experienced and gentle guiding of an art teacher to that realization that something magical  is unfolding is a journey worth taking.

In combination with this, The Art and Yoga Retreat on Madeline Island offers a unique opportunity to be completely present.  The retreat is designed to allow you to forget about the everyday to do list and be enveloped in the richness of peaceful and inspirational naturescapes. Serene surroundings allow the artist to just “be” naturally in a state of stillness.  Distractions of everyday life do not block the creative flow of energy.  Combining this with asanas and prana will stimulate the life force within each retreater and inspire creative ideas to emerge.

You don’t need to be an experienced yogi or an experienced artist to participate in this retreat.  You just need to have a desire to dig deeper and experience something new.  It is not uncommon to leave a retreat experience filled with awe at the idea that you have rediscovered your true self. We look forward to working with you as you unleash your inner artist and discover a new way to bring yoga into your life.

Registration for this retreat is through MISA, The Madeline Island School of The Arts.