Movement and Creative Play: Freedom through Practice

Life is often busy. Our minds are often busy. Our emotions can be like the ever-changing waves of the sea. Somewhere in the midst of the busyness and shifting inner tides, we may sometimes seem to lose ourselves and our sense of peace.

Peace is ever-present, a vast space within us and beyond us, bigger than any busy schedule or emotion ocean horizon. Sometimes it easier to orient ourselves from this awareness than others. At other times, embodied practices and engaged creative flow enable us to move back into awareness of space and presence.  In my work as a creativity facilitator, I work with movement and meditation in conjunction with play and creative practices because they invite opening and expression on multiple levels and work so well together.

Often we begin with a centring meditation to ground and connect, both within and with each other as a group. In this way we create the space in which we will be working in.

Next, we move the body, breathe the body open as we stretch it through dance, organic somatic movement or yoga. Movement as meditation. As self-expression. This soothes our nervous system and balances our energy. It allows us to create inner space. As we listen more deeply to our bodies, we feel heard. This creates a sense of deep rest within, a spaciousness through which we become re-energised.

I often share playful activities for adults. Even the notion of play can be very challenging for many. Play opens us up to the unfamiliar and the unknown. The inner critic can become very active. However, if we stay curious about all that arises, an opening occurs. Through our practice we remind our hearts and minds it is safe to be spontaneous, to let go of control and to deeply connect to ourselves, to others and the world around us. Through play we expand our awareness, become curious and child-like as we re-see life with truly open eyes. We no longer chase a sense of peace; we are opening to it, allowing it to flow up and out from within us, as we laugh and delight in the moment.

From this space of expansion we are ready to listen. We engage in creative practices, we can better hear the wise, quiet voice within. We can then allow out that which has been calling for expression. By simply engaging in nurturing, creative practices, we tell ourselves: ‘I hear you. I love you.’ We open, we receive, we expand, we listen, we express and we allow. And in offering these gifts to ourselves, we  also share them with those around us.

Through creative practices, play and freeform movement we engage in creating a transformational space together as group. We come together. We connect. We are changed.

If you feel to explore your creativity and to connect to yourself and others in a nurturing way, come along to a monthly Conscious Creativity Circle at The Beehive Studio, Southbourne, 7-9pm on the last Friday of every month – except this December when it falls on the 16th, 2016. More details on the Circle here.

Part of creative practice at the monthly circle, November 2016: Warmth. Expressions of our light