Yoga and creativity are parallel practices.
Both require patience, discipline, flexibility, focus and vulnerability. Both can be done individually or with a group. And both achieve the most meaningful results when I’m wearing as little clothing as possible.
Recently, I discovered another quality they have in common.
In yoga, it’s actually easier to do the posture than it is to sit out.
No matter how tired and sore and sweaty and frustrated I am, when I resort to squatting on the floor, slugging back water and staring at myself in the mirror, that only magnifies the pain. And I end up just sitting there, feeling sorry for myself, with nothing to focus on except my own suffering, while time ticks by like a winded toy.
And that’s when I say to myself, look, I didn’t come to class to not practice, so I may as well stand up and try again.
In creativity, it’s the same thing.
It’s actually easier to write than it is to not write.
No matter how lonely an uninspired and disillusioned and angry I am, when I resort to artfully creating constant distractions instead of working, jacking myself off on social media and pathetically waiting for that one email that changes everything, that only magnifies the pain. And again, I end up just sitting there, feeling sorry for myself, with nothing to focus on except my own suffering, while time ticks by like a winded toy.
And that’s when I say to myself, look, I didn’t come to the page not to write, so I may as well bear down and try again.
The point is, doing the work may be hard.
But it’s a hell of lot better than the alternative.
