What helps my creativity flow?

I haven’t really talked about my deep love for yoga before, but it is fundamentally the thing that helped me rediscover my creativity. 

 I practice most days, even if just for 15 minutes, it’s a very important part of my morning routine and helps me to focus and allow my creativity to flow.  But it wasn’t always that way.

I don’t practice this pose daily…

Cornwall brought yoga to me, never before had I thought about going to a class until I relocated here.  Living in Newquay I was surrounded by it and thought I may as well give it a go….

 I instantly loved it.  I have always had a very busy mind and I was so shocked that this movement, the quiet meditation actually worked in switching off my thoughts.  Gradually over months and years that quiet time started awakening something in me, but I had no idea what it was.

Taking a quick Acro-Yoga class with Yoga Hub Fest founder Jeanette Barron

I remember having multiple conversations with friends saying that as much as I loved my fashion career, it wasn’t what I was meant to do, it wasn’t my purpose.  But what was?!?!? It was so frustrating.

So I kept practicing, trying every type of yoga there was, introducing friends to it and it’s wonder.  I even ended up helping to set up and run some yoga festivals to bring the yoga community together and encourage others to try it. 

Yoga Hub Fest 2017 - Held at Coastal Valley Camping in Porth - Newquay

Then Covid 19 happened…. forcing me to stop in my career, be at home 24/7.  With nothing to do, all I could do was practice yoga at home. Instead of my normal daily 20 minutes I was doing 1-2 hours of yoga and meditation. 

 It was then that I remembered in a meditation moment, that I had some old paints in the spare room.  That I even had a canvas that I could re-use and paint on.  That I had the urge to actually paint.

One of my first paintings, exploring my shoreline style - ‘Crantock Shoreline’ 2020

Now, I know there may be some sceptics out there, but for me that urge was my intuition telling me what my busy mind had been too side tracked to pay attention to for so many years.  My purpose and what I was meant to be doing was painting.  I didn’t know at that time where it would lead me, that I would be sat here planning events around the business I have created for myself, all based on my paintings. 

That is why I am certain, completely and utterly certain, that yoga and meditation brought art back to me.  It may have taken many years and a global pandemic to make me finally see, but those quiet moments after moving and being sat in quiet contemplation, that is where my creativity had been.  I just needed to be quiet and focused enough to hear it.

So that is why I am so excited to bring these two great loves together, in fact three with my love of fashion, into one event.  Painting a shoreline scene onto the back of an upcycled denim jacket, either preceded or followed by yogic movement and relaxation. 

And the best part?  There are various beautiful locations to choose from, all steeped in Cornish heritage.  Want to know more?  Head to the workshops section on my website to join me….