Yoga for Creativity: Manifesting with Tapas
Channel: Yoga for Creativity
Date: 19/10/2015

Manifestation
This is the stage where dedication to your creative practice and your yoga practice is critical to get you from fantasy and illusion to reality and success. This is where so many artists (including myself) fail time and time again. Inspiration? No problem. Message? I am a writer, when do I not know what to say! Getting to the studio before noon? Well, winter makes me tired. Producing five thousand words a week? My day job is so stressful and I don’t have time. Sound familiar?

Derived from the root word tap, meaning ‘heat’, tapas, in modern yogic terms, is the inner fire stoked through discipline, austerity and integrity needed to achieve enlightenment. Tapas is one of the ten ethical yogic principles for skillful living. For the modern artist, tapas is instrumental to the final stage of the creative process.

If you are struggling to manifest your artwork, practice: Tapas (‘sustained effort and discipline’)

Choose your least favorite pose and, despite all desire to run away, stay, stay and stay in it. Get deep into the physical fire and the mind game of resistance: what are you telling yourself? Are you making excuses? How do you justify your likes and dislikes? When you approach your art, start with the thing you dislike about it the most and do it until it’s done. Do you feel stronger after staying in the tough spots? Have you produced tangible results? I would wager a yes.