A Month in Review: The Hidden Heart of February

This month has really focused on movement as an integral part of the creative process. Ironically I have not been back in the gym, but my body is feeling its absence. However, dance has been a big piece of my life again and it breathes so much life and joy into my body - it ignites a creative desire that sometimes falls flat with the trudge of the everyday. The relationship between creativity and movement is a close one and it’s linked through not only the act of creating, the physical manifestation of a creative work or the movement required as a human body to do the activity, but in how they help release and manage stress and express and process emotion. For me that is the hidden heart of this month - movement - not only as a thing that gets creativity done, but as love and care for our physical bodies that allow us the fulfillment of creativity. It’s a potent reminder that we need movement to care for ourselves and keep us in the best state to create and access our creativity. 

Movement: restorative, reinvigorating, reinventing 

This month I’ve centered the conversation around how movement exists in all creative practices no matter how sedentary they appear. In this final post of February I want to focus on movement as self care for our bodies and our creativity - protective and proactive. 

Restorative - Movement restores us more than we realize. Sitting in one attitude for extended periods of time as many of us do can be detrimental to our joint health, damage our posture, and create stiffness that haunts us for days. Taking movement breaks and ensuring we prioritize movement after a creative session decreases soreness, improves mood and restores our energy levels. Even more active creative pursuits need recovery movement time so we can fully and freely engage in our creativity the next day. This doesn't mean strenuous movement is necessary, simple stretches, yoga, a nature walk - all of these low impact, low intensity movement patterns are restorative to our bodies. Taking care of our physical selves does more than simply meet the needs of our bodies - it impacts our ability to connect to our creative souls and come back to our practice with mindset and mood intact.

Reinvigorating - Moving our bodies fuels energy, focuses the mind, and moves stuck emotion through our body that we may better access it in our creativity. I’ve talked before about my shake it out or plank it out method for centering myself - it clears anxieties, uncertainty, nervous energy, and excitement that hijacks the nervous system, blocking creativity. When motivation and inspiration are lacking or we feel stuck physically or figuratively in our creative practice, moving can reinvigorate our energy, ignite the soul, and motivate us to wake up from autopilot or a creative block and give us the desire to forge ahead. This movement pattern may be a little more intensive, a jog, a HIIT session, weightlifting or simply dancing around the room to some mood boosting bops. The point here is to move to wake up the body and kick start your creativity. 

Reinventing - Movement is a fluid discipline, much like creativity. There is always room to make it your own, to fit it to your body, your ability. In moving in new ways we expand our capacity for reinvention, for looking at a fundamental movement in a new way, appreciating a new angle, an overlooked benefit. In doing this physically we can better access those same perspective shifts in our creative practice when we get stuck or feel stagnant in a creative work. Movement can reinvent our physical bodies, we can choose who we become, what version we build. The same is true in our creative practice. Movement of this nature might look more like a dedicated program. My favourite category of movement falls into reinvention - fundamental calisthenic full body core exercises - movements that incorporate complex movements that are more about balance and functional strength than impressive weight lifts or speed. Going back to the basics and challenging them in new ways bridges our physical world with our desire to create new worlds in our creative practice. 

Looking back at some key plot points

Posts - My consistency with getting these out has been life giving for my creative trust building. I’ve really enjoyed theming my months around a central purpose and expanding on it week after week. It’s also been a wild exercise in futility. My posts this month have received no views, no reads. Yet I put out a new one each week, promote it on my instagram page and come back to write another despite that lack of engagement across platforms. Is this a signal to stop wasting time in this manner? Maybe. Will I heed its message? Nope. I love writing these pieces. My hope is that they find people who need them or enjoy them, but if that person is only me, then so be it. 

Instagram - I have been consistent in posting reels almost daily, and the days I don’t speak to the phone, I still make a static post. I like seeing my grid fill up and even if those views on the reels are not converting to blog reads or engagement at least I’m still putting them out there for my wonderful family and friends who support this crazy little labour of love. I quite enjoy checking in, even if some days it’s only for myself. I appreciate the engagement when it does come, but it’s not my why, it’s my hope. 

Dance - Stepping into the studio to start my weeks has been so nourishing for body, mind, and soul. This month it’s been less about moving and more about reconnecting with dance as expression, as a source of joy and delight. My body has adjusted and remembered how to move, allowing me to begin waking my sense of artistry bit by bit, and that quiet little spark keeps me going each and every week. 

Connection - I am really proud of myself this month for prioritizing connection with friends and pouring my energy into maintaining and growing those friendships from facetime calls across provinces to hosting small dinners and choosing to actively celebrate milestones alongside very chill evening fireside visits. It’s a reminder that connection is what strengthens and sustains us. Creativity thrives on connection so it stands to reason that when we feel connected to our friends and family, we create with more generosity, devotion, and energy.