creativity with heart

In creativity, as in much of life, the body often leads the mind. Some of the most famous moments of creative inspiration began with an intense bodily experience, such as illness, pain, fever, running a marathon, frenzied movement, and even constipation. That is why the back cover of Deep Creativity says, “Creativity is not just thinking outside the box, but living outside it.” Creative inspiration has always been a full-body experience that extends far beyond the limits of the human mind.

In the past decade, a phenomenon called interoception has been linked to creativity and intuition. This is the ability to sense what is happening inside the body—specifically in internal organs like the heart, stomach, and lungs. So, language that you may have thought was merely colorful, like “gut feeling” or “knowing your heart,” has a scientific basis.

If you want to be more creative, one of the best things you can do is start tuning in more to what is happening inside your body. Today I’m going to share a simple exercise that I have been using successfully for years. It is a mindfulness technique that focuses on your heartbeat, which is why I call it, “heartfulness.”
Here is how it works:

1. Sit up straight, in a comfortable chair, with your shoulders back. Preferably, sit towards the front of the chair, so that your back is not leaning up against the backrest. This will make it easier for you to feel your heart beating throughout your body.
2. Take a deep breath and hold it. Use this pause to feel your heartbeat. Become aware of the places in your body you can feel it, if at all. You may feel it in your face, neck, chest, hands, or fingers. Just make a mental note of that.
3. Now, take a series of deep, slow breaths. Inhale slowly. Hold your breath for a few seconds. Then let out your breath gently, and silently. Try to exhale for 2-3 seconds longer than you normally would, until your lungs are completely emptied. This allows you to draw in more breath on your inhalation, which in turn lets you hold your breath longer.
4. When you are holding your breath, use this pause in your breathing to tune into your heartbeat. Breathing can be a noisy, consuming process. When you silence your breathing for a few seconds, your heart’s activity and its rhythm can become much more apparent—much more noticeable.
5. For the next few minutes, keep breathing in this fashion: drawing in deep, slow breaths; holding each breath for as long as you comfortably can; and exhaling slowly, silently, and gently until your lungs are completely emptied.
6. While you are holding your breath, tune into your heartbeat. Let it become as loud and clear as possible.
7. After 5-10 minutes, let your breathing return to normal. While breathing in a natural way, notice if you can still feel your heart beating in different parts of your body. Try feeling your heart rhythm in your head, face, neck, throat, chest, abdomen, sides, arms, hands, fingers, legs, knees, and feet. Can you feel the swaying of your torso as your heart pounds inside your chest?

Eventually, you will feel your heartbeat powerfully throughout your body. But at first you may have a little trouble finding it. If you do, just take your pulse. Take your right thumb and place it against the big artery next to the tendon in your left wrist. Once you feel your pulse, it will make it easier for you to feel your heartbeat and its rhythm in other parts of your body.

This practice will enhance your creative awareness. You may wonder how that could be possible. But the great artists have always known that creativity is a full-body experience. Composer Peter Tchaikovsky told an interviewer, “It would be vain to try to put into words the immeasurable sense of bliss which comes over me directly when a new idea awakens in me and begins to assume a definite form. I forget everything and behave like a madman: everything within me starts pulsing and quivering.”

​By developing your inner sensitivity, starting with this heartfulness exercise, you will be able to refine your ability to read intuitive signals that lead to creative breakthroughs. You just have to know your heart and listen to your gut.