The Body as a Canvas
In the rush of daily life, we often reduce movement to utility - walking to get somewhere, stretching to fix something, exercising to burn or build. But when we pause and listen deeply, we realize the body doesn’t just move through space; it creates something within it. Every gesture holds emotion, memory, intention. Every pose has the potential to become poetry. In this way, yoga and somatic movement become more than physical practices. They become art forms.
Dissolving the Right Way
So often, we arrive on the mat thinking there’s a “right” way to move - alignment cues, aesthetic shapes, flows we’ve memorized. But art doesn’t follow a template. Neither does healing.
When we shift from performance to presence, something opens. We begin to sense the body’s desire, not just its duty. Maybe a twist becomes a spiral. Maybe a still shape wavers. Maybe your arms rise because it feels like wings. That’s the moment movement becomes art - not when it looks beautiful, but when it feels
true.
Creative Flow vs. Set Sequences
There’s nothing wrong with structured practice. Sun Salutations, vinyasa flows, or set asana sequences offer rhythm and ritual. But interwoven into this structure is space - the invitation to let something new emerge.
Try this:
- Begin with a few familiar postures.
- Then turn off the music, close your eyes, and let your body lead.
- Don’t plan. Don’t perform.
- Follow sensation like a brushstroke.
Ask:
What wants to move? What wants to be still?
This is intuitive choreography - your body composing without the mind’s critique.
The Role of Emotion and Story
Art expresses what words often cannot. Movement does the same. Within the arc of your spine, the reach of your fingers, the way your feet connect to the earth - there may be grief, longing, joy, memory. A story waiting to unfold.
You may not even know what’s being told until afterward, when you feel lighter, clearer, softer. Or maybe you’ll never name it at all. That’s okay. Like a painting open to interpretation, your movement doesn’t need to be understood - it only needs to be felt.
Sacred Expression Off the Mat
When we begin to move this way - creatively, soulfully - it spills into life. You start noticing the art of how you walk into a room, how you reach for your tea, how you breathe during conversations. Movement becomes less about productivity and more about
presence.
You’re not just existing. You’re expressing.
A Gentle Practice to Try: Movement as Mark-Making
- Come to a quiet space with your mat or a soft floor.
- Set the intention to explore, not achieve.
- Choose one sensation - curiosity, heaviness, lightness - and begin to move with it.
- Let it evolve into a shape, then another. Let transitions be slow, rich.
- If you feel emotion rise, welcome it. If you don’t, welcome that too.
- After 10–15 minutes, lie down. Breathe. Feel the residue of your expression.
Final Thoughts
Movement is art when it comes from the heart. There’s no score to follow, no audience to impress - only you, the moment, and the miracle of being alive in a body that longs to speak. May you give it the space to tell its story.
