Open Your Arms to Inspiration

This combination of pressure points and posture create a path for fresh energy.

Sometimes we feel uninspired, bored, or a total lack of creativity.

“How do you reboot your mind so you feel that joy and freshness for life again? How do you get back to that coveted beginner’s mind, that state in which the newness and excitement of something gets you passionate to learn and develop and grow?”

I was driving home from a hike and talking to a friend, and I asked him those questions.

“Just open your eyes!” he said. “There is beauty and inspiration all around you. “

The problem is, we sometimes get so stuck in our ruts, we don’t see the magic and beauty in our everyday moments.

So I looked up and tried to do just that. I tried to see this drive home, which I do every single day, from a different angle. The clouds were puffy and white and starting to streak with a pale orange as the sun set. In the field at the corner, I saw five horses grazing by the fence, their long necks arched to the fresh grass, their velvet noses flaring. A hawk sparked by me, cruising the field for mice, his outstretched wings tinged by the setting sun. When I slowed down to take the corner, slowing even more to wind around the road buckled by the harsh winter we’d just had, I saw a chipmunk dart across the road and scurry for cover.

Everywhere I looked was beauty

The word inspiration has its root in the 14th-century Middle English word “enspiren”—“to fill the mind and heart with grace.” It literally means “in spirit.” To be inspired means to be aligned with the spirit that runs through all things. This is the Native Americans’ wisdom that somehow, in our modern hustle and bustle, we’ve lost. In our quest to do and gain and achieve and build, we’ve lost our understanding of our interconnections to everything else.

Inspired also comes from the Latin “inspire”—“to breathe.” Sometimes, if you can just stop and take a deep breath, you can feel the truth of that. You can feel the deep connection to the world around you, the deep connection to your own inner self, your own divinity. Once you feel that, everything you do starts to have that gentle glow of goodness, that sweet sense of wonder and joy. The littlest task becomes infused with the grandeur and magic of this most amazing world.

So the next time you’re feeling low on creativity or feeling in a rut with your job or your workout routine, take a moment to reconnect to the core of yourself, to the divine spirit that runs through you and through all things. Try these steps below to reboot and get inspired:

  1. Massage deeply the center line of your sternum, from the hollow at the base of your throat down to the center of your chest. Then massage one inch out to either side of the center line. These are points to help deepen your lung capacity.
  2. If you can, go outside and take off your shoes and plant your feet on the bare earth.
  3. Take several deep breaths. Close your eyes. Take several more deep breaths.
  4. Now lift your hands up to the sky in a big V above your head. Turn your gaze up to the sky. This is a pose called heaven rushing in, and it literally opens you up to the majesty and abundance of the universe. You can ask for inspiration, help, direction, guidance, anything you feel like you’re lacking.
  5. Allow the abundance of the universe to literally come down into your body. You can stay here as long as feels good. You might start to feel your hands tingle as energy, inspiration and joy descend into your body.

Photo credits: callipso88, Adobe Stock; Boyarkina Marina, Adobe Stock