What is Creative Flow?

What exactly is “Creative Flow”?

We define creative flow as the alchemical state of engaged curiosity, grounded presence, and liberated expression through which any sense of separation disappears. It’s a state in which you can discover an inter-connected unity with your own truest nature, a state of contented ecstasy and cosmic play for its own sake. It is the meeting place of life and eternity – the playground of the divine.

Some writers and researchers refer to this type of state in strictly psychological terms. Hungarian American psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is well known for coining the term “flow” as the mental state of being completely present and fully immersed in a task. He says people are happiest when they are in such a state.

But creative flow (as we define it!) goes beyond the mental processes that shift brain activity and release positive hormones. These might be naturally felt side-effects and psychological benefits, but in actuality creative flow is so much more. It is a portal of connection between what is here and what is beyond. Creative flow is an embodied state of creation that bridges the soul with the body, the spirit with the senses, the sacred with the mundane, and energy with matter. It is a connection to your essence. And it is available to you now, regardless of prior creative experience or skill.

Some people believe creativity arrives as inspiration via the heavens above, swooping down through the mind as a special kind of idea. It enters through the top of your head, traveling through your heart and your hands in the form of art, writing, music, or other creative pursuits. That’s certainly one way it manifests, through ideas and imagination. But creativity also shows up from an equally powerful and mysterious source, one that is often overlooked: the intuition of your own body. Imagine it bubbling up like an inner wellspring centered in your pelvic bowl, charged by the energy of the earth. It flows up and out, traveling again through your heart and out through your hands, voice, or body. Now imagine the power of accessing your creativity from all directions at once! The mind receives ideas, the body receives intuitive impulses, and the heart alchemizes and synthesizes it all – completely unencumbered – in a dynamic flow of energy.

It is your mind, body, and soul aligned and fully engaged, making love to life in the form of joyous and playful expression, through whatever art form or medium you choose. Your life becomes a verb, like the grand crescendo of a wave cresting on the ocean – a unique expression and yet part of something much greater than itself.

Reclaiming your creative flow means moving from a frozen and unyielding state toward warm, flowing, and uninhibited action, following the direction of your intuitive pull. Embracing your soul essence and feeling empowered to live your fullness as an awakened being, free to express yourself, moment to moment, in whatever way you are called. Using your unique gifts for the greater good. Loving yourself enough to love others. Embodying freedom. Wholeness. Unfettered expression. True power.