Teri DeglerCreating a Safe Space for Creating!This is a wonderful visualization exercise for creating a safe, protected space where youcan tune into the creative, cosmic light that exists within you. It is particularly powerful
because it uses the spectrum of the rainbow which, of course, is the basis of white light.Attuned as it is with the divine white light, it creates a wall of protection that the harsh
inner voice of criticism cannot penetrate.I have been using it in combination with the Inspirationexercise for many years. These twoexercises have been the key to the ten books and countless articles Ive had published.1. Sit in a comfortable position with your spine straight cross-legged if you can andbegin imagining your body to be a shining, perfectly transparent container.
2. As you inhale deeply see the glass begin to fill with a shimmering red light, starting atthe base of the spine and radiating upwards and outwards until your limbs, your body,
and your head are filled with this glowing light.
3. Exhale. As you inhale, focus again on the base of your spine and see the red light turninggradually from red to red-orange to orange. Visualize the shimmering orange light begin
to radiate upwards and outwards until your body is filled with this rich orange light.
4. Next, visualize the color yellow. It is as if you are breathing in the color as it flows in the orange fades and turns intothe pure, brilliant yellow light of the sun.
5. Next comes a radiant green which will flood in and replace the yellow.
6. Next you will breathe in the color blue, then purple, and then violet.
7. Finally, see the sparkling violet fade back into the white light. See your entireself filled with pure, glimmering, sparkling, radiant white light. Sit for a moment in this light inhalingslowly and deeply.
8. Begin to focus your thought on the light around your heart, see it increase in intensityand then begin to move down your arm, out your pen, and onto the paper or intowhatever expression of creativity you desireIf You Are New to Creative Visualization or MeditationThere is no great secret to creative visualization. It is simply seeing in the same wayyou see when you day dream or imagine anything. Sometimes it is called seeing on the
screen of the mind or seeing with the minds eye.That said, because different senses are dominant in different people, not everyoneactually visualizes when they do creative visualization exercises. You may simply get a sense of the way aparticular color makes you feel or if you happen to be very musical and not at allvisual, for instance you might want to imagine the seven notes of the musical scale alongwith the colors.Sometimes even very visual people only see a flash of color in the beginning. If acolor isnt coming through clearly it sometimes helps to just imagine something like anapple or an orangeOne trick learned when I was having trouble visualizing early on was to say to myself. I will NOT imagine an apple right not. I will NOT see itsits shiny red skin! The image of a bright red apple would then immediately flash before my minds eye.

Inspiration Just a Breath AwayGet Inspired! Be Inspiring!Trite but true: A big reason creativity doesnt flow in our lives is simply that we dont make time for it. These creativity tips and exercises are meant to light that fire under you at least once a week and get you going so that you: Do it! Just do it!Every book or article written on creativity tells you that you need to have a space set aside where you can do your creative work. This is important, so I am just going to assume youve already done it.But what is far more important is the mental space the psychic space. Creative inspiration can flow anytime, anywhere. This exercise, along with Exercise Two, are the two techniques that have, in essence, created the ten books Ive had published.Inspiration Just a Breath AwayThe word inspiration comes from the Latin that means to bring spirit in, and in this way embodies both creativity and spirituality. It tells us that creative inspiration comes from drawing in the divine. And because inspiration also refers to breathing in, it creates an image of creative inspiration flowing into our lives as simply and surely as the air we breathe.In yoga this relationship is found in the word prna which both to breath and to the all-sustaining life force a force that is also seen as the creative energy of the universe. If youve done much yoga, you probably know that breathing exercises are known as prnyma.The following exercise creates a sacred space where you can tune in to this life force, recognize it as the source of inspiration within your own soul, and allow it to flow into your creative expression. Use this exercise whether you want to be creative or simply find a creative solution to an everyday problem.Because it begins with the most basic of type of prnyma, it is a good introductory exercise for those of you who have never done any type of creative visualization or meditation.1. Begin by exhaling, gently emptying your lungs of all air, to a slow count of eight.
2. To a count of eight, breathe in deeply gently filling up the bottom of your lungs first, then the middle, then the top.
3. To do this, allow your muscles to expand, beginning with the muscles around the stomach, then those around your chest and ribs. Allow the air to rise up until it almost feels like it is massaging the base of your throat. This is natural breathing; it is the way a baby breathes. Hold for a count of four.
4. Then exhale. Begin by emptying first the bottom, then the middle, then the top of your lungs by gently contracting the muscles you expanded. Feel yourself become increasingly still, deeply relaxed, and in tune with your inner self.
5. Allow yourself to become increasingly aware that you are breathing in prna the radiant life force.
6. Concentrate on this radiance, see it glowing and sparkling within you until you are aware that you are filled with a luminous, resplendent white light. Stay for a while in this space allowing the radiance of the light to intensify.
7. Once you feel yourself filled with this shimmering light, visualize or just imagine it flowing upwards. See it moving to your heart, resting there for a moment and intensifying with each heartbeat. Then see it flowing to your shoulders, down your arms, out the hands, into the fingers that are resting on your paper and holding your pen or into whatever creative tool you chose to have at hand.Adapted from Chapter One, The Divine Feminine Fire: Creativity and Your Yearning to Express Your Self