Today I want to share with you something very important to me. It will be an intimate conversation between a very deep, profound part of myself and you: art as a form of spirituality. 

Since I was little, under the influence of my Dad – who is his true nature is the one of an artist, sculptor and painter – I was always fascinated by art. Living in Italy and being surrounded by the beauty of Florence made this process very easy. 

I only had to lift up my head and stair with my mouth open to the Duomo, the hills of Fiesole or the statues in Piazza della Signoria. 

And when I began to practice Yoga,I started to observe that the sensations, the inner feeling and emotions I felt from being in the present of art, were the same during a deep and introspective yoga class. 

Before I start to dive deep in this matter, let’s clarify what spirituality is for me and in Corpo Giardino – Yoga Practices. 

What is spirituality?

For me, and inside Corpo Giardino – Yoga Practices, Spirituality is a deep connection not only to something greater than me, but happens when the borders between my inner space and the other universe vanish. It’s nothing religious for me. 

When I am in that place, I feel as big as the mountains and the cosmos around me. 

Nature, Art and Yoga are great tools to access my spirituality. 

It means not only to meet an intimate part of myself but also a collective consciousness that human beings share.

On the other hand spirituality can also be tricky, as we could use it as a form of bypass. Unfortunately spiritual bypass is very common in the yoga community and something that I need to check in every day: 

Am I using spirituality as a form of denial and not dealing with reality or am I really connected to a bigger source?

Kim Rosen (click HERE to learn more about her) uses poetry to explain that being spiritual means not only self reflection, isolation and intimacy but also a deep connection with reality and our physical world. 

“Not the high mountain monastery

I had hoped for, the real 

face of my spiritual practice

is this:

the sweat that pearls my cheek

when I tell you the truth, my silent

cry in the night when I think

I’m alone, the trembling 

in my own hand as I reach out

through the years of overcoming 

to touch what I hoped

I would never need again”

Spirituality and Art 

I still remember the exact moment when this connection was clear: I was at the Kunsthaus in Zurich and I found myself in front of two paintings of Augusto Giacometti (in the picture above) literally with my mouth open (https://www.kunsthaus.ch/en/)

I felt shivers along my spine because, while my eyes were in ecstasy, I thought:

“This is exactly how I feel when I am a deep Yoga space”.  

I felt infinite, vaste, immense: I was in contact with my rich inner universe. 

Through the hands, the voice, the sound or the movements of an artist, the invisible become visible, the unspoken becomes spoken and we can have a glimpse of the infinite, vaste source of our reality and life force: the Prana. 

And in the same way, when we combine breath and movement, when we connect with our inhale and exhale in a yoga class, the invisible become visible, the unspoken becomes spoken and we can have a glimpse of the infinite, vaste source of our reality and life force: the Prana. 

Every time I think about the role of an artist as a messenger of the invisible and the way we deny the importance of culture in our society, I feel sad. 

Somehow along the way, the left hemisphere of the brain, the rational one, took the lead of our society and we started to consider secondary all forms of arts. 

But I strongly believe everyone is an artist, because we all have the capacity to express ourselves. We are all highly sensitive beings (for some it’s more evident, for others sensitivity is buried under a lot other things) able to make the invisible, visible. 

Now, what about you?

Do you feel the same about art and spirituality?

Do you have a form of art you love that connects you to something bigger than you?

What is your definition and idea of spirituality?

To close this Blog I share the words and a piece of dance performance of Pina Bausch, one of the greatest contemporary dance choreographer and fragile soul:

“Dance, Dance, otherwise we are lost”

with love

Andrea