• Home
  • About Michelle Chua
  • Join eNews
  • Weekly Classes
    • Energy Exchange
    • Free Online Yoga
  • Community Events
    • Yoga & Vegan Nutrition Workshop
    • Integrative Yoga
    • Soul Movement
  • Retreats
    • Earth Day 2023
    • Peru 2023 Retreat
    • Bali 2023 Retreat
    • Custom Retreat
  • Workplace Wellness
  • Private Yoga Sessions
  • Blog
  • Media
  • Privacy Policy
Root 2 Rise Yoga with Michelle Chua
  • Home
  • About Michelle Chua
  • Join eNews
  • Weekly Classes
    • Energy Exchange
    • Free Online Yoga
  • Community Events
    • Yoga & Vegan Nutrition Workshop
    • Integrative Yoga
    • Soul Movement
  • Retreats
    • Earth Day 2023
    • Peru 2023 Retreat
    • Bali 2023 Retreat
    • Custom Retreat
  • Workplace Wellness
  • Private Yoga Sessions
  • Blog
  • Media
  • Privacy Policy
Root 2 Rise Yoga with Michelle Chua

A Blog About Living Yoga

5 Ways Creative Arts Can Help You Thrive By Michelle Chua

4/7/2022
Picture
Have you considered the process of creating art as a wellness practice, a way to flourish mentally, emotionally or physically?  Creative arts can range from free-writing in your journal, dancing spontaneously, singing, crafting a vision board, painting, drumming, concocting a new recipe, designing a garden and much more. And it doesn’t require you to classify yourself as “artist,” “dancer,” “musician” or whatever title.  It’s part of our human nature to create, and art-making can be a portal to reclaim your wholeness and vibrancy when you value the process and invest in it with an open heart and mind.  It doesn't have to be about the product or how it's received.
 
Here are 5 ways creative arts can help you thrive:
 

1. It boosts your self-esteem. 

To witness a canvas come alive with your brushstrokes, hear your voice contribute to a melody or see a smile as someone watches you dance can be a rewarding experience.  It’s a reminder that no matter how small, your actions can make a difference in this massive universe.  Furthermore, completing a creative project offers a sense of accomplishment and a boost of the feel-good hormone, dopamine, increasing drive, confidence and concentration.
 

2. It relieves stress and promotes sustained present-moment awareness.  

Making art can channel restlessness of mind or body and release and express stuck energy, like repeating worrisome thoughts. The steady patterns of movement while sewing, quilting or threading beads on a necklace can soothe the mind while harmonizing it with the body.
 
Moreover, when you engage in a creative activity that you enjoy and calls you to stretch your abilities, you set up the conditions to enter flow state.  Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi explains flow state as total immersion in a task at hand, in which, “There’s this focus that…leads to a sense of ecstasy, a sense of clarity.”  Likened to a state of meditation, you become deeply attuned with the here and now and able to respond with skillful awareness, instead of the reactivity triggered by a nervous system during stress mode.
 

3. It opens you up to possibilities and solutions.  

Creating art is a continuous process of making decisions, from choosing words that emote resonantly while writing a poem to arranging images in a collage to project an intended feeling tone.  It lures you to see the project from different angles in order to problem-solve and play with alterations.  This in turn promotes imagination and neuroplasticity, which allows you to change and adapt to new situations. 
 
Additionally, experiencing art, like watching a theater production or movie, evokes curiosity.  In my interview with Positive Psychology Coach Darcy Caplan, she cited a study by Dr. Martin Seligman, known as the father of Positive Psychology, which concluded that within two to three days of experiencing art, such as being a spectator at a museum, people were more inclined to try something new, like taking a different route home from work or mustering up the courage to start a conversation with a stranger. 
 

4. It allows you to authentically express yourself.   

“Everyone has a voice and everyone’s voice matters,” emphasized World Percussion Journey Facilitator Delton Davis in our interview about the wellness benefits of participating in a drum circle.  He spoke about the need to value each other’s unique ways of expressing ourselves, which manifests in the slightest difference of sound created when each person hits a drum.  Among the gifts of a drum circle is the community of acceptance it cultivates through embracing the wide range of rhythms each player contributes. 
 
During my years as a schoolteacher working with underserved children, art provided an array of inner resources for non-native English speakers to communicate with a sense of proficiency and depth.  Children could truthfully draw how they were feeling or elaborately role-play stories they needed to share.  Similarly, adults can capture emotions and thoughts tucked way in their subconscious mind by journaling stream-of-consciousness-style. In this way, Darcy Caplan empowers distressed clients to “name it to tame it,” as she described the process of mindfully addressing harmful thought patterns and difficult emotions to spur healing by bringing them to the forefront of awareness.
 

5. It empowers you to fully feel your aliveness. 

In Psychology Today, Dr. Cathy Malchiodi explained, “Our capacity to actually create is where we begin to live more fully, experience transformation, and recover the core of what it means to heal. It is your authentic expression through art-making…why creativity is a wellness practice.” Creating art is a way of giving yourself permission to take up space, to be visible, to own your voice and place in creating in this world.  There are a myriad ways to create and experience art.  When you choose a form of art that feels personally activating, you unleash a freedom of being that comes with wholehearted expression. 
 
Do your research and you’ll likely discover many more ways that creative arts can help you thrive, spanning multiple dimensions of wellbeing.  The process of art-making has the capacity to awaken human creativity and depth of consciousness to surpass the boundaries of what we perceived was possible, even amid difficult life circumstances that may seem to inhibit us.  Engaging in art strengthens the ability to visualize and manifest how you choose to experience life, as well as provide a channel to shed dark truths from your system. As Writer Maya Angelou conveyed, when the caged bird sings, it reclaims its spirit to experience freedom.  Since you’re creating each moment anyway, through your thoughts, actions, words and presence, why not experiment with art as a tool to thrive?
Picture

Michelle Chua

Also a Registered Yoga Teacher, she earned her Bachelor's of Arts in Liberal Studies with a Multiple-Subject Teaching Credential specializing in Art at CSU Northridge.  For over 10 years, she worked as a teacher for students ranging from 6 months to adults passionately infusing arts throughout core curriculum.  Check out how she integrates creative arts as a wellness practice at Thrive Together, Women's Wellness Retreat on May 6-9, 2022 in CA.  LEARN MORE...

2 Comments

Wholesome Vegan Bowl Recipe

4/5/2022
I had a brief downtime to play in the kitchen between teaching yoga classes today and created a simply delicious vegan bowl that my belly felt inspired to share!  It's a triumvirate of nutritious plants: sweet potatoes (high in Vitamins A, C and B6 and manganese and potassium), kale (high in Vitamins A, K and C) and organic tofu (which includes all essential 9 amino acids that your body can't make on its own).  
Picture
Ingredients for 1 serving:
  • 2 organic sweet potatoes
  • 2 slices of firm organic tofu (or however much you're hungry for)
  • 3 handfuls of organic raw chopped kale
  • 1 half an avocado
  • A small handful of organic basil leaves chopped
  • A small handful of organic cilantro chopped
  • A teaspoon of organic tamari sauce
  • A teaspoon of 21 Seasoning Salute spice blend from Trader Joe's
  • A teaspoon of Green Goddess spice blend from Trader Joe's
  • 2 cloves of raw chopped garlic
  • 1 lime
  • A third of bell pepper sliced into slivers
  • A dash of sea salt
  • A dash of black pepper
  • A dash of chili flakes
  • Organic virgin coconut oil
  • 1 sheet of parchment paper
Here are the steps to make it:
  1. Preheat the toaster oven to about 350*F as you wash and slice 2 sweet potatoes.  
  2. Stir in a bowl: a tablespoon of organic virgin coconut oil, a teaspoon of 21 Seasoning Salute and the sliced sweet potatoes.
  3. Scatter them on a tray lined with parchment paper and into the oven for about 30 minutes.
  4. Meanwhile, pat dry 2 slices of organic firm tofu.
  5. Lightly drizzle less than a teaspoon of coconut oil onto a small pan and heat the pan for about a minute.  Place the slices of tofu on the pan and sprinkle about a teaspoon Green Goddess spices on the top surface of each tofu slice.  Let the bottom sides turn slightly yellow for about 2-3 minutes before flipping over and sprinkling more seasoning on top.  After about another 2 minutes, when the bottom is slightly yellow, turn off the heat.  Season lightly with chili flakes.
  6. Place about 3 handfuls of chopped kale in a bowl.  Add half an avocado, the chopped garlic, the juice of 1 lime and a teaspoon of tamari.  Massage the kale with all the ingredients to mix.  
  7. Add the sliced bell pepper and chopped basil and cilantro to the kale.  
  8. When the sweet potatoes have a slightly crisp outside on the skin and a soft inside, remove them from the oven.
  9. Now, place your kale, tofu and sweet potatoes in a bowl and add salt and pepper to taste.
  10. Enjoy eating mindfully by smelling your food, admiring it with your eyes, and chewing slowly to feel all the textures and taste the variety of flavors in each bite!  Buen provecho!

How did you like it?  Would/Did you add or subtract anything to the recipe?  Share your experience below!

Want to dive deeper into wholesome plant-based cooking?  Itzel of Wild Love Vegan Foods will guide a class on weekly meal prep at our Women's Wellness Retreat, Thrive Together, and cater all our meals with her delicious vegan creations!  Check out the itinerary here for May 6-9, 2022 and come join us!
3 Comments

    A Collective Blog about Yoga Lifestyle & Inspiration 
    by Michelle Chua & Guest Authors

    Find Michelle's bio here.

    Archives

    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    August 2021
    June 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    October 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

REviews of Root 2 Rise Yoga with Michelle chua:

Michelle truly lives out what she teaches. She is so much more than a yoga teacher - I learned this when I went on her exquisitely curated trip that she organized to Costa Rica this past June 2018...Hopefully like me, you'll be delighted by her effervescent love of movement, nature, and all people!
-Rebekah B. (Virginia, USA) *See more YELP Reviews
Michelle clearly stands out with her beautiful and bright energy. I love how her practice and teaching encompass body, mind and spirit. She not only teaches yoga but lives and exudes it.
-Marianne Manes (Los Angeles, CA)
Michelle not only teaches 'yoga', she embodies it fully with her heart and soul...
​-Christin M. (Los Angeles, CA) *See more YELP Reviews
Michelle is by far one of the best instructors I've ever had, period. Patient, clear in her explanations and demos, and so encouraging...
-Jessica L. (North Hollywood, CA) *See more YELP Reviews
My first yoga class was with Michelle years ago.  ​You can have the best (yoga pose) sequence and not teach from your heart.  With Michelle, I also feel her passion when I'm in her class.  I can see she loves what she does, and she inspired me to want to teach yoga, too.
-Janette Guzman (Certified Yoga Teacher in Northridge, CA)

Let's connect:

Join our eNews
Check out our upcoming retreats here!
I'm so grateful to have met Michelle! Her kind energy opened up my interest in pursuing yoga and meditation. She is such an incredibly light and soul. She starts with grounding ourselves through mindfulness and breathing exercise. She brings the most authentic energy to the class by sharing the history and understanding behind poses, names, and techniques. I truly appreciate her work and impact on my well-being!
-N.C. on Yelp!
I’ve had dozens of instructors over the years, but Michelle is far and away the best yoga mentor I’ve ever practiced with. She epitomizes grace during these difficult times. Michelle has saved my sanity and my back while working from home, keeping me grounded with her sharing of yogic teachings and meditation techniques. Her repertoire of physical asanas is encyclopedic, and I’ve loved learning new poses and stretching my boundaries. Jump in, all. You’ve got this!
- Cathleen Fager (Attends Zoom Yoga Classes)
©2010 Root 2 Rise Yoga
Photo used under Creative Commons from focusonmore.com