Earth, Art and You

Creative Nudge Fridays is here!

It's all about Earth, art and you.

From the highest mountainous peaks to the deepest of canyons, Mother Earth creates, moves, shifts and exchanges energy with a natural sense of balance and purpose. Wherever we are we breathe her air, nourish our physical self with food grown in her rich soil, feel her breeze, are touched by her rains, drink her water and look up to her skies. Even under the thickest of urban fabric we remain intimately connected with her.

Here is a nudge to nurture your connection with nature and your own natural creative flow. Create a piece of earth art. Allow natural objects to be your materials using the earth (the ground itself) as your canvas. Your art can be as big or as small as you like. It might be a large spiral of stones you can walk around, a circle of flowers formed at your feet or a few feathers poked into the sand. It is whatever flows naturally from you.

Begin with a walk outdoors. You might step out in your yard, visit a local park, community garden, nature reserve, headland, river, lake, beach or perhaps take a stroll through a side alley near your home lined with some trees. Notice the natural and organic materials on your path and gather up what calls you. Your objects can be all of one type or they might vary. Trust whatever is on your path is exactly what you need right now, be it; pebbles, rocks, stones, shells, driftwood, twigs, bark, feathers, seed pods, pine cones, leaves, flowers, petals or whatever you find (or finds you!). Then, using the ground as your canvas create a piece of land art. Lay your objects in a formation that flows naturally from you and feels good to you. Allow your intuition to guide you.

Note, if you are unable to access a spot of nature outdoors due to weather, you can do this indoors using natural objects you may already have around your home or in your everyday environment.

Earth is with us in every breath. Nurturing the sacred connection to her daily is nourishment for our own natural creative flow.

To remind yourself that you are always connected to Earth wherever you physically are, take a pic of your earth art, then use the pic as your screen saver or wallpaper on your phone or computer.

If you give the nudge a go, comment below or be a part of the conversation on my Facebook Page. If you share your earthy art via Twitter or Instagram use the tag #creativenudgefridays so we can find you.

Create on, Jelena x

© Copyright Jelena Mrkich 2013.

Permission is granted to blog about this nudge or share this post and images within it freely on the condition that the author is credited and this byline is included. Jelena Mrkich is an Artist, Art Therapist and Creative Catayst who is passionate about creativity as a tool for healing, transformation and self-awareness. For more info visit JelenaMrkich.com or for regular creative good things join her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.

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Your Creative Tree Pose

Creative Nudge Fridays is here!

Welcome to nudge #15. Let's rest like a great tree. 

Trees are ancient beings, holding wisdom, stories and possibility. We are connected to them with every breath. There is a well-known posture in yoga called the Tree Pose. It's about balancing and being centred through your core like a tree; with your feet = your roots, your torso = your trunk, and your limbs = your branches. It is a pose for developing a greater sense of inner calm, concentration and connection to the earth.

We're going to draw upon the principles of the Tree Pose and embody a creative version.



Here is a nudge to enhance your conscious awareness of your connection with all life. Become a tree. Find a tree that calls you and notice where its shadow is falling. Then stand beside it, facing the shadow, so that you can also see your shadow next to the tree's. Now, nudge closer or lean next to it, stretch your arms upward, open your hands and allow your own shadow to emerge as an extension of the tree. And breathe it in. Connect to the sense of being a part of the tree as your shadow and the tree's merge as one. Rest in the feeling for a moment.
To remind yourself that just like a tree you are held by the Universe, take a photo of your tree pose shadow (pop your camera in one hand while in the pose, aim for the shadow + snap away, tricky, but totally doable!), then use the pic as your screen saver or wallpaper on your phone or computer.

Your view. If you like this post, click LIKE below or if you give the nudge a go, please let us know. Share a pic with us on my Facebook Page, or add your comments below. I'd love to see your creative tree poses! If you share your tree pose on Twitter, Instagram or elsewhere on the web, let's use the tag #creativenudgefridays so we can find you.

Pass it on. Here is a ready-to-go prod for you to share the nudge on Facebook, Twitter + elsewhere on the web; Embody your creative tree pose, http://ow.ly/izEjj via @jelenamrkich #creativenudgefridays

Resting a moment like a great tree can help replenish our perspective that life is an interconnected experience.

Create on, Jelena x

© Copyright Jelena Mrkich 2013.

Permission is granted to share this post and images within it freely on the condition that the author is credited and this byline is included. Jelena Mrkich is an Artist, Art Therapist and Creative Catayst who is passionate about creativity as a tool for healing, transformation and self-awareness. For more info visit JelenaMrkich.com or for regular creative good things join her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.

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Your VIP Pass {26,000 Years in the Making}

There are 47 different calendars known to be in use on the planet. What a relief we don't anticipate the end of the world 47 times a year.

Our Gregorian calendar, also known as the Western or Christian calendar, has become the most widely used calendar of our time. Each year on December 31 we celebrate with ritual fireworks and festivities. The date marks the end and the

You Were Born to Be {You}

There are an infinite amount of creative ways to express the truth of who you are. To quote Robert Benigni, I'm "full of joy like a watermelon" at the very thought. No matter how many mediums, methods and techniques I've explored, learned, tried, tested, forgotten about, remembered, played and worked with (130 and counting), there are more. An infinite amount of creative ways. Because we

A Love Note to Self, Transcript

This is the transcript of A Love Note to Self. Click here for the original video version + blog post.

Impossible = I'm Possible

Today marks 30 days until 21 December 2012 ~ the commonly known end date of the Mayan Calendar. As all calendars do, this one is set to start again once it completes it's cycle. Only this Great Cycle has been a big one. 26,000 years. What an ah-mazing time to be on Earth. And an apt time to share with you a love note I wrote to 2012 on new year's day.

Earth Hour, Mandala Power

It's lights off at 8.30pm tonight for Earth Hour, a global event to celebrate a worldwide commitment to protect our planet. It's an apt time this weekend to gift yourself some off time too in order to check in with your inner world via the creation of an Earth Mandala.

The word mandala is Sanskrit for both circle and centre, and sacred circles have been used as a meditation, focusing and ritual tool since ancient time. The Universe is a master mandala maker, creating natural mandala's throughout all of creation, from the cosmos to our very cells. An archetypal symbol of wholeness, protection and healing, psychologist Carl Jung worked with the mandala as a therapeutic tool to help make the unconscious conscious. Mandala making is a part of all my Classes & Workshops, and when appropriate it is often used during my one-on-one Soul Work Sessions to help hold safe all that is placed within its enclosed and contained space. Inspired by Earth Hour, here is a process I have created to help you make one wherever you are.

Earth Mandala

You will need paper to draw on and a drawing tool like pencils, crayons or pastels. Draw a full size circle on your sheet of paper. This is where you will create your mandala. Sitting in a comfortable place, close your eyes and bring your awareness to your breath. Breathe in. Breathe out. Repeat 3 times. Allow your breath to relax your being. Now bring your awareness to your heart centre and take a few deep breaths from this space. Breathe in. Breathe out. Repeat 3 times. Imagine you can see planet Earth in front of you, with it's land masses and blue oceans. Imagine all the living beings that currently live on and with Earth. Imagine all the cycles, seasons and movements Earth experiences in one day. Breathe this is. Breathe this out. Ask yourself, "What does Earth mean to me?". Allow any words, shapes or images to come to mind. Sit with this for a few moments. Then, when you are ready slowly open your eyes and express this out within your circle, creating your own Earth Mandala.

Create on, Jelena x

p.s. As Kalvin likes to point out, flowers are one of Earth's natural mandala's. Yes, that's him in the centre of one. He said he's embodying my process. In order to do this he took a journey to the centre, literally, and just breathed. He said he felt wonderful and took a fancy to focusing on his breath and using it to help him be in his centre, that space where we simply be and we simply are. Kalvin tells me each new dawn is a daily invitation from Earth to be our true selves, to centre our being ~ to sit in our own mandala within.

p.p.s. Kalvin reminds me to tell you no worries if you don't create an Earth Mandala at precisely Earth Hour time, any hour is a good hour to create one!

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© Copyright Jelena Mrkich 2011.

Jelena Mrkich is an Artist, Art Therapist and Creative Catayst who is passionate about creativity as a tool for healing, transformation and self-awareness. For more info visit JelenaMrkich.com or for regular creative good things join her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.