May | Ideation

WritingSomatics

Jun 9

Written By MOSA

NOTE: This was originally published as part of my newsletter in May 2026. Subscribe to my newsletter to receive the next Om Letter direct to your inbox once a month.

Each of us has, at times, held back a feeling that wanted to be expressed. A sound that wanted to arise, but was swallowed instead. An impulse to move that was met with stillness. Over time, these moments accumulate, contributing to a body working hard to contain what was never given space to unfold.

Some of us become rigid in this effort: braced, controlled, vigilant. Others collapse under the weight of what was never allowed to move through them. Though they appear different, both are forms of disconnection. Disconnection from our vitality, our creativity, and the aliveness of a body that is free to respond to its experience. The unexpressed body forgets what it’s like to feel.

Over the years, I've come to understand creativity as less of a choice and more of a need. We do not express in order to empty ourselves, or to feel a release. We imagine and ideate in order to connect to what is most alive within us.

When that channel closes, we lose more than self-expression. We lose contact with what nourishes us at the deepest level; with what makes us feel alive rather than merely functional.

I often see this in classes. It shows up as a reluctance to move without instruction, or as discomfort during moments of quiet that aren't immediately filled with conversation, music, or distraction. Our capacity for play, imagination, and spontaneity depends on certain conditions. When we are exhausted, overwhelmed, or continuously pulled outward by demands on our attention, our creative impulse tends to recede.

So, the conditions that support our imagination and playfulness have to be cultivated. My best ideas rarely arrive when I'm looking for them. More often, they emerge in close proximity to the ocean with nowhere else to be. When our environment encourages our attention to widen and our focus can soften, the mind becomes less preoccupied with producing and more available to receive.

Our body and mind will always remember how to be open. But they require permission, space, and time before they are willing to do so. Perhaps this is one of the signs that we have truly returned to ourselves: imagination begins to reappear, and in the process of creating we remember who we are. We remember the person beneath the habits of productivity and self-management who is innately curious, responsive, and profoundly alive.

With love,

OM x