Part One
Alpha waves
Creativity is perceived as a matter of inspiration and, as a result, unpredictable and unreliable. This is not the case. Creativity is an ever-present constant, we simply need to know how to tap into it.
What makes us creative?
In the mid-1980s Colin Martindale, a professor of psychology at the University of Maine, studied the production of alpha brain waves in highly creative people. What he found was that they can switch on high levels of alpha activity when faced with a creative challenge, in a way normal people cannot. Martindale concluded that: “Creativity is simply a matter of having the right brain waves.”
Are these alpha waves elusive, limited to a select few? No.
For those of us who fall into the ‘normal’ class of people who don’t have that instinctive ability to switch into the high alpha state on demand, it is important to know that this is a skill that can be learnt through neurofeedback, but it takes a substantial investment of time and money. Happily, Mother Nature has a natural solution; it’s found in the body and it's free.
Beta waves are the enemy of creativity
Part of the challenge we face is the way we live our lives. Because we are in our heads most of the time we are overloaded with beta waves. Beta waves are perfect for meeting deadlines and living busy lives, where we need to keep track of everything. Stress, pressure and urgency all induce the beta state. Beta waves block out alpha waves.
Very many people stay in the beta state all day until they crash exhausted into deep sleep (delta brain waves). This is repeated day in and day out and is not conducive to making connections or to having a rapport between the conscious and unconscious mind, which is so important for creativity, empathy and compassion.
The beta mindset is also not good for our mental health as it makes us inward-looking, leaving us feeling isolated. This is not good for life or creativity.
How the beta mindset has wrecked the planet
Everything in nature has evolved to live in harmony within the whole in which it exists. Isolated by the beta mindset, mankind believes itself to be exempt from this reality, which is why the planet is facing a catastrophe and so many people feel alone. The problem has arisen solely because we live in our heads which makes us feel separate from the world and each other. This is the disembodied beta state. It wasn't meant to be this way.
Of course, the beta state has its uses, so the important thing is balance and the ability to shift between the different states of mind available to us as needed.
How to feel connected by being connected
When we are in the alpha state, we feel connected to the whole and that’s because we are no longer in our head. Indeed, you cannot create alpha waves by thinking.
Dr Les Fehmi has dedicated a lifetime’s research to the benefit of alpha waves and concluded that the best way of reaching a synchronised alpha state is by focusing on the felt senses. This is why when working with your body’s feelings, the very act of tuning into what you can feel in your body sends you effortlessly into the alpha state.
How the alpha state makes you smart
Connecting to the body’s innate intelligence is highly effective for the creative process because it is working as a whole, in synch with all of the body – the heart, the guts and the head - as nature intended. Each feeling felt (acknowledged and engaged with) provides you with additional information and that makes you smarter because you have more data available to you.
Tuning into your feelings mechanically takes you out of the beta state into the alpha state. It does this by shifting your focus from what you think to what you feel.
For those not able to instinctively switch into the creativity of the alpha state, nature provides a simple way to do this – by moving your attention to your body’s feelings. A simple example of the extraordinary brilliance of nature and one that can set your creativity free.
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