Having had a baby last year I went thru the amazing process of pregnancy. It never failed to amaze me as to how many paralells exist between pregnancy and an artist's creative process. Both are extremely spiritual, meditative journeys with one's self. There are worlds to experience, sink and soak in all by yourself in both the journeys. No one else can feel the sacred intimacy you feel with your inner being. Like a woman with a baby in her womb, as an artist I have felt the same sacred space with my work, that no one else can transgress upon. Its a journey we undertake together, and though I am the creator, I grow beautifully with all my work.
Its like, when an idea takes root within, one is pregnant right then with the idea. It develops each day, grows by leaps and bounds, till you can bear it no more. You just 'has to' give birth, give form to the being that waited to be born. And every artist knows how every piece of music, dance, painting or writing has a life of its own. It comes with powerful force and takes on its own life. 'Birth pains' are not just what we women, but each artist experiences in his own right.
Along with birth and rearing a baby, come many profound realisations, and the same can be said of one's art form. Every dance, every performance, every day of riyaaz, brings with it much deeper realisations of what it brings to your life. Its a journey you are born to be with, as a parent and as an artist, equally powerful, spiritual and sacred, and only 'you' know the way it colours up your world.
