The Inner Studio - Riverside Architectural Press

ells? Could you smell of the roses or were you surprised by who you
met in the forest? Try to discover your dominant sense and experiment
with bringing it into your create work. Experiment with your capacity for
visualization and find out which of your senses is easiest to connect with
and which is least developed.
EXERCISE
PART FOUR | INNER KNOW-HOW
The following visualization can help you prepare yourself to dwell in a
creative inner environment.
Begin by taking a few deep breaths. Check in with your body and
allow your jaw and shoulders to soften. With each exhalation, allow your
body to settle into whatever surface is supporting it. There is no work to
do...just let go and relax as you continue to breathe peacefully. Now imagine
that you are in beautiful garden on a lovely summer morning. There
is a large hot tub beneath the trees and you decide to relax in the warm
water. Settle slowly into the water until your body is immersed in soothing
warm water...all stress and worry leave your body...the water covers
your shoulders...only your head is in the bright summer air. With each
exhalation you become aware of how relaxed your body feels while your
mind remains open and quiet. Enjoy the images that bubble up through
your mind’s eye. Open to the wonderful breezes that move through the
tall trees...relax and allow yourself to review things from a new angle.
This is a wonderful environment for imagining design, where it is
possible to visualize your work and pay attention to the physiological
fallout of images. Remember that if your thinking is too critical or too
tight, you may need to spend more time relaxing your body in order to
receive images. If you are too relaxed, you won’t notice or care about
what is being visualized. So along with this relaxed body, you need to
have an alert yet peaceful mind. Maintaining these two conditions takes
practice, but the goal is to be nicely balanced, at ease and awake at the
same time. The deeper and more open the relaxation, the more freely
images can move through your mind. A relaxed environment is ideal for
creating; any creative work will thrive in this atmosphere.
EXERCISE: PROMPTING THE VISUALIZATION
Remember to have paper and pencils ready. In the beginning, drawing
and visualization may seem like two very different practices, but in time
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