Today's guest is Shilpa Shah. Whether it is with her coaching, community building or with her meditation practice, singing and storytelling, creativity is at the core of everything she does.
A community builder and facilitator at heart, Shilpa tells us how she uses her experience, creativity and a focus on what feels good, to help people connect at a deeper level, build relationships, be playful, and open to new ideas. How creativity is an integral part of activism, as is showed with the Black Lives Matter Movement, and how, following a long tradition embraced by social change movements, she used singing as a form of protest, but also of healing, with the singing circle she created.
We also talk about being open to creativity and creating the space to welcome and nourish it. Shilpa describes her creative approach to meditation and how, during lockdown, she ran meditation circles to help people deal with anxiety and loneliness and wrote a short story for children to help them understand the isolation and stress caused by such an extreme situation. She even shares with us, and for the very first time, a beautiful poem she wrote about connecting with nature.
To me, Shilpa is the embodiment of what it means to come alive creatively, so I hope you will enjoy our conversation.
Shilpa's short story:
ABOUT THE CREATIVITY FOR ALL PODCAST
A maths teacher can be creative. So can a financial adviser, a community builder, and a yoga teacher. Not to mention a speed painter, a potter, or an actor!
Creativity is everywhere and I love nothing more than to explore it in The Creativity for All Podcast, either by focusing on a theme – such as perfectionism, feeding your creative brain, or the pressure to be creative – in my solo episodes, or through my conversations with all manner of creative people.
I want to challenge the perception of creativity and, in the process, debunk many myths attached to it: it's painful, for artists and the chosen few, etc.
My guests and I are keen to zoom in and dissect the origin of an idea, the impulse that makes us engage with our own creativity, with the hope that it will inspire listeners to get creative too.
My podcast is designed for anyone who’s already being creative, or is tempted to use their creativity, in particular those of you who think they are not creative or can never be. I would love to change your mind!
The Creativity for All Podcast is sponsored by Blue as an Orange, where we believe in creativity through communication, and offer mentoring and coaching for aspiring writers and tailored language tuition for individuals and companies.